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| Nintendo aims for a blockbuster 2023 by ratcheting up Switch |
The Nintendo Switch is coming up on six years old — positively geriatric by console standards — but it’s still managing to shift millions of units each year. The console is still performing so well, in fact, that Nintendo is reportedly planning to boost production of its hybrid console in 2023, despite the cloudier outlooks of industry analysts.
The news comes from a story reported by Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki and Debby Wu, who spoke to sources familiar with the matter. After selling around 21 million console units this fiscal year, Nintendo is revising its previous sales forecast for the coming year of 19 million units, though it hasn’t yet settled on a specific new target. Executives from the company have said in the past that any dips in sales have been primarily down to component shortages and supply chain issues rather than any actual slump in demand.
Some analysts don’t see things quite so rosily, however. One such who was quoted in the Bloomberg piece pointed out that holiday sales were underwhelming even without the production issues of the last few years, and described a slowdown in Switch demand as “unavoidable.” With the possibility of a Switch successor on the horizon, too, some who might otherwise have invested in a Switch may choose to wait for a newer model.
Nevertheless, there’s some merit to Nintendo’s plans. For one thing, the very fact that the company is considering this move suggests that a Switch 2 might be further away than anticipated. Moreover, 2023 is set to be a banner year for big Nintendo titles, most notably The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May. Must-play titles tend to sell consoles too, especially if there’s a special limited-edition version selling alongside the game, and the successor to a Zelda game synonymous with the Switch is likely to shift a console or two along the way.
