Nintendo reaches 80 million Switch sales, but there will be no Switch Pro or Super Switch announcement 'anytime soon'

Nintendo has announced its financial results for the third quarter of the current fiscal year, in which it has disclosed that it sold 11.6 million Switch consoles. According to the company, these sales generated JPY 229.7 billion (~US$2.1 billion) in profit over the last three months, a figure that exceeded analysts' expectations of around JPY 189.6 billion (~US$1.81 billion).

Nintendo cites the COVID-19 pandemic for its strong financial results, the associated increased demand for video games, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons' success. Additionally, limited edition consoles have boosted the Switch's popularity, which is a strategy that Nintendo will continue into 2021 with Monster Hunter Rise and Mario Red & Blue consoles.

According to Bloomberg and Takashi Mochizuki, Nintendo now expects to sell 26.5 million Switch units by the end of its fiscal year, an increase of 2.5 million of its previous projection. Even if the company fails to meet its latest projection, it has already sold 79.87 million Switch units since the console's launch in March 2017. The Wii sold 101.63 million units in its lifespan, for reference, while the Wii U managed a measly 13.56 million sales in seven years from its launch in November 2012.

The Switch has now overtaken the lifetime sales of the 3DS too, and it should outsell the Game Boy Advance by the end of Nintendo's financial year. Moreover, Switch sales are now not far behind the lifetime sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. By contrast, Sony has sold over 155 million units of the PlayStation 2 and 113.5 million units of the PlayStation 4 as of September 30, 2020.

Nintendo has also dealt a blow for those hoping that the company would announce a Switch Pro or Super Switch soon. According to Mochizuki, Nintendo has confirmed that it is not planning to announce a new Switch model 'anytime soon'. Last year, Nintendo stated that it had no plans to release a new model in 2020, so we are unsure why the company has switched to a more vague statement if there is one.

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