While Nintendo has yet to tell the world exactly what’s really on the horizon beyond the Switch, it has at least confirmed that users can expect a “smooth transition” to that next system.
This confirmation came as part of the company’s routine Q&A session that was recently held with its shareholders. Here, Nintendo President, Shuntaro Furukawa mentioned that Nintendo is doing it’s best to ensure that there is a “smooth transition” for users that already have a Nintendo Switch.
Building a bridge
The backbone of this assurance from the Big N comes from the Nintendo Account system. Deployed alongside the release of the Switch back in 2017, Nintendo has now built itself a thriving network of over 290 million customers, according to the company. This is comprised of Nintendo Switch owners and those who’ve used Nintendo’s games and services on mobile devices.
With such a substantial customer base that continues to grow, it is no surprise that Nintendo has opted to keep this in place for its next system.
The Nintendo Account network is preceded by two defunct online services that Nintendo used for its past systems. The earliest proper network was simply dubbed Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection which was used by the Wii and Nintendo DS family of handhelds.
The Wii U and 3DS also used this to an extent, before being transitioned to the Nintendo Network service. Here, users made actual accounts, known as Nintendo Network IDs. Despite this service being far more robust and seemingly modern enough, Nintendo still opted to scrap it and start fresh with the Nintendo Account service and that ties into Nintendo Switch Online.
Operation manual
Although Furukawa didn’t mention any specifics as to how Nintendo Account functionality will operate on the next system, one very likely carryover is the membership info and benefits of those that are already subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online. Assuming Switch games are compatible with the next system, then this hopefully means that things such as game licenses, purchased DLCs and cloud saves will all be easily transferable to the next system. However, we’ll have to wait and see exactly how “smooth” this migration will really be.
In the meantime, Nintendo isn’t slowing down with the Switch. As recently revealed at the June 2023 Nintendo Direct, the Switch has a variety of big titles on the near horizon, including confirmed releases for 2024. While many are expecting Nintendo to finally reveal its rumoured next-gen console next year, it’s anyone’s guess as to what exactly the company’s strategy will be in the immediate future.
Check out more content:
Microsoft is hitting Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Series X with a price rise | Forza Horizon 5 Upgrade Heroes update brings new Donut content | How to connect a PS4 controller with a PS5 console
