By Sam Nusey
TOKYO (Reuters) -Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said on Wednesday that software for the Switch (NYSE:) console would be playable on the successor device.
The Kyoto-based gaming company has said it plans to make an announcement about a successor during the financial year ending March 2025, but has not provided further details.
“Nintendo Switch is currently played by many customers, so we decided it would be optimal for them to be able to play their Switch software on the successor model,” said Furukawa.
“Customers can enjoy the games they own and choose their next title from the range of games already on the market,” Furukawa told a management policy briefing.
Offering backward compatibility could encourage consumers to switch to the new device and broaden the appeal of existing software.
“It’s not a big surprise, but it could be another clue that the next device will be similar to the current one,” said Serkan Toto, founder of the consultancy firm Kantan Games.
Nintendo has sold more than 1.3 billion units of software for the Switch, which is in its eighth year on the market and has an install base of more than 145 million units.
The Kyoto-based gaming company has had success in extending the life cycle of the hybrid portable home switch with popular games and a series of hardware innovations.
Hardware sales are losing steam, with Nintendo on Tuesday cutting its full-year Switch sales forecast by 7% to 12.5 million units, ahead of the key year-end shopping season.
“We’re not surprised by the miss on the (hardware) side, as Nintendo’s target markets appear fairly saturated in most regions,” said analyst Jefferies. Atul (NS:) Goyal wrote in a customer note.
” Software (ETR:) Sales rose in the second quarter and are expected to continue in the third quarter,” Goyal wrote.
Nintendo sold 39.6 million software units in the second quarter ended September, up 29% from three months earlier.
The company’s shares rose 6% in Tokyo, compared with a 3% rise in the benchmark index.
