Fans worldwide are waiting for Nintendo to finally announce the <a href="http://www.world-today-news.com/nintendo-americas-president-reacts-to-a-possible-new-nintendo-switch/" title="Nintendo America's president reacts to a possible new Nintendo Switch“>Nintendo Switch 2. This should happen in the current financial year – so there is time until the end of March. The Japanese company probably isn’t in any particular hurry anyway. Possible reasons can be found in the market.
Waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 is a real test of patience for fans. When the Nintendo Switch came onto the market in 2015, hardly anyone would have expected that it would take around nine years before a real successor was announced. However, critics at the time did not expect that the hybrid console would ultimately have the gigantic success that it had – and still has. There is no reason for Nintendo to rush anyway – apart from the self-imposed time frame for the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2 by the end of the current financial year. Even if the reveal were to come in spring 2025 at the latest, the console would not necessarily have to appear in a timely manner.
Nintendo Switch 2: The predecessor dominates the market
Nobody really believes in a surprising announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2 anymore. Fans had hoped for this several times according to recent rumors, but were disappointed. It’s no surprise that Nintendo is taking so much time with the expected reveal of the new console. The company is simply not under pressure.
A main reason for the development of new gaming platforms is to create new incentives for potential buyers: On the one hand, sales should be generated directly through the sale of the hardware, and on the other hand, new games for the new platforms should be sold over the counters. However, Nintendo still dominates the market – with a console that is around eight years old. Over 140 million copies of the Nintendo Switch – which was initially called “Project NX” before its release – were sold. The competition cannot keep up and has been clearly left behind.
Despite weaker performance, Nintendo’s hybrid console beats past generations of platforms from Sony and Microsoft by far. And with the upcoming Christmas business and the current hardware offers for the Nintendo Switch, the number is likely to be pushed up again. Although sales figures for the Nintendo Switch also fell by around 46 percent in the first quarter of 2024 and in the previous year Nintendo was only able to sell half as many consoles as in the previous year, but that does not detract from its success. The Nintendo Switch has the potential to beat the Playstation 2 as the most successful console of all time. Nintendo itself stated that it estimated sales for the period between March 2024 and March 2025 at around 13.5 million hybrid consoles.
Lots of games. Good games.
The reason can be found primarily in gaming: Nintendo still has several top-class titles in its portfolio for the current generation of the Nintendo Switch – and the quality is still impressive, as the new Zelda adventure recently showed. With such continuity, no other console manufacturer releases good software for their platforms. Ultimately, Nintendo is not only ahead in terms of numbers, but also in terms of remaining potential. There is currently only a limited rush to release the Nintendo Switch 2.
Nintendo will probably also use the remaining time until the unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its subsequent release to expand the game portfolio. Numerous games from popular series are considered certain: new games from Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Metroid and, last but not least, Pokémon will be coming. Big announcements are likely to await fans here too.
And Nintendo will have learned from its mistake of hardly presenting any well-known titles at the console launch. Back then, the Nintendo Switch was accompanied by rather disappointing games when it was released. Just Dance, Skylanders or 1-2 Switch weren’t hits; only The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild hinted at what the Nintendo Switch seemed to be made for. This time around, game releases will probably be much more focused and more than one real “system seller” will be brought onto the market. In any case, there is currently no shortage of games for the current Nintendo Switch. Here, too, the Japanese company is under no significant pressure to publish.
Another reason for the delaying tactics is the price problems on the hardware and materials market. Mass production is expected to be cost-intensive, especially because Nintendo will apparently rely on significantly more modern components for the Switch 2 than was the case with previous consoles. The chipset of the Nintendo Switch was anything but powerful when the console was released. This didn’t hurt the success, but this time Nintendo will have to be much more attentive to the costs compared to the performance (presumably the use of an Nvidia T239 SoC) in order to be able to offer the console at a price that corresponds to Nintendo’s family-friendly approach . In short: the technology, with its still rather limited performance compared to other modern consoles, must not become too expensive. The company may be waiting for prices to level off further.
Ultimately, the expectations are so high because it has already been around half a year since the announcement was made. It’s about time, say quite a few fans who comment on social media. The time period chosen by Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa (“We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year”) is quite clever. Assuming, as with its predecessor, that there could be around half a year between the announcement and the release, the Nintendo Switch 2 should be in stores in time for the 2025 Christmas season. This would be perfect timing for renewed success.
