If you were hoping for a new Nintendo Switch console sometime in 2023, it looks like you might be disappointed. Despite rumors of new Switch hardware releasing sometime in the near future, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in the company’s earning reports that new Switch hardware is still a ways off (thanks, Bloomberg).
Furukawa said the company’s projections for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2024 don’t include new hardware. It’s possible a console could launch in March 2024, as the Switch did in 2017, but either way, there’s at least another 10 months before Nintendo plans to release a new console.
Some analysts believe it might be longer. Bloomberg said that USB securities analyst Kenji Fukuyama sent a letter to clients before Nintendo’s earnings call outlining what to expect, where he said he believes a Switch successor is at least a full 12 months away. Fukuyama also said he expects Nintendo’s valuation to drop before then, likely a result of lower forecasted sales.
While Nintendo Switch software sales have passed the 1 billion mark and 125 million Switch units have been sold, hardware sales are beginning to decline. Nintendo sold 18 million Switch units in the year ending in March 2023 and expects to sell 15 million in the current fiscal year. That’s still a significant number of units for a six-year-old-system, though Bloomberg’s analysts don’t believe new software such as Tears of the Kingdom will help reverse the downward trend.
GiantBomb host Jeff Grubb also said he doesn’t expect a showcase full of announcements from Nintendo during Summer Game Fest, when Xbox is hosting its big Starfield presentation, so it looks like a quiet year for the Big N after the new Zelda launches.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
