Nintendo Ups Switch Sales Forecast Slightly to 15.5 Million Units Following Revenue Drop in Latest Quarter

Nintendo reported its latest earnings results Tuesday, revealing a 6% drop in year-over-year revenue and an 18% jump in net profit.

The Japan-based gaming company also announced it now expects to reach 15.5 million units sold of its Switch video game console by the end of March, the conclusion of its fiscal year, rather than its previous forecast of 15 million. According to Nintendo, 13.74 million Switch consoles were sole between April and December 2023.

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No comments have been made by Nintendo leadership regarding reports of a next-gen edition of the Switch console coming this year.

The October-December quarter, which is Nintendo’s fiscal third quarter, saw the gaming giant post 598.6 billion Japanese yen in revenue compared to analysts’ forecast of 568.7 billion yen, based on consensus data provided by LSEG, and 136.7 billion yen in profit compared to estimates of 130.3 billion.

“For hardware, by continuing to convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch, we try not only to put one system in every home, but several in every home, or even one for every person,” said in a letter to shareholders. “Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and we can maximize hardware sales. Looking at software, we released ‘Another Code: Recollection’ in January and plan to follow up with the release of ‘Mario vs. Donkey Kong’ in February and ‘Princess Peach: Showtime!’ in March. In addition, ‘Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass – Side Order,’ the second wave of paid add-on content for ‘Splatoon 3,’ is scheduled to arrive in February. Other software publishers also plan to release a wide variety of titles, and we will work to invigorate the platform by supplementing existing titles with a continuous stream of new titles and add-on content.”

Nintendo touted that the eagerly anticipated “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” launched with 11.96 million units sold, noting that the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” last April boosted “Mario”-related titles for the company, including “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” which has since 6.79 million copies during the period. Elsewhere, “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” sold 20.28 million units and “Pikmin 4” with 3.33 million during the most recent quarter.

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