Japanese video-game maker Nintendo said Tuesday that it will make an announcement about a successor to its Switch home console sometime before March 2025.
When Nintendo shared its financial results, it did not provide any specific details about its upcoming product, including whether it would be released this fiscal year or if they would only share their future plans for it.
“We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015,” the company’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said in a statement.
Nintendo Co., based in Kyoto, announced a 13% increase in profit for the fiscal year that ended in March. This rise was mainly due to strong sales of Switch games such as “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.”
Nintendo’s net profit for the fiscal year ending in March 2024 was 490.6 billion yen ($3 billion), which is an increase from 432.7 billion yen the previous year. Their yearly sales went up by 4% to 1.67 trillion yen ($11 billion), with nearly 80% of these sales coming from markets outside Japan.
Besides “The Legend of Zelda,” which sold 20.6 million copies last year, “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” sold 13.4 million copies, and “Pikmin 4” sold about 3.5 million copies, according to Nintendo.
The release a year ago of the film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” also helped sales.
The drop in the yen’s value compared to the dollar has been beneficial. This decrease means that when Japanese companies, such as Nintendo, earn money in dollars, it turns into a higher amount in yen. Over the last fiscal year, on average, 1 U.S. dollar was worth 151 yen, which is more than the 133 yen it was worth the year before.
Nintendo, which did not break down quarterly numbers, was less optimistic about its financial results for the fiscal year through March 2025, forecasting net profit to fall to 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion).
Nintendo has sold more than 141 million Switch machines, 15.7 million of them during the fiscal year that just ended.
Such sales tend to gradually decline over the years, so offering a steady stream of fun games is crucial.
“Endless Ocean Luminous,” which went on sale this month, has the player go on a virtual scuba diving adventure, complete with whales, colorful fish and other sea creatures. “Luigi’s Mansion 2,” featuring the plumber Mario’s brother, goes on sale next month.
Nintendo is planning to release a new movie globally in April 2026. They hope to attract more fans through the opening of Donkey Kong Country at Universal Studios Japan and a Nintendo museum in Kyoto, both expected to open later this year.
