The Nintendo Switch is going to be a tough act to follow. With more than 130 million units sold, the hybrid tablet has become the company’s bestselling console to date, besting the Wii, and slowly but surely approaching the DS handheld. The question is: what comes next?
Nintendo infamously followed the Wii with the ill-fated Wii U before turning things around with the Switch. And the console appears to be going out on a high note following the release of blockbusters The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder in 2023. For years there has been a steady stream of rumors and reports about what the next Switch might look like — it’s been called everything from the “Switch Pro” to the Switch 2” — and it’s expected to launch some time in 2024 with an eight-inch LCD screen.
As we await official word from Nintendo on its next device, you can keep up with all of the latest developments right here.
May 7
Jess Weatherbed
Switch 2 will be revealed before April 2025, promises Nintendo
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Nintendo has thrown Switch players a long-awaited bone alongside announcing its end-of-year financials results, confirming the console’s successor will be unveiled before April, 2025. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said that a next-generation Nintendo Switch console will be announced “within this fiscal year” — giving the Japanese gaming giant a deadline of March 31st, 2025. That aligns nicely with its current Q1 2025 rumored launch.
Regarding the Switch 2 console announcement, Furukawa said:
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Apr 26
Sean Hollister
Is Nintendo going off the rails?
Specifically, the rails that keep Joy-Cons firmly connected to the Switch? Because Spanish pub Vandal (which correctly reported minor details of the Switch OLED before launch) says a larger Switch 2 will replace those rails with magnets.
That’s according to accessory vendors who apparently didn’t even see the Switch 2, mind, just touched it in a box. Still: magnets alone? I could see magnets and rails, but...
Image: Vandal Online
Apr 15
Tom Warren
No Nintendo Switch 2 at Gamescom.
Nintendo has confirmed to both Eurogamer and German siteGames Wirtschaft that it won’t be attending this summer’s Gamescom event. The Nintendo Switch 2 was reportedly demonstrated to developers at Gamescom last year, so it’s very unlikely we’re going to get a repeat of that leak again. Recent reports suggest Nintendo is now targeting March 2025 for the Switch 2 launch.
Nintendo confirms it won't attend Gamescom 2024
[Eurogamer.net]
Feb 27
Ash Parrish
Could Pokémon Legends: Z-A be coming to a Switch 2 near you?
Current rumors have the Switch’s successor pegged for a 2025 release. Meanwhile The Pokémon Company has announced that Pokémon Legends: Z-A is due “simultaneously worldwide on Nintendo Switch in 2025.”
Combine that with the fact that Nintendo likes to make its launch titles cross-gen and that the possible scope of Z-A seems limited to one big mega city which might reduce technological constraints if the game is working across two systems, and we’ve got a tinfoil-solid theory going on.
So... whadaya think?
The Nintendo Switch 2 will now reportedly arrive in 2025 instead of 2024
Ash Parrish
Feb 26
Jess Weatherbed
Nintendo fans might be waiting at least a year for the next Switch console
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
If you were hoping to get your hands on Nintendo’s highly anticipated Switch 2 console this year then prepare to be disappointed by another rumor pointing to a 2025 release date. According to a new report from Nikkei, Nintendo is anticipated to release its successor to the Nintendo Switch console “as early as March,” in line with the rumored Q1 2025 release date reported by both VGC and Eurogamer earlier this month.
Previous reporting had set an anticipated 2024 release date for Nintendo’s next-gen console, already with the aim of having sufficient stock available to avoid the shortages that the PS5 and Xbox Series S / X experienced at launch. But those same stock concerns as well as giving developers enough time to create new game titles appear to be behind this latest 2025 release window. Machine translation of Nikkei’s Japanese-language report says that Nintendo “prioritized securing initial stock of successor machines and the lineup of popular software at the time of release.”
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Feb 16
Ash Parrish
The Nintendo Switch 2 will now reportedly arrive in 2025 instead of 2024
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The Switch 2 rumor mill continues to grind. The original reporting on the Switch 2’s release date pegged it for a fall 2024 release in time for the holiday rush. Now, according to sources speaking to VGC, Nintendo is telling publishers the console’s release date is slated for Q1 2025.
