In the most anticlimactic way possible, Nintendo on Tuesday confirmed years of rumors: The Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way.
“We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year,” wrote Shuntaro Furukawa, the president of Nintendo, on X.
This wasn’t the actual announcement of the console, mind. Rather, Furukawa wanted to warn users not to expect the actual announcement in next month’s Nintendo Direct livestream.
“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,” the post reads.
Nintendo’s fiscal year ends in March, which means we might have to wait until Spring 2025 to learn what’s next for the Switch, released nine years ago.
Launched in 2015, the Nintendo Switch was a resounding success for the Japanese gaming company. To date, Nintendo has sold over 141 million units, making the Switch the third-best-selling console of all time, trailing only behind the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2.
The Switch became so popular because it was the first commercially successful gaming hardware that could be played both as a handheld device and as a desktop console connected to an external display. The coincidental release of “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” at the beginning of global coronavirus lockdowns was also a boon for Nintendo. Between March and November 2020, Nintendo sold 12 million Switch consoles, which was a 73% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. The company even had to revise its financial forecast that year to be 50% higher than anticipated.
Nintendo’s sly announcement accompanied its quarterly earnings report. The company’s hardware sales declined 12.6% year-over-year, as is natural when its flagship console has been available for nearly a decade. Still, the Switch remains hugely popular, thanks to blockbuster exclusive titles like “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” the long-awaited sequel to the classic “Breath of the Wild.”
“Tears of the Kingdom” has sold 20.6 million copies over the last year, while “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” sold 13.44 million copies. Indie developers continue to push out games for the Switch, which players can download via the Nintendo eShop. That, and the fact that Nintendo has made it possible for users to play its older consoles’ games on the Switch, has kept the console feeling fresh even after nine years.
So, what will come first: the Nintendo Switch 2 or Silksong?