Successor to Nintendo Switch reportedly launching in Q1 2025

In a rather unexpected turn of events – especially after the numerous reports and innumerable rumors of 2023 – it seems that the successor to the Nintendo Switch will not be released in 2024 after all. According to sources speaking to Video Game Chronicles and Eurogamer (confirming what a Brazilian journalist first mentioned on a podcast), Nintendo is informing game publishers that the new system’s release date is now slated for Q1 2025. The company had never officially announced a release window – it has yet to confirm the product’s existence, actually – but pretty much everyone was under the impression that the Switch 2, or whatever it will end up being called, would be unveiled during the first few months of 2024 and be released at some point after that.

Some of the sources mentioned believe that Nintendo would rather release the successor to the Nintendo Switch with a better software lineup at a later date than do it during e.g. Q4 of 2024 with fewer games. That’s what most gamers would probably prefer too, but it’s worth noting that by the time March 2025 comes, the original Nintendo Switch will be eight years old. It may be one of Nintendo’s most successful consoles ever (almost 140 million units sold worldwide so far) but its lifecycle already feels protracted despite the wealth of high-quality games released for it in 2023. It’s just time for a new Nintendo system – and its not appearing for yet another year may actually hurt its chances, as consumer interest wanes further in the meantime.

To make matters worse, it seems that 2024 won’t be as spectacular a year for new Nintendo Switch releases as 2023 turned out to be. There are a handful of titles already announced for it – such as Princess Peach: Showtime and remasters of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door or Luigi’s Mansion 2 – and there’s always the chance of Metroid Prime 4 finally breaking cover after almost five years of silence, but the current system’s AAA-level 2024 release schedule is not exactly crowded. What’s more, at this point it’s highly likely that Nintendo will save any heavy-hitters, such as the next Metroid Prime, to make the most of as launch titles for the Switch 2 instead of releasing them on the Switch (although there’s been precedent of releasing such AAA games on both new and previous formats).

Software aside, there’s always the possibility than Nintendo decided to move the launch of the Switch 2 to a much less crowded hardware release window: neither company has officially confirmed anything as of yet, but Sony and Microsoft are widely expected to offer the PlayStation5 Pro and the refreshed Xbox Series S/X respectively in Q4 2024. It would make sense for Nintendo to not release its own console alongside three new, much more powerful ones, regardless of its hybrid nature (assuming it’s a portable system like its predecessor). There’s only so much money the vast majority of gamers are able to spend in any Q4 of any year, after all.

Nintendo seems to believe that its loyal fanbase will be interested in the successor of the wildly popular Switch, no matter when the company chooses to release it – and, assuming its launch line-up is strong enough, Nintendo is probably right. It feels like the Switch is already close to running out of steam in terms of industry-wide software support, though, while handheld PCs are steadily gaining ground in a variety of price points, so another twelve months of this may prove detrimental to the public’s perception of the system as the dominant force in the portable console market.

Has Nintendo found a new, exciting way to differentiate its next gaming system – one that has managed to keep a lid on, somehow… – and is counting on that to succeed? Weirder things have happened!