While Nintendo had revealed during its recent earnings report that it expects to sell around 15 million units of its upcoming console – the Switch 2 – the company’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, has revealed that this modest forecast isn’t because of potential external causes like the US’s tariffs. Rather, the forecast is relatively modest because the company understands that its pricing might be higher for the upcoming console than many might have expected.
In a shareholder Q&A, Furukawa spoke about how the target of 15 million units for the first year of the Switch 2 is based on how the original Switch performed in its first 10 months. He also noted that production limitations don’t play on this forecast; rather, the company will have to make even more Switch 2 units to reach the target.
“We’ve set projected sales for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the ongoing fiscal year at 15 million units,” said Furukawa, as caught by Automaton Media. “This figure is based on a target comparable to sales of the original Nintendo Switch during the 10-month period from its launch in March 2017 to the end of December the same year.”
He also noted that, “This sales projection was not determined based on limitations in our production capacity. The situation with US tariffs and concerns about economic downturn have also not affected our forecast. In order to achieve the target of 15 million, we will need to manufacture even more units than that.”
Furukawa also noted that the higher price of the Switch 2 and its games when compared to its predecessor will also likely play a role in whether the console will be successful or not. “Since the Switch 2 is priced higher than the original Switch, we recognize that there will be considerable hurdles in achieving the console’s widespread adoption in the early stages,” he said.
During the earnings report earlier this month, Nintendo had noted that the price for the Switch 2 might see changes going forward, depending on how situations like the US’s tariffs on imported goods plays out. “At this time, the top priority is to quickly popularize the Switch 2 hardware,” said Furukawa in the report. “If the assumptions regarding tariffs change significantly, we would like to consider what price adjustments we should make and implement them after considering various factors.”
Aside from this, Nintendo is also expecting to make an operating profit of around 320 billion yen for the fiscal year ending on March 2026. Compared to the company’s performance in the previous year, this forecast is a 13.3 percent increase year-on-year. Along with aiming at selling 15 million units of the Switch 2, Nintendo has also said that it expects to sell 45 million units of software.
The company has also noted in its earnings report that, while the Switch 2 will be its primary focus once the console launches on June 5, Nintendo also plans on making and releasing more games for the original Switch “for the over 100 million people worldwide” who are still playing on the platform.`
