It feels like the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2 was a long time coming. We’ve been anticipating it for a few years now, especially with the OG Switch now very much reaching the end of its lifecycle.
In fact, sales of the hybrid console suggest everyone’s on tenterhooks, just waiting for the arrival of the Switch 2. In a recent , Nintendo said that sales have decreased once more, with net profits down by 31.4% year-on-year.
A further statement in the report says that sales from the company’s “game console business decreased by 31.7% year-on-year to 895.5 billion yen.” Nintendo even saw a decrease in “mobile and IP related income,” which is being blamed on a decrease in sales on the likes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie that was released in April 2023.
Switching over
Despite even sales of the Nintendo Switch OLED edition dropping when compared to the last financial year, it wasn’t all bad news. Sure, sales of Nintendo first-party games also dipped somewhat, but the likes of Super Mario Jamboree and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have now sold 6.17 šmillion and 5.38 million units, respectivšely.
In fact, according to the report, Jamboree‘s “cumulative global sell-through” exceeded 5.6 million copies within the first eleven weeks of its release. This means it surpassed the “pace of sales” when compared to other Switch games like Super Mario Party and Mario Party Superstars.
However, the decline in sales overall won’t come as a great surprise to many. It seems fairly clear that the gaming industry is just now waiting for the release of the Switch 2.
Nintendo announced the follow-up system recently, but we don’t have a release date for it yet. We’ve been told it’s coming sometime this year and that more details are to follow at the next Nintendo Direct, which is scheduled for April. No doubt, sales of the original Switch are only going to decline as we go forward.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 06:00 am