Back in early May 2024, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa revealed over X (formerly known as Twitter) that the Switch 2 would be announced within this fiscal year. In other words, the Switch 2 is slated to be announced sometime before March 31, 2025.
Aside from this, very little official details about the Switch 2 are known. Even the moniker “Switch 2” is an unofficial one dubbed by the Nintendo community since Furukawa himself only referred to the console as the “successor to Nintendo Switch.” Unofficially, however, we’ve heard a number of rumors regarding the console, one of which even suggested that this mysterious new console had been delayed into 2025.
Various rumors have suggested that the reasons for the delay are so that Nintendo could produce enough Switch 2 units to combat the scalping problem that happened with the Nintendo Switch. Additionally, this gives developers more time so that the new console can have the strongest first-party launch lineup possible.
For example, it’s believed that Masahiro Sakurai may be returning to game development now that his final video for his YouTube channel has been recorded. Considering Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s success as the third best-selling game on the Switch, this is certainly a possibility.
During an an investor-focused Q&A (as translated by IGN), Shuntaro Furukawa seemingly confirmed that Nintendo intends to combat the scalping problem this time around by producing a sufficient number of units for the new console.
“As a countermeasure against resale, we believe that the most important thing is to produce a sufficient number to meet customer demand, and this idea has not changed since last year,” said the Nintendo President according to IGN’s translation. “In addition to this, we are considering whether there are any other measures that can be taken to the extent allowed by laws and regulations, taking into account the circumstances of each region.”
Some time ago, the world was experiencing a semi-conductor shortage that was spurred on by the pandemic that made production of PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch units difficult. Furukawa has noted that the semi-conductor shortage from before shouldn’t pose a problem for the Switch successor.
“Although we were unable to produce sufficient quantities of Nintendo Switch hardware last year and the year before due to a shortage of semiconductor components, this situation has now been resolved,” continued Furukawa. “At this time, we do not believe that the shortage of components will have a significant impact on the production of the successor model.”
Unfortunately, Nintendo is still not quite ready to reveal any substantial details about the Switch 2 itself just yet. As a result, we still have to rely on rumors to give us an idea of what the new console will be like.
Though it’s stated that the successor console will have cartridges that won’t fit into the Switch, it’s said that this system will be backwards compatible. Whether the games are physical or digital, the Switch 2 will supposedly be able to play anything available on the Switch.
We’ve also heard that the Switch 2 will offer 4K support while docked and 1080p in handheld mode. The console itself will have an 8 inch screen, which is an improvement to the Switch’s 6.2 inch screen.
The console will also utilize Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology, which allows developers to achieve greater graphical settings and improved frame rates on cheaper hardware. Overall, the Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to outperform the PlayStation 4, though this is just based on the rumored specs that we’ve heard about thus far.
Ultimately, the upcoming Nintendo console sounds like a direct upgrade over its predecessor. As always, we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any news that might surface regarding the Switch 2.