Nintendo announced its end of year financials, revealing that it sold 16.95 million Nintendo Switch consoles during last year, taking it to 34.7 million sales which means it outsold its N64 console on lifetime sales. The annual sales figure is similar to Nintendo’s goal of 17 million which was lowered from 20 million. However, prospects for the portable gaming system look varied for the next twelve months.
The Japanese company is forecasting that it will sell 18 million Switch devices over the next year, but there are mixed signals to support that. The idea that the same device will be as much demanded as last year is hard to imagine.
Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa told Bloomberg that they are always developing new hardware as a general rule, and later announce it. Besides new models, the company will also enter new markets. Nintendo will be available in China after it made a key approval last week, to sell the Switch in partnership with Tencent.
Nintendo Switch outsold N64 consoles
Gaming in China is in a state of continual change at the moment but Nintendo’s catalog of family-friend and its attractive titles are probable to ride better than any other tense content regarding the approval. Opening a market in China will most likely create demand even though the console is already over two years old.
Nintendo Switch is doing well with more than 23 titles at one million sales or more, whilst Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokemon: Let’s Go have produced 13.8 million and 10.63 million sales.
Nintendo’s annual operating profit of 250 billion yen ($2.2 billion) grew by 41% but the income grew by just a 14% to 1.2 trillion yen ($10.7 billion). Operating revenue came in at 29.7 billion JPY ($266 million) in the last part of the year, which was much below the 36 billion JPY mediocre for analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Nintendo’s annual prediction was seen as lukewarm by many, probably because the company was shamed by those assertive Switch sales goals last year.
Sonia Theo has been writing for more than 15 years, first starting with fantasy stories. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and German, and one in Arts and Design. In the past years, her interests in gaming and tech news grew, so she started writing articles, guides and reviews for players. In her spare time, you’ll see Sonia playing WoW, crafting decorations and jewelry, or walking her dog. For Digital Overload, Sonia Theo will cover all things tech and gaming, delivering fresh updates on your favorite games.
