The PS5 and Xbox Series X are launching this holiday season, but Nintendo remains unruffled by the imminent debut of what will soon be the most powerful consoles on the market; and rightfully so.
It's that time of year again, when big corporations release their fiscal results, and Nintendo is no different, putting all of the information regarding its Switch and Switch Lite consoles out there, and discussing its strategy for the upcoming year.
This year's Q&A with investors (translated by VGC) has been particularly interesting, with the company finally addressing the Nintendo Switch Pro rumours, and to what extent it feels its business is going to be impacted when Microsoft and Sony launch their next-gen consoles later this year.
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Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors that the reason he's not concerned about the going up against the PS5 and Xbox Series X is because the Switch isn't a direct competitor to the consoles. It's going to be overlooked by an audience who's solely after a powerhouse machine to play their triple A titles on. The Switch will either sit alongside a main console or PC, or be someone's device of choice because Nintendo still keeps its core IPs exclusive to its own console. Not to mention the hybrid nature of the Switch, and the full portability of the recently released Switch Lite makes it an entirely different beast to Sony and Microsoft's offerings.
"We will explain the specific figures for the next fiscal year in our next fiscal year announcement, but I think there will certainly be a change in the environment as new products of our competitors appear," said Furukawa.
"We do not believe that the business trends of other companies will have a significant impact on our business," he added.
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With 22 months on the market, Nintendo Switch has shipped 32.27 million units of hardware. Here is how it compares to other console hardware, when launch aligned. At the moment it's tracking above PS4 and inline with Wii (Although will likely not keep up with Wii next year) pic.twitter.com/UPb7jmrApUJanuary 31, 2019
The Switch has performed fantastically well since launch, with industry analyst, Daniel Ahmad, tweeting out figures that show the console is currently outperforming the PS4 at the same point in the Sony console's life-cycle. At 22 months post-launch, Nintendo has shipped 32.27 million units which puts it at the same pace as the Wii.
Its first-party and console exclusive titles have sold incredibly well, including Luigi's Mansion 3 which has sold twice as fast as its predecessor and Pokemon Sword and Shield, which is the fastest-selling Pokemon title ever.
Nintendo also quashed rumours of a Switch Pro console launching this year, which isn't too much of a surprise given that the debut of the Switch Lite has bolstered sales along with a strong lineup of games. It looks like it's going to be another lucrative year for Nintendo and unlike Microsoft and Sony, it doesn't have to worry about a direct competitor going for the same audience.
If you're a Switch owner or have treated yourself to the new portable Lite model, be sure to check out T3's best Nintendo Switch games to play in 2020. There's plenty of them!
