Nintendo Switch Passes 139 Million Units Sold, Still a Top Priority in 2024 Says CEO

[T0@st]

Nintendo has published its quarterly financial results for the period ending March 31 (2024)—the numbers indicate that their trusty Switch hybrid console has continued to sell surprisingly well, despite industry watchdogs anticipating a sharp decline in late 2023. A Bloomberg Japan report has extracted crucial information from an important corporate investor call—Shuntaro Furukawa, the current company president, announced another sales milestone. The Switch has reached 139.36 million units sold (as of 31st December 2023) since its original rollout back in March 2017—it has the potential to outsell Sony's classic PlayStation 2 home console. Nintendo's CEO adhered to his company's strict script and did not address the big red elephant in the (conference) room—the highly anticipated Switch successor is an industry open secret—instead focusing on the current iteration being their "main business" going into FY2024-2025.

Despite recent "better than expected" financial figures, the Nintendo Switch is on a sales decline (going back several years)—the gaming community expected improved hardware to arrive at some point before 2024, but the House of Mario is in no rush to take on current generation Sony and Microsoft home console models. Furukawa-san stated that Nintendo will discuss its plans for the financial future during a May earnings briefing—this is largely in line with past declarations, the "Switch 2" is not arriving before Spring 2024. The latest reports suggest that the next Nintendo Direct presentation is scheduled for next week—perhaps February 15. Microsoft's Phil Spencer has teased a major Xbox "business update" announcement within the same timeframe.



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[Hyderz]

wow... that is a lot of units... no wonder valve jumped into the handheld market..
only thing valve needs to do is continue to improve the os in the deck... and that will pull away from other competitors..

 

[freeagent]

We bought ours when they first came out, it’s been solid. I would have no problem buying the switch 2 when it comes out..

 

[HisDivineOrder]

I bought Nintendo Switch from Day 1 and have used the same Switch the whole time. I was tempted by the Switch OLED until the Steam Deck was announced. I've got more than a few Switch physical titles. If they make the new Switch backwards compatible with the old Switch games, I will probably get one eventually, but the urgency isn't there given I know Nintendo wants me to pay them an annual fee to play games with online access (not just multiplayer but like Super Mario Maker 2).

If they expect me to buy games all over again for the new console, I probably won't ever get it. I'm not starting over. The urgency I felt back in 2017 was the feeling I was getting home console gaming on the go. The Steam Deck OLED satisfies that now, so the only real compelling point would be giving me a larger, better screen with the newer unit in addition to more Nintendo games in the future (ie., Metroid Prime 4 in HDR).

I'm still thinking about letting the launch go by and getting an update and/or a sale price when more games are available. There's no, "Wow, how are they doing that!?" this time. I can't imagine them beating Steam Deck performance with their insistence on keeping fans silent and using Nvidia hardware from at least a couple years before they launch, so I'd be getting it for the improvement over my launch day Switch and the promise of being able to buy future titles in franchises like Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Zelda, Metroid, and whatever.

But I think the next Switch is going to be mostly just a Switch that runs games mostly around a PS4 level, which is fine enough but not enough to make me (or I bet many people) run out like they did for the Switch. I think Nintendo's really got a problem on their hands if they Wii U the Switch the way they Wii U'ed the Wii.

 

[Ruru]

Interesting how that underpowered tablet has been so successful.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Like to see the sells regions break down.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Interesting how that underpowered tablet has been so successful.

It's not really. Nintendo has owned portable gaming since the get go and it's NEVER had the most powerful items. The Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, and all their various iterations were always slaughtered when it came to actual power by Game Gear, Lynx, NeoGeo (some versions), PSP, PS Vita, and a slew of others (not mentioning the lesser brands that tried and failed) when it came to raw processing power, visuals, and more. Of course none of that mattered. Nintendo crushed all of them in hilarious fashion.

The key is Nintendo knows something that people don't want to admit. Processing power and graphics aren't what matters. Gameplay is what matters. So Nintendo uses quirky low powered hardware that they can make a solid profit off and creates amazing first party games that are exactly what their customer base wants. But those games are also designed to fully use the hardware and show other developers how to go about it. They also focus on the form factor and interface. And... IT WORKS!

They've got a solid vision and business model and love their customers back. Which is more than you can say about a lot of companies.

