Nintendo president says memory supply for Switch hardware is sufficient

Nintendo says the memory crisis is not hurting its supply. Speaking around the company's quarterly financial report, as captured by Reuters, president Shuntaro Furukawa said Nintendo is in a position to secure sufficient memory for its Switch hardware. He said there has been no major change in the memory situation from Nintendo's point of view. Game Developer reads that as the crisis not getting better, but not worse for Nintendo either.

Memory component prices have risen worldwide, largely because those components are going to data centers, according to Game Developer. The rise has led to price increases and launch uncertainty across the industry. Nintendo raised the US price of the Switch 2 in September from $450 to $500, an increase driven by the cost of components such as RAM. Game Developer notes Nintendo has warned in the past that further increases are not ruled out.

Hardware sales slowed. The Switch 2 sold 2.67 million units in the quarter, a 32.7 percent drop from the previous quarter, while the Switch 1 sold 610,000. Game Developer says the price hike may be to blame for the slowdown. A Bloomberg report quotes analysts who instead point to a lack of major blockbusters, noting that little beyond Mario Kart World has passed six million sold. Switch 2 still sells better than the original Switch when aligned to launch, and it remains the fastest-selling console of all time. Nintendo plans to stop selling the Switch 1 in Europe in February.

Software sales rose significantly overall, with year-over-year gains on both Switch 2 and Switch 1. The Switch 1 benefited from titles like Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven Groove. Nintendo's forecast of 16 million Switch 2 units for the financial year is unchanged. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launched on Switch 2 on the day the results were reported, and any financial effect will not show until the Q3 report in January. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has reached 72 million copies sold.