In the most disappointing way possible, Nintendo confirmed years of rumors on Tuesday: the Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way.
“We will be making an announcement on the successor to Nintendo Switch later this fiscal year,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa wrote on X.
However, that wasn’t the actual announcement of the console. Rather, Furukawa wanted to warn users to expect the actual announcement in the Nintendo Direct livestream next month.
“We will be hosting a Nintendo Direct this June on the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the second half of 2024, but please note that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor in this presentation,” the post reads.
Nintendo’s fiscal year ends in March, meaning we may have to wait until spring 2025 to find out what’s next for the Switch, which released nine years ago.
The Nintendo Switch, launched in 2015, was a complete success for the Japanese gaming company. To date, Nintendo has sold over 141 million units, making the Switch the third best-selling console of all time, behind only the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2.
The Switch became so popular because it was the first commercially successful gaming hardware that could be played both as a handheld device and as a desktop console connected to an external display. The coincidental release of “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” at the beginning of the global Corona lockdowns was also a blessing for Nintendo. Between March and November 2020, Nintendo sold 12 million Switch consoles, an increase of 73% compared to the same period last year. The company even had to revise its financial forecast this year, making it 50% higher than expected.
Nintendo’s clever announcement accompanied its quarterly earnings report. The company’s hardware sales fell 12.6% year-over-year, which is natural when the flagship console has been available for almost a decade. However, the Switch continues to enjoy great popularity thanks to blockbuster exclusives like “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom“, the long-awaited sequel to the classic “Breath of the Wild.”
“Tears of the Kingdom” has sold Last year, 20.6 million copies were sold, while Super Mario Bros. Wonder sold 13.44 million copies. Indie developers continue to release games for the Switch that players can download via Nintendo eShop. That and the fact that Nintendo has allowed users to play its older consoles Gaming on the Switch has ensured that the console still feels fresh even after nine years.
So what comes first: the Nintendo Switch 2 or Silksong?