Eight months after Nintendo first teased its next video game console, buried unceremoniously in an X post, the Japanese video game giant formally unveiled the “Nintendo Switch 2” in a short teaser video on Thursday. The next Switch was perhaps the video game industry’s worst-kept secrets, as rumors about the new hardware swirled on social media.
But investors weren’t excited by Nintendo’s tease. The company’s shares slid by as much as 7% when markets opened. While shares pared back losses over the day, they are still down 4.3% by market close.
Nintendo released few details about the Switch 2 in its teaser, promising further information in a presentation on April 2. For fans, that means another few months of waiting to learn about new hardware features and launch software for the next Nintendo console.
The first iteration of the Switch is a tough act to follow. Since the console’s launch in 2017, Nintendo has sold at least 146 million units as of Sept. 30, 2024, according to company data. That puts it among the best selling video consoles of all time. (The Switch sits behind the Nintendo DS, at 154 million, and Sony’s PlayStation 2, at 160 million).
Nintendo data also shows the company has sold 1.3 billion units of software, with “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” selling a whopping 64 million units alone.
A video game slump
Yet Nintendo’s launch will come amid a video game industry that’s struggled to match the heady growth of the pandemic era.
During COVID, consumers, stuck-at-home and flush with stimulus money, snapped up video game consoles and software. Nintendo was a major beneficiary, as games like the cozy life simulator “Animal Crossing” racked up major sales.
Yet hardware sales have tapered off in the years since, thanks to inflation and the return of real-world activities. Hardware sales in the U.S. for the first 11 months of last year reached $3.74 billion according to Insider Gaming, down 24% from the $4.9 billion reported over the same period for 2023.
The industry, which hired aggressively during the pandemic, has now cut thousands of jobs, including programmers, artists and sound designers. Over 14,000 gaming jobs were cut last year, adding to layoffs totalling 10,000 the year before.
Nintendo, too, has struggled in recent years, though it may be due the company’s decision to stick with its ageing console. In November, the company cut its annual sales forecast for its fiscal year, which ends in March, to 1.28 trillion Japanese yen ($8.2 billion), down from 1.35 trillion.
But the gaming industry as a whole may be turning a corner. Sales of video game software rose last year, reaching $184.2 billion, a slight 0.2% increase from the year before, according to gaming outlet Gamesindustry.biz citing data from Newzoo, an analytics firm. Much of that growth came from mobile games; sales of games on PCs and consoles dropped 0.2% and 4% respectively.
