Nintendo is not planning on upgrading the Switch hardware in the next 12 months, judging by comments made during a recent earnings call.
The Nintendo Switch 2 or Nintendo Switch Pro – or whatever the follow-up console will be called – won’t be along until at least April 2024.
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Nintendo says it is going to work hard to sustain sales for the forthcoming financial year and admits it could fall short of the targets.
“Sustaining the Switch’s sales momentum will be difficult in its seventh year,” said Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors (via Bloomberg and IGN).
“Our goal of selling 15 million units this fiscal year is a bit of a stretch, but we will do our best to bolster demand going into the holiday season so that we can achieve the goal.”
So, if you’re thinking of buying a Switch so you can play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you can probably do so without the risk of being gazumped in the next 12 months.
Of course, there’s a caveat to that. There’s nothing to say Nintendo won’t announce the Switch’s successor at some point in the next 12 months and release it once fiscal year 2023 is over.
The first Switch console was released in 2017. While there has been a hardware refresh with the Switch OLED offering a bigger, better display. There’s also the true handheld Switch Lite.
However, for years rumours have circulated about a much more substantial upgrade under the Switch 2 or Switch Pro or Switch U (although the latter would be a surprise given the Wii U wasn’t exactly a roaring success).
With a major new Zelda game on the way for the first time since 2017, many observers might have expected it to be accompanied by new hardware, as was the case with Breath of the Wild.
It’s not often in the modern era that Nintendo consoles get more than one major game from the first party staples like Mario, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. and Zelda. However, here we are.
What the hold up from Nintendo’s perspective is, is unclear. It may be a case of squeezing as much life as possible out of the current generation Switch before launching a successor. Either way, the Switch will be 7 years old in April 2024.
