Pokemon Shining Diamond

You're not going to believe it, but Nintendo's releasing lots of new games this year. Thank goodness.

Yes, as you may well have seen thanks to our coverage of his comments surrounding Nintendo's increased R&D expenditure and its struggles keeping up with hardware demands, company president Shuntaro Furukawa has shared several updates in a newly-published Q&A today.

One question addressed the current scale of active Switch users, and after discussing the console's recent influx of new owners thanks to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Furukawa took the opportunity to confirm that "many" new titles will be launching this fiscal year.

Here's the president's full comment:

"After the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there was a substantial increase in the number of consumers playing Nintendo Switch. There was a gradual decrease afterward, but there was another considerable increase during the year-end holiday season last year, which reached the highest number of active users since the release of Nintendo Switch. Although the number slightly decreased after the beginning of this calendar year, a lot of consumers are playing Nintendo Switch with the recent March release of Capcom's Monster Hunter Rise, so we don't think that the momentum is fading.

"Many new software titles will be released this fiscal year, starting in the first quarter, which we think will help continuously expand the range of consumers who play Nintendo Switch to include those who haven't played Nintendo Switch in a while or are completely new users."

As we've touched upon previously, Nintendo's upcoming schedule for 2021 is already looking pretty positive, with games like Mario Golf: Super Rush, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and more already confirmed. We imagine more will be announced during E3 next month, too, and you can't rule out a major launch for the holidays later in the year.

Whatever happens, we're liking the sound of "many" – even if our bank accounts really can't handle any more game launches.

How are you feeling about Nintendo's 2021? Are you optimistic? Are you excited about the upcoming release schedule? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

[source nintendo.co.jp]