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.
Seems kind of strange to announce this way I wonder if they’re expecting a big leak to come out so they’re getting ahead of it? Otherwise, why not just mention at the end of that June direct that you’ll talk more about this in the coming months
They are letting the investors know in advance they won’t talk about Switch. The Japanese Twitter account is used for these kind of things.
Nintendo just released their earning reports, and Switch only sold 1.96Million in last months (Jan - March), so maybe they announced it to let the shareholders know that next one is coming soon.
ONLY 1.96 million units. Imagine having a problem like that
I like they’re setting the right expectations for the June direct.
Ah the announcement of the future announcement.
The teaser for the trailer, if you will.
Still better than years of silence.
Bit of a shock for me. Wish they’d announced that they were about to announce that the announcement was about to happen.
The articles that came out every few months for the last few years saying the Switch 2 is coming out soon were right!
I genuinely think a Switch Pro was shelved due to the chip shortage, and the OLED model was a replacement.
It’s possible. Covid changed many company’s plans.
100%
Nintendo has cancelled all convention and events appearances for the year such as PAX and Gamescom. If they had anything to show off it would be during those two events. With everything cancelled I think they are going the route for the late year announcement like they did with the Switch which was revealed in October 2016 and released in March.
I predict we won’t hear anything until September/October.
So what are we expecting to see in June?
This seems like the last chance to announce a Switch release for Metroid Prime 4. If we don’t see it, I’ll assume it was pushed to the next console.
I thought the rumors of a remake for Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War sounded likely. FE 4 and 5 have both never been remade and never officially been made available in English, but 4 is popular in Japan and Sigurd had a relatively prominent role in Engage compared to most of the other Emblems. However, we haven’t heard anything about it, so if we don’t hear about it in June I’ll assume they aren’t doing it.
Star Fox tends to launch at the end of a console’s life… so there’s that maybe.
Sakurai has been up to something… probably the next Smash, but I can always dream it’s a new or even remade Kid Icarus.
And probably some last minute WiiU ports.
Metroid Prime 4 is probably too high profile to leave to the switch… (and Mario hasn’t had a launch title since the N64, maybe GCN at a stretch) but they could always pull a Twilight Princess I suppose.
And probably some last minute WiiU ports.
Really hoping one of those is Xenoblade X. The end of 3 made it look like they’re merging all the Xeno games, and X is the only one from Blade that’s not on the Switch.
And probably some last minute WiiU ports.
Assuming BC is confirmed on the new platform I would be willing to buy a Wind Waker / Twilight Princess double pack.
Great point about Sakurai. He’s doing regular youtube videos, but there’s a good chance he has some smaller pet project. Something like Kid Icarus that he’s wantes to work on but was too busy with Smash.
More news on Pokemon Legends AZ, assuming it is far enough along in development? I would expect it to be one of the last Switch games, especially if the Switch 2 is backwards compatible. Pokemon Company is known for releasing games for previous generation systems.
Maybe TOTK DLC? It’s more than 1 year since it launched
It sounded pretty definite in interviews that they aren’t planning DLC for this one, but we can still hope :)
This seems like the last chance to announce a Switch release for Metroid Prime 4. If we don’t see it, I’ll assume it was pushed to the next console.
Good point. It’d be awesome to see what they’ve come up with for MP4, but if they don’t show anything, I’ll assume the same.
I think they might wait for an FE4 remake until the next console. Engage had a middling reception and just released last year. FE games generally come out around 3-4 years apart unless they are companion games in the same setting (such as FE4 - 5 (Jugdral), FE6 - 7 (Elibe), and the Wii games (Tellius)), and a 3-year gap from last year will align with FE4’s 30th anniversary, which will likely help it sell in Japan (the novelty of another classic title finally releasing in the West will probably be enough to sell well here). If the Switch 2 releases early next year, 2026 will also be great timing to get enough of a handle on its capabilities to optimize for it well and really give it some good presentational polish.
Good to officially know the Switch will have a sucessor, by Nintendo’s silence I would not have been surprised if the Switch remained Nintendo’s main console until after the heat death of the universe!
with repeated rumours of Switch pro every 6 months. 😀
I wonder if you can just sign in to your Nintendo account and play all your digital Switch games. I wouldn’t mind buying a Switch 2, selling my current Switch and Lite, if I can still play MK8 Deluxe, MP10 and superstars, Zelda etc.
