For the last year or so, fans have wondered what sort of system will succeed the Nintendo Switch.
After all, the Switch is Nintendo’s most successful console to date, with sales almost on par with the PS2 and the most popular titles in just about every one of their major franchises.
So, we’ve always been left wondering how they’ll follow it up. How a new Nintendo system will work post Switch, and how the company intends to keep the hype train going for another generation.
But soon we’ll be getting an answer. Why? Because according to Nintendo themselves, the successor to the Nintendo Switch will be announced within this fiscal year. Here’s the post about it from the company’s Twitter account:
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct…
— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) May 7, 2024
As you can see, there’s a bit of leeway here. After all, a fiscal year doesn’t technically mean the same thing as a calendar year, with said terms starting in April and ending March. Hence in theory, the Switch 2 could be announced at any time between now and March 31st 2025.
But that’s the most pessimistic estimate. More realistically, the console is probably being announced in the next half a year or so, or at least in 2024 itself. After all, that’s how the Switch itself was revealed, with an official announcement in October 2016 and a release in March 2017. So we can definitely see history repeating in that sense.
As for what it’ll actually be… well that’s the million-dollar question isn’t it? At this point we’d personally say it’s going to be a more powerful Switch. Or at least, a new hybrid console with much the same functionality minus the processing power.
But we’re not Nintendo. We don’t know what kind of crazy ideas they have in store for us yet, and we’ve been wrong on plenty of ‘sure-fire bets’ in the past too. We’d also have assumed the Switch itself would have been simply a normal console too, or that the Wii would have been followed up by a more powerful console with a similar focus on motion controls.
Nintendo’s creativity can also be a double-edged sword, as the Wii U shows too well…
Hence it’s not really possible to guess what’s on their books at the moment. Nintendo as a company is just too unpredictable to make forecasts for at this point.
What we do know however, is that expectations will be sky high for the new console, and that it’ll have quite the challenge living up to its immediate predecessor. Here’s hoping it actually manages to do so.
And here’s also hoping the upcoming Nintendo Direct features a few more interesting games too. Since while it’s not going to cover said console, it’s happening in June nonetheless, with an emphasis on late 2024 games for Nintendo’s current system.
So, what could we see there? Anything obvious on the agenda right now?
Well to be honest, we don’t know. Given we’ve seen such Switch games as Super Mario Bros Wonder, remakes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, plus a full-blown Mario + Rabbids crossover series co-starring Rayman, just about anything seems to be on the table here. Indeed, if there was ever a time where Nintendo was pushing the boat out with their creativity and announcements, this would probably be it.
Given this game is finally getting a remake, just about anything’s on the table now…
Regardless, the timing makes us feel like it’s going to be more remakes and smaller scale titles this time around. We’ll probably get some more Pokémon related stuff, like a smaller scale remake (Z-A is a 2025 title), there’ll be probably be a Mario spinoff or two, like a new Mario Party or Mario Baseball title. And we can see at least one unexpected remake or minor spinoff to round things out here.
As much as we hope for a new Wario Land game, that’s sadly not happening anytime soon
So, the usual end of console lifespan stuff. Hopefully with the foresight not to release any more of it after the Switch 2’s release next year.
Still, that’s the announcement. The Nintendo Switch’s successor is being revealed in this fiscal year, and a new Nintendo Direct is happening in June. But what are your thoughts on this? Do you have any expectations for Nintendo’s next system? How do you think they’ll follow up a console as successful as the Switch?
And what announcements will the Nintendo Direct next month have, given it’ll probably reveal some of the very last games for the Switch as a whole?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or on our Discord server today!
Source:
Nintendo Switch Successor Announcement (Nintendo on Twitter)