In brief: The Japanese gaming giant expects to sell an additional 18 million Switch consoles in the coming year. A move into the Chinese market could help the company realize that goal, as would the rumored launch of a more affordable version of the Switch. Unfortunately, timelines for each still remain unknown.
Nintendo in the three-month period ending March 31, 2019, generated 29.7 billion yen ($266 million) in operating profit, short of the 36 billion yen analysts were expecting.
Nintendo sold 16.95 million Switch consoles in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, narrowly missing its revised projection of 17 million units. Still, there's reason for celebration as lifetime sales of the Switch - at 34.74 million - have now surpassed the 32.93 million Nintendo 64 consoles sold during its run.
The Switch is also on track to surpass lifetime sales of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the coming year. Nintendo sold 49.1 million SNES units following its launch in 1990.
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told reporters in Osaka that as a general rule of thumb, they're always working on new hardware and will announce it when they are able to. "But we have no plans to announce that at this year's E3 in June," he added.
Reports from earlier this week suggested a cheaper version of the Switch could make its debut at E3.
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