Nintendo who is set to roll out millions of new Switches consoles this year, has delivered another bumper quarter with the business expecting to deliver more than 15 million Switch consoles to retailers up to March 2024.
The Japanese business has raised its revenue, operating profit and net income guidance with a third quarter operating profit of US$1.2 billion tipped which was way beyond what analysts were tipping.
Sales were down 6%, for the quarter.
What helped was a customised editions of the popular Switch featuring Super Mario and Animal Crossing themes.
Another big plus was the Japanese company’s successful expansion into cinema with The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the award-winning debut of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which helped sustained sales in 2023.
The existing Switch will be Nintendo’s “main business” heading into 2024, President Shuntaro Furukawa said on a conference call after the earnings report. The company’s plan for the next fiscal year will be shared at its next earnings briefing in May, he added.
It’s expected that a new 8″ Switch will be rolled out in September 2024.
The current model seven years old, but despite the longevity the console has outperformed both the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox.
Last year, however, it fell behind the PlayStation 5, which became the best-selling console in the US, according to Circana.
Microsoft’s Xbox division also gained a big hit in January with Palworld, a game drawing inspiration from Nintendo’s Pokémon franchise, which has attracted millions of players to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
“Nintendo is keeping their blockbusters in the oven for now, as they must make sure to have a killer lineup for when the Switch successor launches,” industry analyst Serkan Toto said ahead of the earnings report.