“Nintendo Switch has seen cumulative sales exceeding 60 million units since launch and is just now entering the middle of its life cycle. We continue to see this as building a foundation for growth that goes beyond the life cycles of our previous hardware platforms.

Furthermore, when Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released (March 20, 2020), Nintendo Switch had already been available for three years, and we believe that many consumers who became aware of the system during that time but had not yet purchased it were inspired to do so because of the interest surrounding Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Our situation this year was defined by the benefits of this major hit title creating significant demand.

Moving forward, we will continue efforts to extend the Nintendo Switch life cycle, while promoting initiatives that make use of Nintendo Accounts and pursuing our goal of motivating consumers to play our platforms for years to come. The dedicated video game business is based on consumers buying the hardware and then also purchasing software, so Animal Crossing: New Horizons becoming a major hit and encouraging hardware purchases among so many consumers goes beyond impacting the business this one year and is extremely significant to the overall Nintendo Switch life cycle.”