Nintendo on Tuesday stated it should announce the successor to its flagship Change this fiscal 12 months, after the corporate forecast a pointy drop in revenue because it predicts fewer gross sales of its ageing console.

The brand new Change will probably be introduced within the fiscal 12 months ended March 2025, in accordance with a Google-translated submit on X from the corporate which quotes Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa. The agency added that there could be no particulars concerning the new console on the upcoming Nintendo Direct occasion in June.

The feedback come after Nintendo reported monetary outcomes for the fiscal fourth quarter and full 12 months ended March 2024.

Earlier this 12 months, Nintendo hiked its forecast for gross sales of its flagship Change console to fifteen.5 million items in its fiscal 12 months ended March. The corporate beat its expectations, promoting 15.7 million items of the Change within the fiscal 12 months.

The corporate stated it expects to promote 13.5 million Change consoles within the fiscal 12 months ended March 2025.

Traders have been targeted on any feedback from Nintendo concerning a successor to the Change, which is now greater than seven years outdated. Analysts instructed CNBC earlier this 12 months that they anticipated a Change 2 to be launched in 2024, although Nintendo has been tight-lipped concerning the new console.

The Japanese gaming large has managed to increase the life of the present Change due to the discharge of the “Tremendous Mario Bros. Film” and the flagship Zelda sport final 12 months, which boosted curiosity within the console and associated video games.

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” and “Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise” have been amongst Nintendo’s top-selling video games for the fiscal 12 months. Nevertheless, Nintendo’s video games pipeline for this 12 months stays skinny.

With a brand new console within the works, Nintendo goals to capitalize on curiosity in its well-known characters and revive gross sales in its {hardware} enterprise.

The ageing nature of the Change is beginning to present within the firm’s forecasts. For the fiscal 12 months ended March 2025, Nintendo forecast web gross sales of 1.35 trillion yen and web revenue of 300 billion yen. That was a lot decrease than what analysts had forecast, in accordance with LSEG estimates. Nintendo’s forecast represents a 39% year-on-year fall in revenue.

This is how Nintendo did in its fiscal fourth quarter versus LSEG estimates:

• Income: 277.1 billion Japanese yen ($1.8 billion) versus 280.6 billion yen anticipated.
• Web revenue: 82.6 billion yen versus 57.2 billion yen anticipated.

Fiscal fourth quarter income fell practically 10% year-on-year whereas web revenue dropped 4.5%.

For the complete fiscal 12 months ended March 2024, Nintendo stated gross sales totaled 1.7 trillion yen, beating analyst estimates. That is a 4.4% year-on-year rise. Web revenue got here in at 490.6 billion yen, beating market estimates, and up 13.4% year-on-year.