The question on everyone’s lips right now is: Switch 2 when? Now in its eighth year, the current handheld hybrid is more than a little long in the tooth, and the evidence continues to mount that fans still have a bit of a wait to go before Nintendo launches its next console.
“No developer I’ve spoken to expects it to be launching this financial year,” head of GameIndustry.biz, Christopher Dring, said on the latest episode of GI Microcast (via VGC). “In fact, they’ve been told not to expect it in the [current] financial year. A bunch of people I spoke to hope it’s out in April or May time, still early next year, not late.”
That’s consistent with previous reporting that while Nintendo had, at one point, planned to release the Switch 2 in 2024, it ultimately decided to delay the new hardware to 2025. Nintendo also hasn’t included new hardware in its forecast for the current fiscal year, though the company said that wasn’t necessarily an indication of it future plans, which are always changing.
Dring’s reporting is also the latest indication that a Switch 2 might slip behind the original hardware’s release strategy. The first Switch was revealed in September 2016 and launched in March of the following year. Fans have been hoping that the customary Nintendo Direct in September, which hasn’t yet been officially announced, would be when the company first shares a glimpse of its next console.
But if a Switch 2 isn’t coming until April or beyond, it’s always possible that the company waits until 2025 to spill the beans, especially as it doubles-down plans to sell another 10 million units of the existing handheld hybrid heading into the holiday season and beyond. The Switch is already the longest Nintendo has ever gone between consoles in its history. It’s sounding more and more like fans will still be playing their Switch when it reaches its ninth year as well.
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