Nintendo on Tuesday, in the least dramatic manner imaginable, confirmed years of speculation: the Nintendo Switch 2 console is coming.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said on X, “We will make an announcement about the successor to the Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year.”
Mind you, this wasn’t the console announcement itself. Furukawa wanted to caution fans instead of anticipating the real news during the Nintendo Direct broadcast the following month.
“Please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation, but we will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024,” the post said.
Given that Nintendo’s fiscal year ends in March, we might have to wait until spring 2025 to learn what the Switch’s future holds.
The 2015 release of the Nintendo Switch proved to be a huge hit for the Japanese video game maker. Only the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2 have sold more than 141 million copies overall, making the Switch the third-best-selling system of all time.
The Switch became immensely popular because it was the first commercially successful gaming system that could be used as both a desktop console linked to an external monitor and a portable device. Nintendo was also fortunate to have “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” released at the same time that worldwide coronavirus lockdowns started. Nintendo sold 12 million Switch units in March–November 2020, a 73% increase over the same time frame the previous year. In fact, the corporation had to adjust its financial projection for that year by 50% more than expected.
Nintendo released a clever statement along with their quarterly financial results. Naturally, after over ten years of availability for its main system, the company’s hardware sales fell 12.6% year over year. Nonetheless, blockbuster exclusive games like “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” the much anticipated follow-up to the beloved “Breath of the Wild,” keep the Switch very popular.
Over the last year, “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” has sold 13.44 million copies, compared to 20.6 million for “Tears of the Kingdom.” The Nintendo eShop, constantly updated, allows players to download games from independent developers. That, along with Nintendo enabling players to play games from its previous platforms on the Switch, has kept the device feeling new even after nine years.
