Nintendo Spills The Beans On Its Switch 2 Launch Plans
Nintendo has not exactly been all that forthcoming with its next generation game console plans, saying instead that it intends to squeeze as much life out of its current generation Switch handheld as possible. Be that as it may, there is another console on the horizon. There's no doubt about that, with Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa revealing on X/Twitter that a Switch "successor" will be here soon.
Furukawa's confirmation of a pending Switch successor came on the heels of Nintendo posting its earnings report for the company's fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.
"This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation," Furukawa wrote.
The upcoming Nintendo Direct event in June would have been a good time to make a splash with a Switch 2 or Switch Pro reveal, or whatever Nintendo has in store for its next major console release. However, Furukawa's comments make it clear that no such announcement is coming at the event, which will instead keep the focus on upcoming games for the remainder for 2024.
What that suggests is that a Switch 2 announcement will come no earlier than July 2024, and no later than March 2025. if we had to venture a guess, we'd say Nintendo is likely to wait until early next year to reveal its next console, so as not to steal any thunder from its current generation hardware during the holiday shopping season.
Related, Nintendo revealed that it sold 15.7 million Switch consoles during its fiscal 2024, which is a 12.6% decline compared to last year. That includes 3.86 million regular Switch consoles, 9.32 million Switch OLED models, and 2.52 million Switch Lite consoles. While hardware sales are starting to wane, the Switch is Nintendo's second best-selling console of all time with 141.32 million units sold, trailing only the Nintendo DS with 154.02 million units sold.
"By continuing to convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch, we try to not only put one system in every home, but
several in every home, or even one for every person. Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers
keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and we can maximize hardware sales," Nintendo stated in its latest earnings release (PDF).
Meanwhile, there is no shortage of Switch leaks. The latest rumors suggest the Switch 2 will come with magnetic Joy-Con controllers while support both current and original Joy-Con and Pro controllers. It's also said to feature a 7-inch display and offer backwards compatibility with the current Switch.
