Update: A new Nintendo console has been tipped for 2024 release — could it be the Switch 2?
If you’ve been eagerly anticipating a suped-up Nintendo Switch Pro, it may be time to reign in your expectations. An industry analyst is tipping Nintendo to forgo launching a Switch Pro in favor of focusing on a proper successor to its popular handheld/home console hybrid.
Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis recently made this prediction via gamesindustry.biz. He said, “I'm not expecting a Switch Pro in 2022. We have a next-gen Nintendo console in our forecasts for late 2024, so I'm not convinced a 'Pro' model is going to appear at all.”
This prediction is sure to disappoint dedicated Nintendo fans hoping for a more powerful version of the Switch console, especially as the Switch is really starting to show its age. Recent releases such as Hitman 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy have only been playable on the console in the form of a Cloud Verison that is streamed rather than played natively from the device due to power limitations.
The blow is somewhat softened by the fact that Harding-Rolls does expect a next-gen Nintendo console to arrive in 2024, which could be called Nintendo Switch 2. That would put the Nintendo Switch’s lifespan at seven years, which is a tad on the lengthy side but it’s not unreasonable.
For comparison, there were six years between the launch of the Wii and Wii U, and only four between the Wii U and original Nintendo Switch — but that was thanks in large part to the sales underperformance of the former.
It should be noted that these are technically just predictions, but are nevertheless likely to be informed predictions rather than merely wild speculation. The notion that Nintendo will completely skip releasing a Switch Pro model flies in the face of a Bloomberg article from last year. This report claimed Nintendo was supplying developers with new Switch devkits and had asked studios to begin making 4K-supported Switch games. However, these claims were later denied by Nintendo.
Rumors of a Nintendo Switch Pro have been circulating for years at this point, but to date, Nintendo itself continues to deny its existence. The company did release a Nintendo Switch OLED model last October, but as this refresh doesn't come with any major internal improvements it's considered an iterative update rather than a substantial reworking of the console.
Despite Nintendo’s repeated denial on the matter, rumors of the Nintendo Switch Pro continue to persist. It’s unlikely that they’ll die off in 2022 either; we expect to hear plenty more online whispers about a more powerful Switch in the coming months.
Read next: A new Nvidia leak seemingly confirms the existence of the Tegra239 SoC — widely rumored to be powering the Switch Pro