And VGC isn’t the only one: a video from a Brazilian journalist and “similar whispers” reported by sources speaking to Eurogamer suggest the window has been pushed to Q1 2025 as well.
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Feb 6
Jon Porter
Nintendo says Switch will continue to be its “main business” heading into 2024 as next-gen rumors mount.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa made the comments during today’s third-quarter earnings call, Bloomberg reports, and declined to comment about rumors for a successor to Nintendo’s second best-selling console of all time. But we should hear more about Nintendo’s next fiscal year, and hopefully the Switch 2, during the company’s next earnings briefing in early May.
Jan 26
Sean Hollister
I love this theory that Metroid Prime 4 could be a cross-gen Switch 2 launch title.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Nintendo’s just quietly waiting to pull a Twilight Princess, like Mike McWhertor suggests at Polygon?
Nintendo releasedThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princesson both its ailing GameCube and the brand-new Wii. A little over a decade later, it did something similar, releasingThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildon both Wii U and Nintendo Switch.
Because it’s been five years since Nintendo rebooted development on Metroid, let alone announced the game — and those Switch 2 rumors are heating up.
What’s up with Metroid Prime 4?
[Polygon]
Jan 26
Jon Porter
Analyst tips 8-inch LCD for Nintendo Switch 2.
Supply chain analysis from Omdia’s Hiroshi Hayase suggests Nintendo’s next console, widely expected to launch later this year, will have a bigger screen than both the original Switch (6.2-inches) and the OLED model (7-inches), Bloomberg reports. That lines up with VGC’s previous reporting about the LCD display. Developers reportedly saw demos of the new Switch last year, and Activision was briefed on it as early as 2022.
Oct 18, 2023
Andrew Webster
With a Switch 2 looming, Nintendo is sending out the original with a bang
Image: Nintendo
There’s a very good chance that this will be the last year where the Switch is Nintendo’s main piece of hardware. While rumors of a Switch successor have persisted for years, recent reports suggest that an upgraded device is not only coming but will be here relatively soon, with a potential 2024 launch. If that is indeed the case, it seems that Nintendo isn’t content to let the device go out with a whimper — in fact, 2023 has been one of the Switch’s strongest years to date.
Just look at the company’s biggest properties. This year, we have both a new mainline Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom and a classic Mario title with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The last time the company released a major Zelda and Super Mario in the same year was 2017, which just so happened to be when the Switch debuted. (Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey have since gone on to sell more than 50 million combined copies.) Tears of the Kingdom, in particular, really feels like it’s pushing the upper limits of what the Switch is capable of — just look at some of the physics-defying creations players have come up with inside of its giant open world.
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Sep 18, 2023
Tom Warren
Activision was briefed on Nintendo’s Switch 2 last year
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Rumors of a Nintendo Switch 2 announcement have grown recently after reports of developer demos at Gamescom last month. Now, we know that Activision was briefed on a next-generation Nintendo Switch last year, thanks to internal emails from the FTC v. Microsoft case.
Activision executives, including CEO Bobby Kotick, met with Nintendo executives in December 2022 to discuss a next-generation Switch. In an internal email chain, Chris Schnakenberg, head of Activision’s platform strategy and partner relations, prepared a summary of the “Switch NG” (Switch next-generation) inside a document labeled “NG Switch Draft.pdf.”
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Sep 7, 2023
Tom Warren
Nintendo Switch 2 evidence grows with rumors of developer demos
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Nintendo has reportedly demonstrated the Nintendo Switch 2 behind closed doors at Gamescom last month. Eurogamer reports that some trusted developers got an early look at the Switch 2 and some tech demos of how games run on the unannounced system.
There was reportedly a demo of an improved version of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that’s designed to run on the more advanced hardware inside the Nintendo Switch 2. Eurogamer’s report follows rumors from Windows Central’s Jez Corden that Nintendo had discussed a next-generation Switch with select developers at Gamescom.
