Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said Wednesday that software from the company’s Switch console will be playable on its successor device.
The Kyoto-based gaming company said it plans to make an announcement about a successor device in the fiscal year ending March 2025, but did not provide further details.
“The Nintendo Switch is currently used by many customers, so we decided it would be optimal for them to be able to play their Switch software on the successor model,” Furukawa said.
“Customers will be able to enjoy the games they own and choose their next title from the range of games already on the market,” Furukawa said during a management policy briefing.
Offering backwards compatibility could encourage consumers to upgrade to the new device and increase the appeal of existing software.
Nintendo has sold more than 1.3 billion software units for the Switch, which is in its eighth year on the market and has an install base of more than 145 million units.
The Kyoto-based gaming company has managed to extend the lifecycle of the home-portable hybrid Switch through hit games and a series of hardware refreshes.
Hardware sales are losing steam, with Nintendo on Tuesday reducing its full-year Switch sales forecast by 7%, to 12.5 million units, ahead of the key purchasing period. end of the year.
“We are not surprised by the failure on the (hardware) side, given that Nintendo’s target markets appear quite saturated in most geographies,” Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a note to the company. customer intent.
“Software sales recovered in the second quarter and are expected to continue into the third quarter,” Mr. Goyal wrote.
Nintendo sold 39.6 million units of software during the second quarter that ended in September, an increase of 29% from the previous quarter.
The company’s shares rose 5% in Tokyo, compared with a 2% rise in the benchmark index.
