Nintendo will make an announcement about the Switch’s successor by the end of March 2025

Japan’s Nintendo said on Tuesday it plans to make an announcement about the successor to its long-running Switch console in the financial year ending in March 2025.

Nintendo has extended the life cycle of the Switch device with hit titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, with the market focusing on the prospects for a smooth transition to next-gen hardware.

The Kyoto-based gaming company said it expects to sell 13.5 million Switch units in the current financial year as it tries to wring additional sales from the aging device.

Nintendo offered no further details on the new hardware, saying there would be no reveals at the Nintendo Direct presentation in June.

“Many consumers will now hold off on buying the current Switch as they know the new model will be released sometime in 2025,” said Serkan Toto, founder of consultancy Kantan Games.

Last year, Nintendo sold 15.7 million units of the hybrid portable home device that launched in March 2017. Nintendo raised its full-year forecast to 15.5 million units in February.

The company has made incremental changes to its Switch devices, with sales of the OLED model growing year-on-year, even as broader hardware sales continue their annual decline.

Nintendo expects operating profit to fall this year by about a quarter to ¥400 billion ($2.6 billion, or roughly ₹21,713 crore).

The company is believed to have slim potential as it holds back heavy titles for the successor device with announced titles including Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door later this month and Luigi’s Mansion 2 in June.

Nintendo expects to sell 165 million software units this year, which would be a 17% drop from a year earlier.

“Game development has become more complex, long-term, and complex,” Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said when asked how the market has changed since the Switch’s launch.

In the year ended March, operating profit rose 4.9 percent to ¥528.9 billion.

Nintendo shares closed up 2.4 percent ahead of earnings and have risen 5.4 percent this year after a recent selloff.

“FY2026 is a very late window to launch new hardware,” Toto said.

© Thomson Reuters 2024