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Nintendo forecasts 37m Switch sales by April 2019

Meanwhile console nears 3.3 units in Japan, breaking region's first-year sales record

Nintendo aims to sell close to 40 million units of its successful Switch console by the end of the next fiscal year.

This ambition was revealed by Tatsumi Kimishima in an interview with the Kyoto Shimbun newspaper, translated by wccftech.

The Nintendo president says he hopes to shift 20 million units in fiscal 2018 which, when combined with the current target of 14 million units for fiscal 2017 and the 2.74m it sold in March alone, would bring the console's worldwide installed base up to almost 37 million units.

Kimishima reiterated that the Switch's performance has exceeded expectations and Nintendo hopes to drive this with more titles that "enable new ways of playing."

Given that the platform holder has already sold 10 million units globally since Switch launched in March, it's likely the device will exceed that 14 million target.

Looking specifically at Nintendo's home market of Japan, sales data from Famitsu shows Switch has sold just under 3.3 million since launch - and even came close to selling one million units in December, having sold 900,000 by Christmas Eve.

This means Switch has not only outperformed Wii U's lifetime sales in the region, it has also beaten PS2's record-setting first-year sales of three million, according to Polygon.

The numbers continue the narrative that Switch has been a hit from the beginning, fuelling speculation as to whether Nintendo can achieve its ultimate dream of surpassing the lifetime sales of the original Wii.

However, 2018 will be a crucial year and Switch's performance will depend on the flow of new releases. While there are some major third-party hits on the way, such as Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, first-party titles have always been the driving force behind Nintendo hardware.

With Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart, Arms and Splatoon already available for Switch, it's hard to see what system sellers Nintendo can bring to shelves in the next twelve months.

The only confirmed titles for 2018 are Kirby and Yoshi, with the intention of brining a brand new Pokémon title to Switch by the end of the year - the latter of which could certainly help Nintendo achieve that 20 million target if well received.

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James Batchelor

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James Batchelor is Editor-in-Chief at GamesIndustry.biz. He has been a B2B journalist since 2006, and an author since he knew what one was