Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has described their 7th year with the Nintendo Switch as uncharted territory in the history of the company.
In the last Q&A for their most recent financial quarter, Furukawa was asked about the life cycle of the Nintendo Switch. This is what he had to say:
“Nintendo Switch, which will soon enter its seventh year, has sold over 120 million units cumulatively, and we believe that it is entering uncharted territory in Nintendo’s dedicated video game platform business. In this environment, it will not be easy to maintain hardware sales at the same pace as before.
For this reason, our new challenge for the seventh year is finding ways to encourage users who are considering new purchases, replacement purchases, and additional purchases to pick up a Nintendo Switch.
We believe that both new titles and evergreen titles can create opportunities for new users to purchase hardware. Furthermore, maintaining engagement with the hardware can lead to the introduction of new software. In December of last year, we saw the highest-ever level of Nintendo Switch engagement, and many consumers continue to play Nintendo Switch.
Given the situation, it is important going forward to communicate the appeal of Nintendo Switch through software offerings to consumers considering new purchases, replacement purchases, and additional purchases of the hardware.”
Nintendo’s console release history indicates that the company usually does not take this long with one of their consoles, as a successor is announced before the seven year mark ends. Here’s quick review of their home console history, based on their earliest release date:
- Family Computer / NES – 1983
- Super Family Computer / Super NES – 1990
- Nintendo 64 – 1996
- Gamecube – 2001
- Wii – 2006
- Wii U – 2012
- Switch – 2017
Nintendo did not stick to this five to seven year release schedule as an unwritten rule. Rather, the norms of the video game industry directed them to start work on a successor as soon as they release their latest console, because of the relative short lifespan of each platform of half a decade. Their competitors more or less do the same thing, following the market trends.
The Nintendo Switch is in an unusual position for having stayed viable late in its lifespan. Unexpectedly, consoles benefited from the pandemic, as demand for home based entertainment and leisure created unprecedented demand for video games. Most video game companies and related businesses benefited from this. Some exceptions, like Sony or Valve, didn’t fully realize the sales of their platforms because of hurdles in manufacturing and distribution.
Nintendo had the same challenges, but not to as severe a degree as their competitors. While the Switch is clearly aging hardware, beset with new challengers on all sides, Nintendo has successfully marketed the unique aspects of their platform, including exclusive games like Splatoon 3 and the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: The Tears of the Kingdom.
The big story here, really, is what Furukawa and Nintendo did not say, and we all expected to hear. Nintendo has still not announced what console will come after the Switch. In fact, they haven’t even shared any hints that they are making a successor (of course, we know they have been working on it in the Switch’s own lifetime.)
Nintendo seems to believe there is still enough upside in the Switch to stay on the hardware, at least for one more year. We don’t know how long they will keep going this direction, and Nintendo does not seem to know either. It’s a real test for the Nintendo Switch’s popularity how much longer they can stay relevant. As it is, it is already one of the best-selling consoles of all time, threatening to take the PlayStation 2’s spot on the top of the throne.
