Nintendo cuts profit forecast as gamers turn attention to new Switch console
4 February 2025, 09:14
The Japanese firm’s latest results show interest in the Switch, first launched in 2017, is starting to slow.
Gaming giant Nintendo has cut its net profit forecast for its financial year after profit and sales fell as gamers start to look ahead to the release of its next console.
The Japanese firm revised its profit forecast for the year to March 2025 to 280 billion yen (£1.45 billion), down from 360 billion yen (£1.9 billion), and cut the forecast sales of its flagship Nintendo Switch console by 12%.
Last month, Nintendo finally confirmed that the much-rumoured Switch 2 would be released in 2025 and published a short preview video of the new hardware, which showed a larger screen and updated controllers – however, it has not yet confirmed the price.
A full unveil of the device is due at an event in April.
The Switch, first released in 2017, has been a huge success for Nintendo – having sold around 150 million units – thanks to its unique combination of home console and remote play through a portable screen and TV-connected console docking station.
But sales have slowed in recent times as the console hardware has received only incremental updates and more consumers chose to wait for news about the now-confirmed Switch 2, which Nintendo has also confirmed would support backwards compatibility, meaning some games from the current generation Switch will also be playable on the new system.
In its latest results, Nintendo said Switch hardware sales were down 30% in the nine months between April and December 2024 compared to the same period in the year before.
But the gaming giant did note that its number of annual playing users had continued to steadily rise, now sitting at 129 million.
Nintendo said that despite Switch hardware and software sales being below expectations, the console continues to be enjoyed by many people, and that it would continue to release new offerings so that even more consumers keep using the device.
