Nintendo breaks silence on new console… sort of

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Sales of the Nintendo Switch were boosted by games such as pandemic smash-hit Animal Crossing

By Tom Richardson

BBC Newsbeat

Nintendo has finally broken its silence on the successor to its smash-hit Switch – but don’t get too excited.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting news on the console for months, but little official information has emerged.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has now promised an announcement at some point before March 2025.

But he also said there would be no mention of the new machine at the company’s Nintendo Direct event next month.

In a post on X, the boss of the Japanese company, said: “It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015.”

He said next month’s Direct would focus on the “Nintendo Switch software line-up for the latter half of 2024”.

“But please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation,” he said, adding that this information would arrive “within this fiscal year”.

The company holds several of the trailer showcases each year, and recent outings have sparked masses of speculation about whether the “Switch 2” – as fans have unofficially called the new machine – would appear.

Other announcements, such as the reveal of upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A, have also sent the rumour mill into overdrive.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Fans might have to wait a little bit longer for news on Mario’s next major console game

There’s never been much doubt that Nintendo was working on something – the original Switch has sold more than 130 million units since it was released in 2017.

It hasn’t seen too many blockbuster releases since last year’s Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Wonder.

The company has released Mario Vs. Donkey Kong and Princess Peach: Showtime! this year, but beyond remakes of Luigi’s Mansion 2 and role-playing game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, no further in-house titles are planned.

There are also complaints that the seven-year-old console struggles to run some newer games.

Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at Ampere Analytics, told the BBC some Nintendo fans had been “demanding a more powerful Switch for at least the last three years”.

But, he said, the company has refused to rush out a new machine and kept customers interested with upgrades such as the revised OLED screen model released in 2021.

“From 2021 to the end of 2023, Nintendo sold 60 million more Switch consoles to consumers globally and has generated operating profits in excess of $10bn (£7.98 bn) based on today’s exchange rates,” he said.

The post from company boss Mr Furukawa coincided with Nintendo releasing its financial results for the past year.

While it reported a rise in profits, sales of software and hardware were down, but the company said the Switch had 123 million annual users despite being eight years old.

It also said it had plans to expand the use of Nintendo characters into other areas.

These include the next Mario movie, a Donkey Kong Country area of its Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Japan, and a new company museum near its HQ in Kyoto, Japan.

As for the Switch follow-up, various rumours and alleged leaks about the new machine’s capabilities have emerged over the past year, but nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo itself.

Piers believes that the follow-up won’t be a massive change in direction, unlike some of Nintendo’s previous console releases.

“Judging by the success of the Switch, we expect the new device to be a similar form factor and to continue the legacy of the original product,” he said.

Piers said he expects the new console to be released in the first half of 2025.

But we can now say, with confidence, that we’ll know something by the end of this (financial) year.

Additional reporting by Liv McMahon.

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