Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has stressed how vital it is for the company to keep driving sales of Switch 1 games, even though the Switch 2 has come to market.
During the company’s latest earnings briefing, Furukawa said, “I believe it is important that we consider how to expand the entire software business, including titles for both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.” He said Nintendo should take this approach as opposed to “focusing only on sales of Nintendo Switch 2 software.”
Furukawa said this in response to a question about the slowed sales of Switch 2-exclusive Mario Kart World after the company discontinued the hardware bundle that included the game. The executive said Mario Kart World remains an “important title” for Nintendo and that he expects it to continue to sell throughout the lifecycle of the Switch 2.
Furukawa also addressed Nintendo’s forecast that it would sell 60 million games during the current fiscal year that ends March 31, 2027. He said the number is lower than some might have expected because it does not included bundled software like it did for the Switch 2’s first fiscal year when the Mario Kart World bundle was available.
“Based on that premise, the software sales units forecast for this fiscal year was set at a level close to the total combined number of Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 software units sold last fiscal year, excluding the bundled software units,” he said.
Nintendo recently announced that its social sim Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream passed 3.8 million sales in 14 days, and that 60% of players are on Switch 1.
Nintendo has sold 48.71 million Switch 2 games so far, and Nintendo’s top-selling Switch 2 game is Mario Kart World (14.7 million units). As for the Switch 1, Nintendo has sold 1.528 billion games, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (71.08 million units) standing as the platform’s top-selling game.
The next big Switch 2 release is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which releases on May 21. It will be followed by Star Fox on June 25. After that will come Splatoon Raiders on July 23. These games are all exclusive to the Switch 2.
In other news, Nintendo just announced a “choose-your-game” Switch 2 bundle that comes with a system and your choice of Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokemon Pokopia for $500. Nintendo also announced that it will raise the price of the Switch 2 in September.