A Nintendo Switch 2 has been touted for a long time ,but according to one industry tipster, fans shouldn’t expect a Nintendo Switch 2 until 2024. With the console already outclassed by rival machines, a performance upgrade can’t come soon enough.
As part of Gamesindustry.biz’s annual prediction panel, Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis, re-asserted previous claims he made that we could see the Nintendo Switch successor in 2024, saying: “I'm not expecting a next-gen Nintendo console in 2023: we have 2024 in our forecasts.”
The Switch has been a big hit for Nintendo, but it's now showing its age. Even the best Nintendo Switch games can’t compare graphically to the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Discourse has now moved to a potential successor, which the rumor mill has taken to calling Nintendo Switch Pro or Switch 2.
There have long been rumors of a Switch a mid-generation refresh, but the Switch was first launched in 2017 and surely it is too late for just a slightly updated model. The Nintendo Switch OLED was introduced in 2021 and has a beautiful screen, but added no extra power under the hood. The console still caps out at 720p in handheld mode and 1080p when attached to a big screen.
Harding-Rolls' statement is of course speculation, but it must be said that he and Ampere Analysis have a track record of predictions coming true. His forecasts last year, that the PS5 would outsell the Xbox Series X, and that PlayStation Plus would receive an overhaul, proved true.
With May 2023 the planned release date for Nintendo’s biggest launch of the year, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, there had been hopes of a more powerful console appearing alongside it. That now seems wide of the mark, but regardless, Harding-Rolls expects “the upcoming Zelda will sell plenty of Switch hardware.”
If it wasn’t for the handheld functionality and Nintendo’s first-party titles, there would be little reason to buy a Switch. Many third-party titles struggle to perform on Switch, or simply skip it entirely. And now with PS5 and Xbox Series X availability issues now easing, the more powerful consoles could see developers and players leave the Switch behind. Even first-party titles like the recent Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have had serious performance issues, and they are hardly graphically intensive games.
Nintendo has always managed to innovate beyond mere performance specs and perhaps they are aiming to change gaming completely again as they did with the Switch’s launch (and the Wii), but it would be nice to play their top-tier titles in 4K at least, sooner than later.
