Nintendo Switch Online and Hardware Transition: the responses of the CEO of Nintendo

In the wake of the announcement of the results for the past year, the CEO of Nintendo again delivered to the traditional exercise of questions / answers to comment on performance, addressing both shareholders and financial analysts. And if most of the declarations relate to sales forecasts, the effect of the exchange rate and the routing of new consoles in a context of shortage and international conflict, Shuntarô Furukawa has not escaped the questions related to the Transition to a new hardware, five years after the advent of the Switch.

In accordance with what has been said and repeated in recent years, Nintendo does not intend to abandon the switch of any time. Beyond the 23 million machines sold during the previous exercise, and forecasts counting on 21 million additional switch for the current one, Furukawa explains that the catalog will continue to get rich until the spring of 2023. "We have already announced Part of the outing schedule until next spring ", recalls the person concerned, adding that the uninterrupted success of the machine since 2017" A allowed to allocate resources to the development of new games by focusing on a single platform ", which was not the case in the past.

Despite this success which has definitely drew a line on the difficulties of Wii U, Nintendo says it remains vigilant on technological transition issues. It is even " of a major concern" according to Furukawa, in reference "aux past experiences, in particular the time of the Wii and the DS", and the obstacles represented by the emergence of a new hardware on the. If we believe the CEO of Nintendo, the idea here is to ensure a "transition in a gentle" so as not to lose the owners of Switch on the way. In addition to the games, the manufacturer believes that he can count on the deployment of services related to Nintendo accounts to retain players and achieve his ends. Without counting of course the development of intellectual properties beyond the software sphere, like the animated film Mario by 2023. "We hope to establish a privileged relationship with our users who will lead to the next generation of Hardware ", summarizes the manager, without bringing precision to this stage on the machine which will succeed one day or another to the Switch.

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At the time of it, it is mainly a question for Nintendo to consolidate its sales figures in a context of shortage and international conflict. Invited to comment on the proportion of OLED models among consoles sales, Shuntarô Furukawa believes that "The request from the OLED model has remained strong" and that "The sales of OLED models will contribute to the results throughout the year, in propotions important compared to total sales on the hardware ". During the previous exercise, this share would represent the consoling of 25 % of the switch sold, and for a good part for the purposes of upgrade material: "environ 30 % of the Switch Lite sold were linked to an additional purchase need, While around 40 % of OLED models were linked to a replacement request ", according to the confidences of the president of Nintendo.

"For achieve our objectives of 21 million units sold during the year, it is essential to maximize both these different types of demand, and we think that the proportion of OLED models will naturally progress", assures Furukawa, Who specifies that the shipment of new machines will go more through air freight this year. The objective: bypassing the "défis of the current period" and ensuring a routing for the holiday season, even if "I is very difficult to plan the transport of products not only to Europe, but also Towards other regions of the Globe ".

On the other hand, we will not have updated data for the number of subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online, which opens in particular access to online game on the machine - on this point, it will be necessary to be satisfied with the figure communicated last September, which established the base of subscribers around 32 million. However, according to Furukawa, it would increase regularly, by moderating on the increase in sales on the hardware side, while recognizing that "cers customers whose subscription period has expired does not renew their membership". Hence the need according to the CEO of Nintendo to "Lance titles that allow users to continue to enjoy the online game and to increase the attraction of the service itself", like Nintendo Switch Sports At the end of April, and which would have been adopted in the West by the nostalgic twenty -year -olds of Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. Without forgetting Splatoon 3 soon and its strong online component, scheduled for September 9.

Another solution: to ensure that current subscribers increase the amount of their subscription through additional options. Despite updates to the droppings of the catalogs, "The number of subscribers to" Nintendo Switch Online + Additional Pack "has regularly increased and gradually represents a greater proportion of our subscribers", says Furukawa, adding that this percentage Generous donors is "particularly high in the United States", compared to other regions. The integration of additional content in the offer, whether Nintendo 64 or DLC games for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing New Horizons would also have had a positive impact on the number of new subscribers. "We will examine the opportunity to distribute additional content as part of the offer in the future, by assessing the most appropriate way to provide this content for each game individually", concludes Sibyllin the CEO of Nintendo.