Nintendo just announced they would be introducing replaceable batteries to their products in Europe. However, that came alongside another less welcome change.
Nintendo UK said this on their official site:
From mid-February 2027, almost ten years after Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017, Nintendo will no longer sell to retailers hardware in the Nintendo Switch family of systems – specifically Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite and Nintendo Switch – OLED Model. Sales of Nintendo Switch hardware on Nintendo Store will also end in mid-February 2027.
They also confirmed that the Pokemon Go Plus+ and Switch Online NES, Mega Drive, and SNES controllers will also be discontinued because they won’t get new versions with replaceable batteries.
By implication, Nintendo is saying that they cannot reengineer the original Switch console, across all their models, to have replaceable batteries. Alternately, they may have decided it’s not worth the investment to do the same for their older console because their EU business is focused on the Switch 2 now.
Nintendo has expressed an interest in bringing the original Switch to new countries and regions, such as India and SouthEast Asia, so this isn’t necessarily the beginning of the end.
