There’s been no shortage of rumours surrounding the successor to the Nintendo Switch over the last several months. The latest drop from the rumour mill involves Nintendo’s alleged proposed release date for the Switch 2 which now appears to be in the first quarter of next year.
This news follows a series of reports that previously emerged throughout 2023 that suggested that some time in 2024 would be the target to look for, so it’s anyone’s guess outside of Nintendo as to why those plans have supposedly changed.
The never ending story
Attempting to make any sort of real guess as to what’s going on behind Nintendo’s thick black curtains has long been considered to be like throwing darts on a board, considering the company’s insistence to do as it pleases. This often means implementing unconventional strategies that squarely differ from its competitors.
Nevertheless, that clearly hasn’t stopped those with inside sources, including that of big outlets, to take a gander at playing this ever-developing guessing game.
That’s exactly what’s happened with new reports from outlets like Eurogamer that are corroborating reports from a Brazilian journalist named Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe. This journalist’s story stems from a video posted to the “O X do Controle” YouTube channel that discusses supposed details about Nintendo’s next system, such as the alleged recent move to an early 2025 release window. Eurogamer claims that it has separate sources that are saying the same, and VGC has also stepped in to say that it’s heard similar rumblings, all pointing to Nintendo apparently very recently making third-parties aware of the change of plans.
As the story goes, the decision to move to next year is a result of ensuring that the console’s launch line-up is well stocked. Early adopters of the existing Switch do well to remember the slim pickings of its first few months; a far cry from the thousands of titles in the system’s catalog today. Thus, if these reports are true, it seems that Nintendo is trying its best to not repeat history. No doubt, this would be in order to try its best to make sure that the new system hits the ground running under the best circumstances.
Timing is everything
Of course, as has been said time and again at this point, nobody really knows what’s going on until Nintendo finally opens up. As of the time of reporting, the company remains steadfast in its current endeavour to keep the attention on the existing iterations of the Switch family.
That said, it’s already “past due” as far as the core community is concerned as it relates to delivering on what has become a traditional Nintendo Direct presentation during the month of February. Thus, some believe that this is a sign that perhaps big moves really are happening in the shadows surrounding the next console.
But, it’s due to a lack of a Direct so far that there are additional rumours suggesting Nintendo deliberately held off on it. Allegedly, this was done to make space for the recent official 20-minute podcast presentation from the Xbox executive team which followed its own deluge of highly-reported rumours. Microsoft actually framed it as a formal response to all the chatter: a move that Nintendo is highly-likely not to emulate in the slightest.
In that podcast, the Xbox executive team including Phil Spencer and other heads addressed concerns over the company’s future direction with the platform by promising it will continue to produce Xbox systems, and even teased “the largest technical leap you will have ever seen” for the next generation of the platform.
Meanwhile, the Xbox team also confirmed four officially unnamed games would lose exclusivity status and come to other platforms, pointing to Switch and PS5.
As it stands, any sort of similar decision in the future will be handled on a case-by-case basis, though Spencer did squarely state that he believes platform exclusives won’t be as big of a factor in “next five to ten years.” Another argument that Nintendo likely won’t have any comment on, though such a move of its own would absolutely go against its tried-and-true business strategy.
In the midst of all of these other reports, Sony also recently let it be known that it’s had to downgrade its PS5 sales projections for the next fiscal year as the console is now entering the “latter half” of its lifecycle and hardware sales have began to plateau.
Whether the Switch’s successor launches in 2024 or 2025, it’s becoming more likely that it won’t have much holding it back from capturing the attention of the masses.
Nintendo still has yet to nail the strategy of transitioning from one strong generation to another, but it seems more poised than ever to finally do so. We know nothing of what it has in store, yet the community is chomping at any trickle of information to find out.
All things considered, the gaming world is changing and now most eyes are turning to Nintendo to see how it will add to this big change.
