In the quarterly report of the big N, there is an unimaginable drop in sales, but there is an explanation.
We’ve already reported on where Nintendo Switch sales stand, and at the moment it doesn’t look like the hardware released over seven years ago is going to catch up with the PlayStation 2, and even the Switch is unlikely to catch up with the Nintendo DS. Not many units were sold in the April-June quarter, and sales are declining. The decline is of a magnitude that needs to be emphasized: -46%! That’s how much less hardware the big N sold compared to the April-June 2023 period.
Net sales are also down 46.5% (246.6 billion yen instead of 461.3 billion yen), operating profit is down a significant 70.6%, and ordinary profit is down 55.3%. So these are all negative results, but let’s not forget that last spring saw the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which gave a big boost to sales of the big N (hardware-wise, too, as there was a limited edition Switch to go with the new Zelda). This year, there simply wasn’t a title of that caliber.
Hardware sales were down 46.4% (Nintendo Switch: -18.4%, Nintendo Switch Lite: -56.1%, Nintendo Switch OLED: -46.3%) and mobile and other IP-related sales were down 53.8%, but for the latter, the big N admitted that it didn’t have a similar bump this year as it did in 2023 with the Mario movie, so there’s good reason for the decline here too. There will still be a big launch for Switch, though, with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Super Mario Party Jamboree coming in 2024.
The only way Nintendo can improve Switch sales is to lower the price. The cheaper it is, the more people will be able to afford it. This would allow the Japanese company to push the current ceiling higher, but we don’t see much chance of the big N ever doing that.
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