PAOerfulone said:
There is certainly still demand for Switch 1, especially in the more price sensitive regions like @bonzobanana - Europe and the Rest of the World in particular.
Which is why the more I think about it, the more it doesn't make any sense for them to revise their forecast down despite having a new Pokemon and new Metroid Prime game slated for the holiday season on the system UNLESS they are purposefully and specifically cutting into Switch 1 production to make more room for Switch 2 production. Because at it stands, the Switch 1 is at 1.89 million units for the fiscal year, which means it only needs to sell an additional 2.11 million units to meet their revised forecast. Hell, it only needed 2.61 million to reach their old forecast. Something that it could have done no problem in just the holiday season alone if they have the right stock... But their resources and hardware production orders/lines are limited. And they'd rather spend those resources to make 3-4 million more Switch 2s over 1-2 million more Switch 1s.
The way Furukawa worded that statement + the earlier statement of Switch 2 being the focus of software production now (No shit, PAO!) What he's REALLY saying is "Yeah, we'll keep producing and supporting Switch 1, but don't expect much of anything at this point because Switch 2 is all we care about now and our focus is on that."
Because let's be honest here. Trying to squeeze another 6-7 million, or however many more units, out of Switch 1 just to break an (albert VERY impressive) record, is a short term boost meant strictly for bragging rights that they evidently aren't all that concerned about. And they're certainly not going to do it if it comes at ANY expense or cost to their long-term plans and future (Switch 2). They'd much rather sell 25-30 million Switch 2 units a year and and only 3-5 million more Switch 1 units and have Switch 1 fall short; Rather than only sell 15-20 million Switch 2 units a year and the Switch 1 sells another 10 million and breaks the record.
TL:DR - The only thing stopping Switch 1 from catching the PS2 at this point is Nintendo's own willingness, or lack thereof, to continue supporting and selling Switch 1. |
I guess the issue is they need the Switch 2 to have a strong foundation for its launch year and maybe don't want too much competition from the original Switch so maybe they will drop production of Switch 1 to prioritise Switch 2 in the factories they use. It may simply be Nintendo has decided not to produce as many Switch 1 units so sales have to drop because of a undersupply of consoles. Nintendo increased the price of Switch 1s in North America so this could be a tactic to make the Switch 2 more competitive and work with a reduction in Switch 1 consoles being produced. I still think the Switch Lite and Switch OLED are better portable consoles than Switch 2 because of their size and battery runtime and its clear from what I've read many Japanese think exactly the same. It feels like the next revision of Switch 2 could well have a smaller screen but we shall see. Switch Lite makes up a higher number of Switch sales in Japan compared to any other market I believe.
