Nintendo faced up to reality Thursday, cutting the sales forecasts for its Switch and 3DS systems, acknowledging it had been overly optimistic in its projections.
The company now expects to sell 17 million Switch units this fiscal year, down from 20 million (a number few analysts expected the company could meet without price cuts). It also cut its sales forecast for the 3DS handheld system nearly in half, from 4 million to 2.6 million.
Despite the cuts, Nintendo had plenty to crow about in its latest earnings report. Profits jumped roughly 25% compared to the same period last year, coming in at $956 million. And game sales were especially strong, indicating people aren’t just buying Switch hardware, but they’re continuing to play with it.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon: Let’s Go were the top sellers, moving 12.08 million and 10 million units respectively. Super Mario Party also performed well, selling 5.3 million copies.
Life to date, Nintendo Switch has sold 32.2 million units, which puts it right behind the Nintendo 64. Once it passes that classic unit, it has some big gaps to close, though. The original NES sold 61.9 million units in its lifetime and the Wii sold 101.6 million.
Nintendo is increasingly focused on mobile games, though, as player habits shift. And one of its biggest upcoming mobile games is going to arrive a bit late. Mario Kart Tour, a mobile version of the hit franchise, was originally slated to release in March, but has been pushed back to summer, the company says.
That game was initially announced a year ago.