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Jul 31, 2023
Ash Parrish
Nintendo’s next-gen console could come as soon as 2024
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
For the last six years, there have been only three things you can count on: death, taxes, and rumors of a new Nintendo console. Now, a new rumor from VGC suggests Nintendo’s eyeing a 2024 release for its next-gen console.
According to sources who spoke to VGC, the new console could feature a cheaper LCD screen instead of a higher-end display like the OLED Switch and continue to include a cartridge slot for loading games. Nintendo executives also hope that the 2024 release window will ensure the console won’t have inventory issues like the ones that plagued the launch of the Xbox Series S / X and PlayStation 5.
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Mar 3, 2022
Sean Hollister
The Steam Deck’s FSR vividly shows why a Nintendo Switch Pro would rule
Image: Nintendo
The Nintendo Switch turns five years old today — five years without ever addressing the fact some of its biggest games tend to chug and don’t look great on a big screen TV.
I’m here to tell you that not only does Nintendo have a solution for that, Valve’s rival Steam Deck proves beyond a doubt that it would work phenomenally.
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Sep 30, 2021
Sean Hollister
Nintendo categorically denies that a 4K Switch Pro is in development
It is rare for a big company to come out and categorically deny an entire report, but that’s what Nintendo just did — the Japanese corporate entity issued a press release insisting Bloomberg’s seeming revelation that Nintendo was pushing developers to build 4K-resolution games for an upcoming but potentially canceled “Switch Pro” handheld was entirely incorrect.
Nintendo writes the report “falsely claims that Nintendo is supplying tools to drive game development for a Nintendo Switch with 4K support” and insists that it’s “not true.” Separately, it says that it has no plans for any new Nintendo Switch other than the slightly refined OLED model that’ll be out next week.
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Sep 29, 2021
Richard Lawler
The Switch Pro was real, Bloomberg reports
Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
Don’t get me wrong; we’re excited about Nintendo’s new OLED Switch — the number of preorders in The Verge newsroom confirms it. But what about the more powerful Switch that so many of us thought was around the corner? A new Bloomberg report suggests that the global chip shortage is why plans fell through for a “Switch Pro” with upgraded hardware from Nvidia and 4K resolution.
The outlet, which previously reported on the device, backs up those reports by saying it’s identified at least 11 developers, naming only Zynga, who have received 4K Nintendo Switch development kits. Specifically, Bloomberg claims employees heard from Nintendo that they should design games to target the higher resolution.
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Jul 6, 2021
Sean Hollister
Don’t count out the Nintendo Switch Pro
The Nintendo Switch is fine. Like Alex says, there’s no pressing reason for Nintendo to replace it right now. But does that mean today’s new OLED variant has utterly dashed our dreams of a more powerful Switch Pro, one that might play games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Hyrule Warriors, and Persona 5 Strikers without chugging?
I wouldn’t rule out a Switch Pro just yet, partly because I have a hard time believing Nintendo can resist pumping out as many models as the market will hold:
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Mar 7, 2021
Jay Peters
What we actually want from an upgraded Nintendo Switch
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Rumors about a long-desired upgrade to the Nintendo Switch have been swirling for some time, and this week, Bloomberg reported that this fabled new Switch might actually be coming soon.
This upgraded Switch will apparently have a 7-inch 720p OLED screen that can output 4K graphics when connected to a TV, according to the report. An OLED screen would be a major upgrade from the Switch and Switch Lite’s LCD, likely providing deeper colors and darker blacks. And the 4K output would be a big jump, too; right now, the current Switch tops out at a 1080p resolution when hooked up to a TV.
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Jan 31, 2020
Sam Byford
Nintendo says it has no plans for a new Switch this year
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Nintendo CEO and president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors today that the company has “no plans” to launch a new model of the Switch in 2020. Speaking as part of a corporate management policy briefing following yesterday’s release of financial results, Furukawa instead pointed to today’s announcement of the new Animal Crossing-branded model.
“According to the conventional wisdom for dedicated video game platforms, Nintendo Switch should be entering the midway phase of the hardware lifecycle,” Furukawa said. “But we believe we have built a foundation on which we can pursue further growth opportunities for Nintendo Switch.”
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