Nintendo Switch Isn’t Releasing New Hardware Any Time Soon
Word from Nintendo reveals that the anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 won't be releasing this year.
Well, it would seem that Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t coming to the market this year, after all. The gaming community previously speculated on the launch of Nintendo Switch Pro, which later became the OLED model, and previous reports suggested that Nintendo Switch 2 release date leaked online. Now, Nintendo itself has confirmed that it has no plans to release new hardware any time soon—referring to fiscal 2023.
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors that the company hadn’t factored the new Switch or any revision of the current hardware into the 2023 fiscal outlook, which means that the eager fans awaiting the successor to the Switch will have to put up with their current, aging hardware, as reported by Kotaku. Of course, this could all be a play of carefully selected words since the company representative stated that Nintendo hasn’t factored in the new Switch or an upcoming revision. Nobody stated that the company isn’t working on one.
Well, one thing is for sure; for better or worse, we’re not getting another Switch in 2023. The closest thing to new hardware we can hope for is perhaps a few teasers or a full-blown announcement of a release in 2024, but that’s mere speculation at this point. The lack of a successor to a record-breaking Nintendo Switch is a bit disheartening, considering that the industry isn’t waiting on the Japanese game maker to make its next move and come up with new hardware or a revised version of the current Nintendo Switch.
Especially now, when the competition is strong, there’s speculation about Steam Deck 2, and Asus has announced, prototyped, and is preparing to launch ROG Ally. The same applies to Lenovo’s Legion Play, while Logitech has already launched its G Cloud handheld. So, the handheld market is booming, and we can confidently say that it’s all thanks to the popularity of Nintendo Switch.
So, why isn’t the new king of the gaming playground announcing a successor? Well, the software sales are still pretty strong.
Don’t get us wrong, Nintendo Switch entered its seventh year on the market, and sales momentum is slowing down. Nintendo estimates that selling 15 million units in the upcoming year will be challenging, considering the dated hardware. However, the competition isn’t faring any better. The number of quality games for PlayStation isn’t negligible, but it also isn’t something to write home about, and Microsoft already apologized for Redfall, so we’re now impatiently sitting and waiting for an apology for Starfield—a Bethesda epic that suffered a crushing delay.
Nintendo Switch comes out on top, not just due to strong software sales but also due to good hardware sales over the past seven years. The system sold more than 125 million units, which is some 30 million units short of becoming the best-selling gaming console of all time. The upcoming Legend of Zelda game is likely to bolster sales by a little bit, but it’s hard to beat a ticking clock. So, Nintendo’s best hope is to continue to invest in awesome software releases to keep Switch relevant for at least another year.