I think that if we don’t recover our games in digital format, it will make Nintendo sink. As much as the Wii U was a flop, it is normal that they did not integrate this kind of system (in addition they needed a screen controller), but for the future « switch » they better put it on because they have no excuse! My only fear remains the fact that Nintendo is still doing a wave of remakes because the switch is literally the console of remakes!!!
That won’t sink Nintendo. It will only increase their revenue.
People will rebuy the old game again. Some people will refuse to buy the old game. But no sale would be lost. In fact people will be less likely to sell their old consoles, reducing the supply of consoles which will increase demand on the new console.
People always make the assumption that a business will lose by making customers pay for things. It rarely is the case. Netflix banned account sharing, Reddit and Lemmy were full of people claiming this will hurt netflix. Not realising netflix only punished those that don’t give them more money. The people that suffered that ban weren’t buying netflix. The ban increased netflix profit, they also gained more paying customers.
Nice. I already assumed this but good to have confirmation
I am more surprised about June Direct, that will focus on games for current Switch.
It makes sense to have a final press conference about the final games for the Switch. They want customers and partners to know about major games still planned for the system,. especially if it is still going to be “current gen” during the holidays. It could be a going away party for one of the most successful video game systems.
It is possible (and even likely) that the Switch 2 will not be announced yet. I suspect that if they planned to announce the system this month, they would have said as much. This feels more like “we plan to announce in 6 months but don’t want to say as much in case plans slip”.
I wouldn’t be surprised if all the games are either to far along(/not popular enough) to bother building for the new switch. Or they will get simultaneous release on both switch and switch 2 (like breath of the wild).
Nintendo consoles seem to be normally released during summer, so we have another year of the switch ahead. Hopefully that includes atleast some new games
I kinda assumed that too. I mean there was a chance that it would focus on Switch 2, but idk I just felt like it would be revealed later
Prediction that it is much the same, underpowered, non competitive walled garden as the current gen but this time it will have a docking station that wil marginally upscale quakity more suited to the big screen.
Yuzu 2 hopefully coming soon too.
Ohh interesting! Wonder if it’s planned to release in 2025? Excited to find out more.
They won’t announce a console prior to Christmas, that won’t be released for Christmas. It will hurt their sales. People won’t buy switch oled and games if they think a new console will replace it soon.
So just to be clear - are you predicting that this new Switch will release in the window just before xmas 2024, as announcing a new console now and not releasing it for a while is tantamount to shooting their christmas sales for the original console in the foot?
If so I guess it depends - will the new console be backwards compatible? If so, people will likely continue to buy games now in the knowledge that they can upgrade later on. And there have been rumours of a new Switch for a while. I suspect most people who wanted an OLED Switch by now would’ve got one. I feel like they could announce the console now and release it after a year or two, without hurting themselves too badly.
Before Xmas 2025 is more likely. They’ll announce it on the first half of next year and then drop it around August 2025. That would be my guess.
They would be announcing it at Nintendo direct this year if they were planning a Christmas 2024 release.
Yeah I think you’re right. Not enough notice for a 2024 release.
Adults buying it for themselves have gotten it already. Purchases for children will be around Christmas. Any big announcements or trailers will catch the attention of parents and family that don’t follow rumours.
Enthusiast will buy early, but they don’t make up long term console sales and non release game sales.
Switch 2 will be announced in July/August then released in September. (This is speculation).
It needs to come out before Christmas, else Nintendo sales will suffer. They would have already planned for this. If they don’t they will announce it October/November quietly and release it in Spring.
I think they will increase the frequency of upgrades to their handheld/hybrid consoles. As they will see completion from steam deck and similar systems. Especially if they don’t have significant innovation that isn’t easily replicated. The switch 2 might not allow you to transfer all your games over, but subsequent switches are likely to be oled/light/pro/XL type of upgrades.
Switch launched in March despite the dire state of Wii U-era Nintendo.
There wasn’t much loss launching it after Christmas. People weren’t buying WiiUs. The 2ds was designed to use all the extra wiiU controller screens they had.
Nintendo more like No tendo
