Enlarge / Nintendo expects a lot more proud new Switch owners like this one in the coming fiscal year.
The Nintendo Switch has been an unqualified success so far, with Nintendo recently promising increased holiday season production to meet demand and expectations of over 16 million total sales by the end of March 2018. Reporting now suggests the company is expecting that sales pace to increase markedly in the coming year, though, and another associated production increase would come with both a fair amount of potential and risk for the company.
The production news comes from The Wall Street Journal, which cites “people with direct knowledge of the matter” in reporting that Nintendo plans to make 25 to 30 million Switch units in the coming fiscal year (which starts in April 2018). That’s a major increase from the 13 million produced for the current fiscal year, which itself was a sizable increase from the company’s initial plans to make just 8 million units for the console’s first full year on shelves. WSJ‘s sources say those production numbers could go up even higher if coming holiday season sales are strong.
Even the low end of that 25 million sales range is ambitious, to put it mildly. The Wii sold 25.94 million units in its second full fiscal year, during the height of the sellout mania surrounding that motion-control console. These days, the market-leading PS4 sold just 17.7 million in its second full fiscal year on shelves. Even the market-dominating PS2 sold just 22.52 million units in its most successful fiscal year, roughly three years after launch.
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