 

[tomc100]

How many units has the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion sell? Microsoft should create a bare bones windows for these handheld consoles which would improve performance and increase sales.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

How many units has the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion sell? Microsoft should create a bare bones windows for these handheld consoles which would improve performance and increase sales.

1. Barebones Windows already exists.
2. What makes the Steam Deck good is that it doesn't use Windows!

 

[Bruno_O]

It's not really. Nintendo has owned portable gaming since the get go and it's NEVER had the most powerful items. The Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, and all their various iterations were always slaughtered when it came to actual power by Game Gear, Lynx, NeoGeo (some versions), PSP, PS Vita, and a slew of others (not mentioning the lesser brands that tried and failed) when it came to raw processing power, visuals, and more. Of course none of that mattered. Nintendo crushed all of them in hilarious fashion.

The key is Nintendo knows something that people don't want to admit. Processing power and graphics aren't what matters. Gameplay is what matters. So Nintendo uses quirky low powered hardware that they can make a solid profit off and creates amazing first party games that are exactly what their customer base wants. But those games are also designed to fully use the hardware and show other developers how to go about it. They also focus on the form factor and interface. And... IT WORKS!

They've got a solid vision and business model and love their customers back. Which is more than you can say about a lot of companies.

it's a pathetic little system, bought one then sold after a month

it has some good games, like BOTW, which are wasted in such hw, 30 fps with drops to 15 fps is not acceptable in this day and age, unless you have no standards. Thankfully these good games play A LOT better in emulators, 1440p/4k, 60-120 fps, HDR mods, etc etc.

But the majority of games are really weak, only small kids and nintendo simps play that. The proof of that is how successful Palword has been - decent graphics, decent gameplay, putting the latest pokemon games to shame.

back to the topic, the switch should get a sales boost now that a new "homebrew able" cartridge has been launched

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

it's a pathetic little system, bought one then sold after a month

it has some good games, like BOTW, which are wasted in such hw, 30 fps with drops to 15 fps is not acceptable in this day and age, unless you have no standards. Thankfully these good games play A LOT better in emulators, 1440p/4k, 60-120 fps, HDR mods, etc etc.

But the majority of games are really weak, only small kids and nintendo simps play that. The proof of that is how successful Palword has been - decent graphics, decent gameplay, putting the latest pokemon games to shame.

back to the topic, the switch should get a sales boost now that a new "homebrew able" cartridge has been launched

Having "pathetic" systems has never hurt Nintendo. Their last "strong" system that didn't run into issues was the SNES. The N64 bit them in the ass. Their biggest wins have come when they had the weakest system on the market. As for standards, it's less silly than RGB vomit all over the place and stomping footsies over the price of GPUs which is more childish than anything Nintendo has ever published. They need their hardware to make their business works. So the day Zelda goes multiplatform is the day Nintendo is gone and there are no more Zeldas. So enjoy pirating it and be thankfull some people like the game enough to pay for it! There's a reason PC gamers are viewed as basement dwelling incel neckbeards or crazy Chinese LAN cafe gold farmers.

You're also wrong about who plays Nintendo games. There's plenty for older crowds as well and also if you get out of the NA/EU mindset on stuff you'll find that stuff like Pokemon (a game I can't stand at all) is played by adults in places all over the world and much loved.

I've got a switch, PC, and a PS5 along with all the little mini systems that got released. They're all good in their own way. If I had to choose one to keep it would be the Switch, if I had to choose one to give up it would be the PC in a nano second.

 

[Bruno_O]

Having "pathetic" systems has never hurt Nintendo.

hahaha they lost the crown to Sony since they entered the market, NES/SNES were the absolute leaders til then. Sony has been the console gaming leader, by far, since PS1, and if you say that this "never hurt nintendo" you're coping hard or are just ignorant. Console power and games made Sony, Nintendo had good games but the hw...

So enjoy pirating it and be thankfull some people like the game enough to pay for it!

where did I endorse piracy jackass? I bought both BOTW and TOTK, just because I prefer to emulate these games to have a decent experience, instead of the 15fps drops shitshow "native experience", doesn't mean I don't support the developers.

You're also wrong about who plays Nintendo games. There's plenty for older crowds as well....

I am not, it's kids and nintendo simps like yourself.