Nintendo just released its second-quarter financial results for its fiscal year ending in March 2023. In general, Nintendo is doing just fine. Although hardware sales (that is, new Switch sales) are trending down, software sales are up, and overall net sales and profitability are very healthy. No fear of this ship sinking, unlike certain social media companies I could mention.
Anyway, later on in Nintendo's financial docs you'll find a section dedicated to the Japanese company's commitment to a green future. Turns out that Nintendo has been working on making the Switch more energy efficient. Compared to the original Switch model that released in 2017, the OLED Switch is using half as much power. That's 12W from the original Switch and just 6W on the OLED Switch. Even the current model Switch is an energy saver, using just 7W while docked.
And it's not just energy that Nintendo is looking to save. As reported back in August, Nintendo is shrinking the packaging on new OLED Switch boxes by 18 percent. This obviously saves some trees by using less paper, but it also saves gas and transportation costs by allowing Nintendo to stuff more Switches into a shipping container thanks to the smaller boxes. It's a win for everyone when we use less packaging.
In addition, Nintendo noted that it's working to reduce CO2 emissions from each stage of its manufacturing process. It's also working to reduce emissions from transportation, sales, and after-sales services, and expanding its implementation of renewable energy sources too.
You can read the whole report over on Nintendo's website, with the environmental stuff starting at page 51 (with thanks to Eurogamer).
In other Nintendo news, Shigeru Miyamoto recently did a Q&A session where he confirmed that backwards compatibility is now easier than ever, but that doesn't mean Nintendo will make it easier to play your older games. "Nintendo's strength is in creating new video game experiences, so when we release new hardware in the future, we would like to showcase unique video games that could not be created with pre-existing hardware," he said.