Nintendo may talk about the Switch 2 at the company’s next Corporate Management Policy Briefing.
This information was shared on YouTube by Nintendo Prime, but it can be found in the company’s latest corporate governance report, dated March 27, 2024.
In page 5 of the report, Nintendo explains that they hold an annual Corporate Management Policy Briefing. They then explain what topics these meetings usually have:
Main dialogue topics and matters of interest to investors
“Topics covered include financial results overview and business outlook, business momentum of Nintendo Switch, the next game console and business impact of a hardware transition, IP strategy including the visual content business, capital policy, ESG, and sustainability initiatives.”
Thankfully, analyst Dr. Serkan Toto also went on Twitter to explain what to expect from Nintendo communications in light of their next coming financial report. We’ll quote select passages from his thread that are relevant to this possible announcement or reveal:
“Nintendo will release its next financial report this Tuesday at 3pm Japan time.
I think there is only a very small chance we will hear about the “Switch 2” then, and the reason is that they will need to publish an outlook for next fiscal next week. If they don’t mention it + only refer to the Switch in the outlook, the next model would come after March 31, 2025 – there is (almost) no other way in this scenario.
In the case of a mention of a next model, Nintendo could do what they did with the Wii U (lump together Switch and “Switch 2” numbers) or divide the outlook. I think this scenario is unlikely – simply because Nintendo never announces new hardware during an earnings call.
To make it clear, Nintendo is not obliged to do anything (not even to provide an outlook of any kind actually). They do have some wiggle room for slight hints at new hardware and i.e. could say the outlook depends on production capabilities for possible new hardware.”
To put it in plain terms, this next financial meeting with investors may be the first time Nintendo acknowledges that they have a new console coming soon. We actually know that game companies start planning their next console from the moment they launch their current console
However, they do not confirm that next product to investors until they are finished with development and preparing to launch. The reason for that is to avoid market confusion. They don’t want their investors to think they are releasing two products at the same time, if the intention is to make a successor.
So, don’t hold your breath on it, but it is possible that Nintendo will confirm the Switch 2 within this week. If it does, they may only mention it in passing. We may not even get the console’s real name. We may, however, get a date for when Nintendo will reveal their next platform.
And it isn’t idle talk to say there is a perfect period for Nintendo to announce that new console, in the time of year when we got used to E3 and the major announcements on and around it, in June.
