RolStoppable said:
There are already strong rumors about a significant hardware revision coming this calendar year. The timing coincides with the expected launch window of Breath of the Wild 2, so Nintendo has set themselves up for a sales pitch where they can show off a better performing BotW2 on the upcoming hardware revision. While Sony and Microsoft have launched hardware upgrades last generation, neither one of them managed to or tried to combine their respective launch with a signature title, so Nintendo's approach could prove to be a lot more successful. The rumors suggest that Nintendo will have a setup of three SKUs in the near future (regular hybrid, Lite and upgraded hybrid model) and as we've already seen with the Lite bringing additive sales rather than seriously cutting into the hybrid's sales, a similar effect can be expected here. That's why I consider the potential for an even bigger hardware year for Switch real rather than dreaming. There was a bit of a trade-off between hybrid and Lite sales, but overall it was still a net gain; the new SKU should behave similarly, so I expect the known hybrid's sales to decline slightly in the upcoming fiscal year, but total Switch hardware to stay flat of increase slightly. What makes Switch predictions hard is that Nintendo keeps their cards close to their chest, so their first party software release schedule is largely unknown. If they have more 10m+ sellers than only BotW2 and Pokémon remake, that will obviously increase the odds for a record year. |
I don't think we can call this rumors anymore. They are planning to launch a revision this year meaning there will be big titles releasing for the end of the year. It might get delayed if the chip situation is too bad tho. It's kinda obvious the other 2 models will get a price cut to differentiate with the new revision. They will push the Switch hard at the end of the year.