While waiting for Switch 2, Nintendo sales unscrew

The Japanese video game giant reported disappointing results this Tuesday, a few weeks after presenting his future console, on which he put big.
Sales are disappointing for Nintendo. The Japanese video game giant strongly lowered his forecasts for his staggered 2024-2025 exercise on Tuesday, February 4, accusing a strong fall in his sales of consoles pending the upcoming marketing of his Switch 2 … supposed to relaunch the appetite of the players.
For the financial year ending at the end of March, the group is now counting on an operating profit in falling 47% over a year, at 280 billion yen (1.75 billion euros), a revised figure down 22% compared to which was expected until then. Nintendo also expects an annual net profit to decrease 45%, 270 billion yen, and a tumble of almost 30% of its annual turnover to 1190 billion yen: forecasts there also clearly reduced .
The challenge of the succession of the Switch
These performance at half mast comes as the Japanese giant is preparing to market the Switch 2 this year, eagerly awaited by the players and supposed to stop the crumbling of its sales. The stake is massive for Nintendo: the new machine must take over from its star console Switch. Released in March 2017 and sold for more than 146 million copies, this hybrid machine playable both on the move and connected to a television has become a huge success.
But while in eight years it has largely exceeded the previous consoles of the brand in longevity, sales have run out of steam over the years, weariness settling in the public. In fact, sales of switch and games in the third quarter (October-December) “Have been lower than expectations”said Nintendo to justify the revision of its objectives. Throughout the exercise, it expects to have sold 11 million Switch consoles, against a previous forecast of 12.5 million previously anticipated units.
Sales suffered in particular comparison with the previous year, marked by the success of the game «Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom» and film «Super Mario Bros». Consequence: out of the first nine months, the net profit of the Japanese company melted by 42% to 237 billion yen, while its turnover plummeted from 31% to 956 billion yen. Nintendo has hardly managed to brake as much as it hoped for the inevitable drop in sales with regular outings of new titles from its historical series, as «The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom» et «Super Mario Party Jamboree» in recent weeks, or «Mario & Luigi Bed and Breakfast The Eptée fraternie».
Derivative products
The company, whose sales of games and consoles represented more than 93% of turnover last year, continues a strategy initiated for several years in order to receive a wider audience. She has thus multiplied the openings of stores selling derivative products with the image of her characters, opened areas and attractions on the world of Mario and Donkey Kong in Universal Parks in Japan or the United States, and opened in October Last a museum in Kyoto to trace its 130 years of history.
But the objective remains above all to receive an extended audience to sell more consoles and games, heart of its activity. The group therefore puts its future on the launch of the Switch 2. Nintendo has already broadcast a short video in mid-January to present its external aspects: very similar to its big sister, it will have a larger screen, A larger removable support and will keep its removable controllers «Joy-Con». Its features will be detailed on April 2 before demonstrations the following days.