Image: Nintendo
The Nintendo Switch’s successor has been heavily rumoured, but won't launch anytime soon.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed that there are no plans to launch new Nintendo Switch hardware anytime before the coming financial year ends on March 31, 2024. That means that the Nintendo Switch 2, which has been heavily rumoured to be in development this year, will not hit shelves until April 2024 at least.
Furukawa confirmed the news to investors this week after posting up Nintendo’s financial results, which saw its flagship console finally dip in sales. Console sales are now down 22% over the last year, and the company is not confident that sales might pick up again over the rest of 2023. The console has historically sold very well recently despite being many years behind its competitors - the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S - in performance.
Nintendo warned investors that it isn’t looking to ship a successor or upgrade to the Nintendo Switch this financial year, and instead wants to beef up console sales, “by supplementing existing titles with a continuous stream of new titles and add-on content.” It’s not like the company is short on exclusives this year, either. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches later this week and Pikmin 4 arrives in July. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are also on track to release two expansions, the first of which arrives in Fall 2023.
The Nintendo Switch is now in the seventh year of its lifespan, and certainly showing its age at this point. Interestingly, a source speaking to Nikkei Asia confirmed that Nintendo is already in development on a new console to combat its sales decline, and, “Development seems to be progressing well.” However, “a product launch won’t happen before next spring at the earliest." That release window would line up with Furukawa’s claims that no new hardware is coming until April 2024, and the fact that we have very few Nintendo exclusives announced post-Pikmin 4 for this console generation.
The Nintendo Switch 2 might not launch this year, but it’s coming.
