As part of its end-of-year financials, Nintendo confirmed that the Switch so far has shipped 55.77 million units since its introduction in 2017. This means the console shipped 3.29 million over the last quarter, which is a nice boost over the third (holiday) quarter. While these results are impressive, Nintendo is being conservative when forecasting sales in the new fiscal year, which ends in March 2021. Part of this has to do with the company’s announced slate of first-party games for the fiscal year, which so far doesn’t include as many heavy-hitters as this year had. For instance, Nintendo couldn’t provide release targets for Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, or the Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel. This indicates that the company is not expecting them in the current fiscal year, which could also mean that Switch doesn’t have a big holiday game.
The other part of this, of course, has to do with the impact of the coronavirus. Not only are lockdowns worldwide affecting game production, Nintendo is also concerned about demand for its hardware and software during the year. In raw numbers, Nintendo expects to ship 19 million units in FY2020/2021, compared to the 21.03 million it shipped in FY2019/2020. This also goes for software, of which Nintendo forecasts selling 140 million units, down from the previous 168.72 million sold in the FY ending March this year. Earlier today, Nintendo published updated sales figures for its biggest game, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 11.7 million in its first 11 days.
