While Nintendo had so far limited itself to confirming that a new console was in preparation, promising an announcement by the end of next March, its president, Shuntaro Furukawa, declared on Wednesday on Switch will also be playable on this one.
The Japanese video game pioneer achieved global success with the Switch, released in 2017 and sold more than 146 million copies, making it the third best-selling console in history. Some 1.3 billion game units for Switch have also been sold to date, according to the group’s latest figures. But while awaiting the announcement of a successor to its aging machine, Nintendo saw its net profit fall by 60% year-on-year in the first half of its staggered financial year that began in April, and announced on Tuesday that it was reviewing its annual forecasts. downwards.
Subscription to Nintendo’s online services, which had 34 million users at the end of September, will also be available on the next console, Mr. Furukawa said. More information on this machine will be communicated “at a later date,” he added Wednesday during an online presentation.
“This backward compatibility is not a surprise,” commented consultant Serkan Toto of Kantan Games, interviewed by AFP. “It was widely expected, because Nintendo wants to offer users the possibility of continuing to use their old games.” According to him, this feature “suggests that the next console will be very similar” to the current Switch.
However, it is “difficult to precisely determine the schedule” of Nintendo for the coming months, commented Takeshi Koyama in a recent note from Mizuho Securities. The video game giant is “focusing on sales of its current Switch console in 2024”, and particularly during the traditionally lucrative holiday season, and news of the next console “could therefore arrive from mid -January,” he added.
Several analysts expect a launch between March and June 2025 which would allow Nintendo to redress the balance for the 2025-2026 financial year, which begins on April 1. Nintendo shares jumped on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, gaining up to 6% and returning to the level of last weekend.
