In an interview with the Japanese newspaper, Nikkei, Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa has shed some light on when gamers can expect the Nintendo Switch 2. In perhaps the most candid statement on the future of the Nintendo Switch yet, Furukawa detailed when the company will reveal a new console. Furukawa acknowledged that the company is working on a Nintendo Switch successor since consoles take “several years” to develop. He also stated that the company will only release a new console when it can “create a new experience.” Check out his full statement below.
“The hardware and software development teams are in the same building, communicating closely and thinking about how we can propose new forms of entertainment. In order to create a single piece of hardware, we have to do a lot of preparation several years in advance, so we are working without stopping. In the end, the deciding factor in whether or not to commercialise a product is whether it can create a new experience.”
Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo
Furukawa also gave more insight into where in the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle he thinks Nintendo is.
“We always say that we are in the middle of the Switch’s lifecycle, and since one piece of hardware can be used to play both stationary and portable games, we can offer a wide variety of software for this purpose”
“The life cycle can still be extended.”
Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo
That last statement is interesting since the Nintendo Switch is still selling incredibly well. Typically, at this point in a console’s lifespan, the sales would be slowing significantly. However, there seems to be no stopping the Switch. Last year, the Switch sold a massive 25 million units. That’s the second-best year for the console ever. It sold double the number of consoles as the PS5 and surpassed the Nintendo Wii’s lifetime sales of 103m consoles sold. The continued success of the console has thrown off predictions for when Nintendo will release a successor. Before the pandemic, many would have guessed a Nintendo Switch 2 release in 2022 or 2023. Now, that seems foolish.
