Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa stated in a conference call regarding their latest financial report that the company will reveal their Nintendo Switch 2021 software lineup at the “appropriate time.” The Nintendo Switch has a stellar lineup of games, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and Bravely Default II are set to release this month, but outside of that, very little is known about their 2021 lineup. Aside from Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Nintendo’s 2020 Switch lineup was rather weak. It is speculated that Breath of the Wild 2 will come out this year, and that will give Nintendo a huge boost, but nothing is certain at this point.
Question 6: Global Nintendo Switch sales volume (sell-in) for the fourth quarter is forecast to be 2.4 million units, but based on external data, sell-through in Japan in January already reached a certain level, so there seems to be a major difference between the two. I assume that the sell-through number includes units shipped in 2020, so the actual difference between sell-in and sellthrough might be smaller. However, with the sales momentum being very strong, can you share your thoughts about the differences in sales trends for the fourth quarter in different regions? Also, there have been no major titles released this fiscal year, so what will the software lineup look like for the next fiscal year?
Answer 6 Furukawa: With regard to our sales forecast for the fourth quarter, we are in a different situation than we were with the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons last year, but nevertheless, sales have maintained strong momentum. If this situation continues, we see the possibility of sales exceeding our fourth quarter plans, so we will keep up our efforts to sell hardware. As for the regional sales ratios, our plans are in line with the regional sales performances seen thus far. Our software lineup for next fiscal year is a topic we will discuss at the appropriate time. We have already announced our plans to release Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury in February, followed by MONSTER HUNTER RISE in March (see note 1), and New Pokémon Snap in April (see note 2). As always, we are preparing a variety of software titles for consumers in the coming fiscal year.
So thus far, Nintendo has four first-party titles that they are releasing in the coming months, which is solid. The rest of their lineup is shrouded in mystery though, and if they manage to release Breath of the Wild 2 sometime between May and December, they will be golden for this year. It will definitely help them move forward to achieve their goal of selling 100 million units and surpass the Nintendo Wii.