Nintendo announced plans on Tuesday to unveil the successor to its enduring Switch console by the end of the financial year ending March 2025.
The company has prolonged the Switch’s lifespan with blockbuster titles like “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” with market attention now fixed on the transition to next-generation hardware.
Based in Kyoto, Nintendo aims to move 13.5 million Switch units this financial year, striving to maximize sales from the aging platform. However, specific details regarding the new hardware were not disclosed, with Nintendo Direct presentations in June expected to offer no insights.
According to Serkan Toto, founder of Kantan Games consultancy, many consumers will delay purchasing the current Switch in anticipation of the new model’s arrival in 2025.
In the previous year, Nintendo sold 15.7 million units of the hybrid console, launched in March 2017, revising its full-year forecast to 15.5 million units in February. Despite overall hardware sales declining annually, sales of the OLED model showed year-on-year growth.
Nintendo anticipates a 25% drop in operating profit this year, down to approximately 400 billion yen ($2.6 billion). The company’s future lineup includes eagerly awaited titles like “Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door” and “Luigi’s Mansion 2.”
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa highlighted the evolving landscape of game development, characterized by increased sophistication and complexity since the Switch’s debut.
In the previous fiscal year, operating profit rose by 4.9% to 528.9 billion yen. Nintendo’s shares experienced a 2.4% increase ahead of earnings and have risen by 5.4% this year, following a recent market correction.
Toto expressed concern over the late launch window for new hardware, projecting fiscal 2026 as a potentially delayed release timeframe.
