Nintendo cuts Switch sales forecast as the wait for new hardware continues

Nintendo has lowered its sales projections for Switch hardware and software, as the company faces one final Christmas focused on its current, aging platform.

Switch hardware sales were down 31 percent year-on-year for the three months ending 30th September. The company has now cut its total Switch sales forecast for the financial year to 12.5m, down from the 13.5m it expected previously.

After more than seven years on sale, the Switch stands at 146.04m units sold, just 8m shy of the Nintendo DS, the company's best-selling gaming device.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, released just before the end of September, shifted 2.58m copies before the end of that month.

Other recent releases to sell over a million copies include Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (1.94m) and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (1.57m).

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Switch's evergreen bestseller, sold another 1.37m copies, and remains by some margin the console's best-selling game.

Nintendo's final sales update of 2024 paints a picture of a company on the cusp of announcing much-needed new hardware - though provided no new word on when that announcement might arrive.

Switch 2, or whatever Nintendo eventually ends up calling it, is expected to finally launch in 2025 and will be announced before the end of March.