Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has denied a new Nintendo Switch model will be announced in the near future; amid Nintendo having it’s best financial quarter since 2008.
We previously reported on rumors of a more powerful Nintendo Switch being in production, a so-called “Nintendo Switch Pro” model. This new model will allegedly support 4K graphics, and would allegedly launch early 2021. A patent for a rail-less Joy-Con further fueled speculation.
The initial report came via Bloomberg, who now report Furukawa has denied a new model is in the works, stating (in Bloomberg’s words) Nintendo “doesn’t plan to announce a new Switch model anytime soon, leaving the door open to new hardware later in the year.”
The news came when Nintendo reportedly announced they are raising their annual forecasts for the second time, and having the best quarter since 2008. That year saw the Nintendo Wii in full swing; with Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl being the first, second, and fourth best selling games of 2008.
Bloomberg reports Nintendo reported operating profit for the quarter with ¥229.7 billion JPY (est. $2.2 billion USD). This soundly trounces the ¥189.6 billion JPY (est. $1.81 billion USD) analysts had previously predicted. Nintendo reportedly increased its operating profit forecast by 24%.
Nintendo expect to sell 26.5 million Nintendo Switch units this year, and the console had sold 11.6 million units over Holiday 2020 (75 higher than the prior year). The Nintendo Switch has also been the best selling console in the US for 24 consecutive months, including the month of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S launch.
Both next-gen consoles have been suffering from production woes, brought on primarily by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders. AMD’s CEO has stated that their production will still experience “some tightness” for the first six months of 2021, undoubtedly affecting production of both consoles.
On the other hand, the success of the Nintendo Switch has been attributed to lockdown; combined with availability, larger library of games, and cheaper price. One of the game’s championed as being its kingmaker is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We previously reported how the Nintendo Switch has sold 68.30 million units in Nintendo’s second financial quarter, with the game selling 26.04 million copies.
Bloomberg’s own analysts stated “Without a Switch Pro and suite of new games such as a sequel to Zelda Breath of the Wild, Nintendo’s 2020 will mark the high watermark as the Switch cycle wanes and with a difficult year-ago comparable as 2020 results were significantly boosted by Covid-19 demand.”
It should be noted Nintendo would deny any upcoming announcements on games and products until they were ready to be officially revealed. In addition, Polish retail website MediaMarkt briefly mentioned a Nintendo Switch Pro.
Image: Nintendo