Nintendo to unveil Switch successor as profits soar

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese video-game maker Nintendo said Tuesday that it will make an announcement about a successor to its Switch home console sometime before March 2025.

In reporting its financial results, Nintendo gave no details about the announcement, including about whether it would launch that successor product during this fiscal year, or just announce its plans for it.

"We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015," the company's president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said in a statement.

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 13% rise in profit for the fiscal year that ended in March, boosted by solid demand for Switch software like "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

Nintendo's net profit for the fiscal year through March 2024 totaled 490.6 billion yen ($3 billion), up from 432.7 billion yen in the previous fiscal year. Annual sales rose 4% to 1.67 trillion yen ($11 billion), nearly 80% of it from outside Japan.

Besides "The Legend of Zelda," whose global sales for the fiscal year totaled 20.6 million units, "Super Mario Bros. Wonder" sold 13.4 million units, and "Pikmin 4" sold nearly 3.5 million, according to Nintendo.

The release a year ago of the film, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," also helped sales.

The yen's weakness against the dollar, which lifts the value in yen of overseas earnings of Japanese exporters like Nintendo, also helped. The U.S. dollar has averaged about 151 Japanese yen over the past fiscal year, up from 133 yen in the previous fiscal year.

Nintendo, which did not break down quarterly numbers, was less optimistic about its financial results for the fiscal year through March 2025, forecasting net profit to fall to 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion).

Nintendo has sold more than 141 million Switch machines, 15.7 million of them during the fiscal year that just ended.

Such sales tend to gradually decline over the years, so offering a steady stream of fun games is crucial.

"Endless Ocean Luminous," which went on sale this month, has the player go on a virtual scuba diving adventure, complete with whales, colorful fish and other sea creatures. "Luigi's Mansion 2," featuring the plumber Mario's brother, goes on sale next month.

Nintendo is also planning a new film for worldwide release in April 2026. It's counting on the openings of Donkey Kong Country in Universal Studios Japan, as well as a museum on Nintendo in Kyoto, both scheduled for later this year, to woo more fans to its franchise.