Following Nintendo’s Q1 fiscal year 2023 results, Japanese publication Nikkei reported that there would be no new Nintendo hardware released by March 31st, 2023 (when the fiscal year ends). However, Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki said it wasn’t immediately clear if this was based on Nikkei’s reporting or statements by Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, who was interviewed for the same article.
In the same financial results, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo Switch had sold 111.08 million units as of June 30th, 2022. Sales were down 22.9 percent year on year due to semiconductor shortages. However, the console manufacturer said it expected to improve component procurement from late Summer to Autumn. It noted that this was to “deliver as many Nintendo Switch systems as possible to consumers in every region” in preparation for the Holiday season rush.
Reports in July indicated that the company had spent a large sum on procuring and stockpiling raw materials in the fiscal year 2022. Comparisons were made to the fiscal year 2019 when the Nintendo Switch Lite had entered production, thus leading to speculation that Nintendo was preparing for another Switch hardware revision. By reportedly clarifying that no new hardware was coming, it perhaps wanted to get ahead of any speculation regarding the increased procurement.
MST Financial senior analyst David Gibson also noted Furukawa’s following comments from the same article. “Normally, it would stockpile inventory in the Summer to be ready for the end of the year, when it is at its peak. This Summer, we have not been able to produce as much as in previous years. Even if we can produce the volume we want, I’m not optimistic that we will be able to sell it all.”
Despite no changes to its consolidated forecast of 21 million Switch consoles sold by March 31st, 2023, Gibson said, “Guidance calls for the sale of 18 million in the next 9 months.” Obviously time will tell but this just reinforces that no new hardware is releasing this year.
Nikkei: there will be no new Nintendo hardware this fiscal year, which ends in March 2023. Not immediately clear whether that part of the article is from Nikkei's own reporting or what Nintendo President, who Nikkei interviewed for the story, said. https://t.co/HJVqk9Kbef
— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) August 4, 2022
Article quotes Nintendo CEO – "Normally, it would stockpile inventory in the summer to be ready for the end of the year, when it is at its peak. This summer we have not been able to produce as much as in previous years"
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) August 4, 2022
Nintendo CEO -"Even if we can produce the volume we want I'm not optimistic that we will be able to sell it all". Guidance calls for the sale of 18m in the next 9 months.
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) August 4, 2022
