Nintendo’s next generation Switch is expected to debut in the second half of 2024, it’s being reported, with development kits for the console now in the hands of third-party developers.
Both VGC and Eurogamer have reported this, based on their various sources, and confirmed a handful of other details along the way.
Most importantly, the next Nintendo Switch console will have the same kind of hybrid design as the original, with the ability to play in handheld mode on a tablet screen, or to plug the console in and play on TV with detachable controllers.
Beyond that, the console will still use physical media with game cartridges, and it’s likely that Nintendo will cut costs by featuring an LCD screen instead of an OLED panel, as we saw in a later Switch revision.
With the same console concept at its heart, perhaps the most important decision that Nintendo has to make is whether or not to support native backward compatibility to the Nintendo Switch’s huge back catalogue of games. Nintendo has been asked about this point on several occasions during investor calls, but refused to be drawn on the matter, simply saying that they plan to retain the same digital Nintendo Accounts system.
It almost seems unfathomable that Nintendo wouldn’t include backward compatibility, given their track record. While the Switch was a clean break from previous consoles, every handheld console since the original Game Boy had one generation of backward compatibility, and the same was true after switching home consoles to disc with the GameCube.
It’s been fairly apparent that the Nintendo Switch is coming to the end of its cycle, now in its seventh year on the market. Lifetime sales recently passed 125 million, making it one of the very best-selling console of all time, but it underperformed Nintendo’s targets for last year and sales are on a downward trend in the face of more plentiful PS5 and Xbox Series X|S stock.
We also see it in the range of games that Nintendo is developing for the console. We had a real marquee release in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom earlier this year, and the rest of 2023 will feature the releases of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Mario RPG’s remake and a new WarioWare game, as well as the enhance Luigi’s Mansion 2 and a Princess Peach game in 2024. There’s no word on the long-delayed Metroid Prime 4, though – could this be the cross-gen launch game like Breath of the Wild was?
Dominic L
Nice to finally have some word on this – it’ll be very interesting to see just how powerful it is, or not as the case might be. It’d be great to see them bring in achievements, and voice chat, but will it be a 4K console? Seems unlikely.