Nintendo's president has declined to comment on the possibility of a new Switch model.
Earlier today on May 10, Nintendo published its full financial report for the fiscal year ending March 2022. As noted by Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki via the tweet below, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was directly asked in a Q&A session whether the company plans to launch another Nintendo Switch model in this fiscal year, which he declined to answer.
Nintendo President Furukawa declined to comment today when asked whether it plans to release a new Switch hardware this FY. Two years ago, when it didn't release a Switch hardware, he clearly said there won't be.https://t.co/0CztSdUH0vMay 10, 2022
Previously, we've seen Furukawa outright shoot down speculation about a new Nintendo Switch. Last year, shortly after the Nintendo Switch OLED model was first announced, the Nintendo president outright denied reports of a new Switch console, entirely shooting down the possibility of new hardware. Compared to his past comments, today's comments from Furukawa are a little more conspicuous.
- Nintendo boss says it's not Switch 2's fault that Switch sales are "below expectations," and the company will keep selling the old console "as long as there is demand"
- Nintendo "don't like what's happening" with Switch 2 leaks, former marketing lead suspects, but it won't affect plans: "A lot of this is going to be in the rear-view mirror"
Over the five years since the Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, it's seen a number of hardware revisions and new models. There have been changes to the base model, where a new version with a better battery model was released in 2019, and entirely new versions of the hardware, like the Nintendo Switch Lite that same year in 2019, and the Nintendo Switch OLED model last year in 2021.
As such, it's not unreasonable to posit when the next version of the Nintendo Switch could potentially launch. In fact, considering Nintendo has reiterated that we're in the middle of the Switch's overall lifecycle after two significant hardware revisions, it's not out of the question that the company would already be lining up another version of the console if we've got five more years of the Switch still to come.
Elsewhere in the Nintendo financial report, the company announced sales of the console had dropped by 20% over the 2021 fiscal year, compared to the 12 months prior. This is chiefly due to the availability of parts, Nintendo claims, and the company has even dropped its sales forecast for the current year as a result, estimating to sell two million units less this coming year.
If you're still trying to get your hands on Ninendo's latest console, you can check out our Nintendo Switch OLED restock updates guide for more. Plus, our sources say we won't see Switch 2 for quite some time
