Don’t hold your breath for a Nintendo Switch 2 to arrive anytime soon, as it looks like the current Nintendo Switch will be around for some time yet.
That’s because Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa and director Ko Shiota see a lot more life left in the three-year-old Switch, reported Nintendo Life. In the 80th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Furukawa noted that the Switch is growing in momentum, suggesting it’ll be a while before a second-generation console comes along.
- Where to buy Nintendo Switch: These retailers still have stock
- Breath of the Wild 2 trailer, release date, story and more
- Plus: PS5 and Xbox Series X performance could come with a major catch
“Our current generation game system, Nintendo Switch, has entered its fourth year since launch, but its momentum is increasing. We believe there are two factors behind this,” Furukawa said in response to a question about the outlook for Nintendo’s next game system.
“First is the existence of two hardware configurations with different characteristics, in Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite. The second factor is that Nintendo’s development resources are concentrated on developing content for a single platform, Nintendo Switch. We want to extend the life cycle of Nintendo Switch while maximising such advantages.”
So that’s effectively poured cold water over rumors that Nintendo could be making a new Switch console or a ‘pro’ version of its hybrid games machine. But Shiota did give an idea of how Nintendo would approach a new console, beyond just boosting performance.
“Through Nintendo Switch, we’ve made many discoveries about where a dedicated video game platform can fit into a consumer’s daily life,” said Shiota. “We see scenes on social media of children and their families sitting around a game console to play, which gives us a renewed sense of the value of our dedicated video game platform. We will utilise these experiences in carefully considering the form our future game consoles will take.”
From that, there’s a vague hint that a sequel to the current Switch could offer a console with some unique very-Nintendo features; the Switch, after all, stood well apart from the current generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles and is very different to the upcoming Xbox Series X and PS5.
Or it could mean that Nintendo is planing extra accessories and peripherals to boost the Switch’s capabilities; we’ve already seen it do that with the Nintendo Labo cardboard system and the Ring Fit Adventure fitness game. But time, as ever, will tell what Nintendo does next.
