The Nintendo Switch has enjoyed record-breaking success worldwide since its launch, but now, having entered the seventh year of its lifecycle, sales for the console are beginning to slow down. In Q1 of 2023, the console sold 3.07 million units worldwide, with its lifetime sales standing at 125.62 million units as of March 31.
Over the course of all of fiscal year 2022/23 (April-March), the Switch sold 18 million units, down 22% from the previous fiscal year, and for FY 2023/24, which lasts until March next year, the company has posted projections of another 15 million sales. However, the Japanese publisher has also said it doesn’t necessarily expect to hit those numbers.
As reported by Bloomberg, during Nintendo’s recent quarterly earnings call, president Shuntaro Furukawa admitted that the console will continue seeing a slowdown in sales in the seventh year of its life, and said that the projection of 15 million sales is “a bit of a stretch.”
“Sustaining the Switch’s sales momentum will be difficult in its seventh year,” Furukawa said. “Our goal of selling 15 million unit this fiscal year is a bit of stretch. But we will do our best to bolster demand going into the holiday season so that we can achieve the goal.”
Interestingly, Furukawa also added that Nintendo doesn’t have any new hardware releases planned for FY 2023/24. This comes amidst repeated reports that the company is at work on a Switch successor and is beginning to ramp down its focus on the Switch itself. It’s been claimed that the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be the console’s last major first party release.
Recent reports have also claimed that Nintendo doesn’t have its annual June Direct planned for this year, indicating that there’s also going to be notable slowdown in new game announcements as far as the immediate future is concerned.
