Switch 2: all the news and rumors on Nintendo’s next console

Nintendo hasn’t announced its Switch successor yet, but we do know one thing for sure: it will be able to play current Switch games and have carryover for your Nintendo Switch Online services and account. The news was announced during Nintendo’s midyear policy briefing, with further information promised “at a later date.”

Nintendo also talked about numbers for the current Switch (PDF), noting that it sold 4.72 million units in the past three months, a drop of 31 percent compared to the same period last year but well above previous consoles eight years after they launched.

In 2018, Nintendo invited me to a meeting in New York City to see a mysterious new initiative. It was teased as an “interactive experience for Nintendo Switch,” which sent my mind to all sorts of places. This is the company that made a weird dual-screen Game Boy and bongo controllers, after all. It could be anything. Even still, I did not guess that I would spend that meeting folding bits of cardboard — or that those cardboard accessories would turn out to be so awesome. That was the moment I completely gave up on trying to guess what Nintendo would do next.

That meeting has been on my mind quite a bit over the last few weeks. While much of the game industry has been on edge in anticipation of whatever the follow-up to the Switch will be, Nintendo has focused on pretty much anything and everything else.

Nintendo has submitted a mysterious new wireless device to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this weekend, and it isn’t the Switch 2 console we’re expecting to be revealed before next April. The CLO-001 model number doesn’t reveal what it actually is, but it appears to be an entirely new product line given the “001” codes used on devices like the original Switch (HAC-001) and DS (NTR-001) consoles.

It’s tagged only as a “wireless device,” not a “wireless game console” or any kind of controller like a Joy-Con. A basic diagram within the documents shows an outline of where the FCC label will be “displayed in a depression area on the bottom” of something with a squarish footprint and rounded-off corners.

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:

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.” 

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.