- By Tom Richardson
- BBC Newsbeat
Image supply, Getty Images
Nintendo has lastly damaged its silence on the successor to its smash-hit Switch – however do not get too excited.
Fans have been eagerly awaiting information on the console for months, however little official info has emerged.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has now promised an announcement sooner or later earlier than March 2025.
But he additionally mentioned there can be no point out of the brand new machine on the firm’s Nintendo Direct occasion next month.
In a post on X, the boss of the Japanese firm, mentioned: “It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015.”
He mentioned next month’s Direct would deal with the “Nintendo Switch software line-up for the latter half of 2024”.
“But please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation,” he mentioned, including that this info would arrive “within this fiscal year”.
The firm holds a number of of the trailer showcases every year, and up to date outings have sparked lots of hypothesis about whether or not the “Switch 2” – as followers have unofficially known as the brand new machine – would seem.
Image supply, Getty Images
There’s by no means been a lot doubt that Nintendo was engaged on one thing – the unique Switch has bought greater than 130 million items because it was launched in 2017.
It hasn’t seen too many blockbuster releases since final year’s Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Wonder.
The firm has launched Mario Vs. Donkey Kong and Princess Peach: Showtime! this year, however past remakes of Luigi’s Mansion 2 and role-playing sport Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, no additional in-house titles are deliberate.
Piers Harding-Rolls, head of video games analysis at Ampere Analytics, advised the BBC some Nintendo followers had been “demanding a more powerful Switch for at least the last three years”.
But, he mentioned, the corporate has refused to hurry out a brand new machine and stored clients with upgrades such because the revised OLED display mannequin launched in 2021.
“From 2021 to the end of 2023, Nintendo sold 60 million more Switch consoles to consumers globally and has generated operating profits in excess of $10bn (£7.98 bn) based on today’s exchange rates,” he mentioned.
While it reported an increase in earnings, gross sales of software program and {hardware} had been down, however the firm mentioned the Switch had 123 million annual customers regardless of being eight years outdated.
It additionally mentioned it had plans to broaden using Nintendo characters into different areas.
These embody the next Mario film, a Donkey Kong Country space of its Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Japan, and a brand new firm museum close to its HQ in Kyoto, Japan.
As for the Switch follow-up, varied rumours and alleged leaks in regards to the new machine’s capabilities have emerged over the previous year, however nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo itself.
Piers believes that the follow-up will not be an enormous change in course, not like a few of Nintendo’s earlier console releases.
“Judging by the success of the Switch, we expect the new device to be a similar form factor and to continue the legacy of the original product,” he mentioned.
Piers mentioned he expects the brand new console to be launched within the first half of 2025.
But we are able to now say, with confidence, that we’ll know one thing by the tip of this (monetary) year.
Additional reporting by Liv McMahon.
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