Nintendo is not immune from the problems caused by the lack of chips. This was announced by a Japanese company. Nintendo Switch sales fell in the first quarter of the current fiscal yearwhich ends in March 2023, compared to the same period of the previous year.
Total sold 3.43 million units handheld consoles between April and June, up from 4.45 million in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year. Referring to this topic, Nintendo mentioned that the production of the Switch was affected by the lack of semiconductors. This caused “a decrease in equipment shipments and a subsequent decline in overall sales,” the company said in a statement.
It is clear that this problem is not only with Nintendo. Sony, for example, has been suffering from a shortage of chips almost since the launch of the PS5. Something very similar happened to Microsoft at the time with the Xbox Seris X | S, and Valve’s Steam Deck is also not immune to this situation.
In the specific case of the Switch, Nintendo was already in a compromised situation at the end of 2021. By that time it became known that the company had to reduce annual production expectations by 20%.
Anyway, Mario’s house indicates an early improvement in the hardware department. Nintendo Switch production problems will subside, Nintendo says heading into autumnand the necessary resources will be made available to meet expectations during the holiday period at the end of the year, which is the period of the highest sales worldwide.
Due to delays in the procurement of components such as semiconductors this year, we were unable to complete our planned production. However, we expect acquisitions to gradually increase from late summer to autumn, giving us a clearer picture of production for the rest of the calendar year. As we prepare for the holiday season, we will take advantage of suitable shipping methods and strive to deliver as many Nintendo Switch systems as possible to consumers in each region.
Financial results for the first quarter of Nintendo’s fiscal year.
Nintendo Switch OLED leads in sales
Despite the problems caused by the shortage of chips, an interesting fact emerges from the Nintendo report – this is the breakdown of Switch sales by model. In this sense, in the first quarter of the financial year, the OLED version was in the lead in the statistics.
Of the 3.43 million units sold in the first quarter, 1.52 million came from the Nintendo Switch OLED.. The standard model sold 1.32 million units, while the Switch Lite came in third – and far behind – with 590,000 units.
As a reminder, the OLED variant was introduced in July 2021 and went on sale in October, gaining significant public acclaim. And it succeeded despite the lack of processor and RAM upgrades, as well as the lack of support for games in 4K resolution. However, the inclusion of a better screen, more storage, a new adjustable kickstand, and an Ethernet port in the dock seems to be more than enough motivation for shoppers leaning towards it.
Additionally, Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch OLED variant will go on sale on August 26th. the same will come with special design to run Platoon 3.
Software sales also suffered
Nintendo’s report doesn’t just show a drop in Switch sales from the first quarter of the previous fiscal year. The situation was repeated with software sales, which amounted to 41.4 million units compared to 45.3 million in the previous financial quarter.
In any case, the Japanese noted a positive point: the increase in sales of digital downloads. They are up 16% over the previous year and they already account for 53% of the company’s software sales.
Source: Hiper Textual
