Nintendo shipped 4.11 million Switch consoles in its January-March quarter, bringing the total to 23.06 million for the fiscal year, enough to meet its revised forecast of 23 million. The company had originally forecast 25.5 million units for the year, then 24 million, before reaching its final forecast three months ago. The figure represents a 20 percent decrease from the previous year’s figure of 28.83 million consoles shipped, with Nintendo alluding to shortages of semiconductors and other components.
Nintendo has now shipped 107.65 million Switch consoles in total since its launch in March 2017. It is the company’s most successful home console, with recently surpassed the Wiialthough if you consider it a portable system, it still has a long way to go to reach the figure of 154.02 million units of Nintendo DS or 118.69 million of Game Boy.
As for the software, Pokémon Legends: Arceus made a big debut last quarter, with 12.64 million units shipped to date. For comparison, the previous quarter Pokemon remakes bright diamond Y shiny pearl debuted with 13.97 million units and has now shipped 14.65 million total, so arceus is performing essentially in line with the traditional Pokemon games.
Nintendo’s forecast for its current fiscal year, which began on April 1, is to ship 21 million Switch consoles, suggesting that sales of the system may have peaked. The company’s revenue and operating profit are also expected to decline 5.6 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively.
Own release schedule for the year includes upcoming Switch games like Splatoon 3, xenoblade chronicles 3Y scarlet pokemon Y Violet. The long-awaited sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is set for a spring 2023 release date, which may or may not fall in the current fiscal year ending March 31.