Nintendo made a plea on Wednesday for the continued competitive fitness of its aging Switch console. The Kyoto gaming company continues to produce hits, even as the market debates the timing of a successor.
The Japanese company said it sold 4.3 million copies of “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” – the first all-new installment in the nearly 40-year-old side-scrolling series in a decade – within two weeks of its Oct. 20 launch.
This is the best performance of any “Super Mario” title, according to Nintendo, which is benefiting from more than 130 million Switch installs and interest generated by a groundbreaking animated film about the mustachioed plumber.
“The Switch will enter its eighth year starting in March 2024, but we will continue to develop new titles without being tied to previous platform lifecycles,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told a strategy briefing.
The comments come a day after Nintendo reported it sold 6.84 million Switch units in the first six months of its fiscal year that started in April, a slight increase from the same period a year earlier.
Sales of first-party Switch games were the strongest of any year in that period except 2020, Nintendo said, boosted by top titles such as “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.”
Nintendo also announced Wednesday that “Super Mario” creator Shigeru Miyamoto is developing a live-action adaptation of the “Zelda” franchise.
Games coming out next year include “Mario vs. Donkey Kong” and “Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD.”
The timing of a successor to the hybrid home/portable Switch device will depend on the strength of Nintendo’s hardware and software sales, Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a client note, citing March and October as possible launch dates.
“The stronger the sales, the later the Switch 2 launch,” he wrote. (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
2023-11-08 03:17:43
#Mario #Wonders #latest #powerup #Nintendo #Switch
