Nintendo reportedly has delayed the release of its next-generation Switch
Nintendo has also been holding off on releasing new blockbuster games until the next Switch is completed.
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The backstory: World-renowned Japanese video game company, Nintendo, is known for its game consoles like Gameboy, the Nintendo DS, the Wii and the Switch as well as popular video game franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. In 2017, Nintendo released its Switch, which many gamers and those in the industry considered to be the first truly hybrid console, with its ability to switch between a portable and a home console. The Switch is currently the third-highest-selling console of all time, behind the PlayStation 2 and the company’s own Nintendo DS.
More recently: Last week, one of Nintendo’s top competitors, Sony, announced that the PlayStation 5 is entering “the latter stages of its life,” according to Naomi Matsuoka, the company's senior vice president. After lower sales than previously anticipated in its latest quarter, Sony now expects to sell 21 million of the console, which is 4 million less than its original predictions. This led to an 8.4% drop in the company’s shares last Wednesday. This isn’t the only trouble the gaming industry is facing. Slower sales of video game consoles have caused many companies to lay off masses of employees, with X-box creator Microsoft letting 1,900 employees go in January.
The development: Nintendo has reportedly told its game publishing partners that its next-generation Switch, which was set to release in the last quarter of this year, will be delayed until the early months of next year. As a result, Nintendo’s shares took a dive by as much as 8.8%. This comes after its shares reached an all-time high last week, with investors expecting a new Switch to be released this year. On top of this, Nintendo has also been holding off on releasing new blockbuster games until the next Switch is completed, which is only adding to a potential downfall for the company. With sales of the current Switch slowing and no new console or games for the holiday season this year, Nintendo may face some challenges ahead to compete with the likes of Sony and Microsoft.
Key comments:
In an earnings call last May, Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa admitted that “sustaining the Switch’s sales momentum [would] be difficult in its seventh year.”
“Nintendo’s numbers for the March 2025 fiscal year could start to look rather ugly if key software is delayed at the same time that the current hardware has aged so much,” said Mio Karto of LightStream Research.
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