On July 1st, Nintendo had their 84th Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting, where, CEO Shuntaro Furukawa talked about the upcoming launch of the new Nintendo Switch successor, often called the “Switch 2.” He said that the problems that the original Switch had because of a lack of semiconductors won’t be a problem for the new console.
Nintendo Switch 2 Shouldn’t Be Impacted By Shortages, Says CEO Furukawa
In the shareholders’ Q&A session report published on July 1, Furukawa explained that making the Nintendo Switch was hard over the past two years because there weren’t enough semiconductors around the world. This shortage led to difficulties in meeting the high demand for the console, which led to shortages and people reselling the consoles for higher prices.
But Furukawa said that this problem has been solved, and he’s confident that there won’t be any shortages of parts for the new Nintendo Switch 2 console.
He said (translated in English):
Q: I would like to ask about measures to prevent the resale of the successor to the Nintendo Switch. At last year's General Meeting of Shareholders, you said that you would take measures against resale by securing sufficient hardware production, but are you making progress on these measures?
A: As a countermeasure against resale, we believe that the most important thing is to produce a solid number of products that can meet customer demand, and this idea has not changed since last year. In addition to that, we are considering whether we can take some measures within the scope permitted by laws and regulations, based on the circumstances of each region. In addition, last year and the year before that, there was a shortage of semiconductor components that prevented us from producing hardware for the Nintendo Switch in sufficient quantities, but this situation has now been resolved. As for the successor models, we do not believe that the shortage of parts will have a significant impact on production at this time.
One of the most important measures discussed to prevent the resale of the new console is ensuring that production quantities keep up with customer demand. Furukawa also said that Nintendo is looking into legal ways to stop resale, depending on the laws and situations in different regions.
Furukawa Also Talked about Nintendo Switch 2 During Fiscal Year Briefing
Back in May 2024, Furukawa also talked about the successor to the Nintendo Switch, during the fiscal year briefing, ending March 31, 2024. Although he didn’t give specific details about the new console, he said that information would be released gradually leading up to the launch, just like they’ve done with previous hardware announcements.
During the financial meeting, Furukawa acknowledged that while sales of the Switch had gone up during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of semiconductors posed new challenges. However, talking about Switch 2, Furukawa said that Nintendo doesn’t expect to have the same issues.
Furukawa hopes that the announcement and other communications about the new Switch won’t significantly impact the sales of the current Switch consoles. Instead, the company aims to maximize sales this fiscal year by maintaining a good balance between new demand and demand for multiple systems.
For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Nintendo reported a 12.6% year-on-year decline in Switch hardware sales, from 17.97 million to 15.70 million units. Despite this decline, lifetime sales for the Switch have reached an impressive 141.32 million consoles, with 1.235 billion games sold.
In summary, Nintendo’s CEO Shuntaro Furukawa has assured shareholders and fans that the development and production of the Nintendo Switch 2 will not be hampered by the shortages that previously affected the original Switch.
For constant updates, keep following Gamevro.
