Nintendo Switch Successor Releasing Next Year?
The now-over Microsoft × Federal Trade Commission (FTC) court case—which Microsoft won —has been a real treasure trove of information regarding the behind-the-curtains developments in the gaming industry. A few months back, several documents which Microsoft had to submit to UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) leaked online, revealing a potential Nintendo Switch 2; the new documents from the FTC case now seem to confirm previous reports.
Microsoft released documents in court alleging that Nintendo is releasing Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2024.
According to GameRant, a document from the Microsoft × FTC case alleges that the successor to the Nintendo Switch handheld—we’ll call it Nintendo Switch 2 for the purpose of this report, for lack of an official name—could arrive as soon as next year, in 2024. The potential confirmation of the next Nintendo handheld arrives via a court document titled “Defendant’s Proposed Post-Trial Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law,” which, among all other things, also states that Nintendo is expected to release the successor to the Switch handheld as early as next year.
Why is Microsoft The One To Break This News?
This detail about Nintendo Switch 2 is given in reference to the competition between Microsoft and other major console manufacturers such as Sony and Nintendo—the latter of which the FTC tried to downplay by stating that the Switch can’t really compete against Microsoft and Sony in the console market.
The argument was made that the handheld is at the end of its lifecycle while the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S aren’t and that Nintendo shouldn’t be considered as competition to Xbox. That’s a really pointless and utterly untrue argument, which we’ll explain later.
However, there are some truths behind the FTC’s argument. While we can’t deny that Nintendo is, and will mostly likely remain, a competition to both Xbox and PlayStation, it’s not false that the console can’t actually compete with the latter two in terms of computing power.
Microsoft’s gaming division has even promised to deliver the Call of Duty franchise to the console if the acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved by the regulatory bodies.
Nintendo abandoned the idea of competing in the hardware department with the launch of Nintendo Wii and decided to focus entirely on bringing more family-friendly and co-op gaming titles onto its platform, which led to the overall popularity of Switch and high expectations for Nintendo Switch 2.
Xbox managed to make a counterargument that portability, which is something that Nintendo has mastered over the decades, is still a very important factor when it comes to console selection, keeping Nintendo relevant throughout the entire discussion.
Microsoft’s gaming division also stated that it expects Nintendo to launch Nintendo Switch 2 at some point in the future and has even promised to deliver the Call of Duty franchise to the console if the acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved by the regulatory bodies.
It’s worth noting that this information does not come directly from Nintendo and thus does need to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s likely for the Nintendo Switch 2 to build upon the hardware format and software platform of the current handheld, given the popularity of the latter and Nintendo’s massive failure with the Nintendo Wii U console, which might’ve pushed Nintendo in the handheld market entirely.
However, many in the vintage console restoration community would like Nintendo to issue parts for its ancient systems, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System.
