The first evidence for new Nintendo hardware came from the company’s own records, which show they’re getting ready for … something.
Rather than relying on insider gossip, which rarely turns out to be true when it comes to Nintendo, this rumor is based on Nintendo’s own financial reports, which this year show a massive increase in raw materials and supplies.
Last year it was worth only ¥ 9,553 million (£ 58 million) and yet it is reported for 2022 at ¥ 66,517 million (£ 401 million). This is a 600% increase and still double that of the 2019 figure, when the Switch Lite was introduced, and yet Nintendo provided no explanation for what it’s all for.
It has nothing to do with their new R & D headquarters, which is accounted for differently, and when an investor asked Nintendo what it was for them, they got a typically vague non-response.
An official translation should be available soon, but according to Google Translate, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said: “This is a technical and difficult story, so I will omit it a lot.”
“One of the things I have is that I have a lot of raw materials, and there is also the effect of changes in accounting handling,” he added.
質問 9
が 卸 資産 が 1100 億 円 ほ ど 増 え て い る.
Do you want to get rid of it?
Do you want to get rid of it?– N れ っ く す @ (@NStyles) 29 June 2022
The implication seems to be that there has been no major change and Nintendo is just changing the way they report their releases, but that seems strange since there have been similar fluctuations before – but just before a new hardware launch.
There’s no guarantee it’s for the Switch 2, or even the mythical Switch Pro, because it can be just as easy for a new Wii Fit block, or another high-end peripheral, but it’s definitely easy to think that this is the first sign that a switch replacement is taking place.
Even without this information, Nintendo’s current range of games is very peculiar. 2022 is surprisingly busy, even without all the third-party games announced Tuesday in the Nintendo Direct Mini, and yet the only game scheduled for next year is the delayed Zelda: Breath Of The Wild sequel (Metroid Prime 4 did not not so much as a target year).
Even Nintendo is usually not that mysterious and it’s not hard to imagine that they might be planning a new hardware release next year and waiting to unveil new games until then.
Some fans have even theorized that the Breath Of The Wild sequel will be a launch title for the new console, even though it will also appear on the current Switch. After all, this is exactly how Nintendo handled the original Breath Of The Wild on the Wii U / Switch and Twilight Princess on the GameCube / Wii.
The details were first spotted on the FamiBoards forum, where they point out that Furukawa’s attempt to downplay the number as an accounting change appears to be contradicted by another section of the report, which clearly states that, ‘At the end of the consolidated financial year ended 31 March 2022, inventories and other current liabilities increased by ¥ 36,559 million.’
It’s still not proof of anything, but if you wanted a reason to hope that there will be new Nintendo hardware in 2023, and maybe even a whole new format, this is the most convincing argument so far. .
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