While the big N has yet to announce the successor to the Nintendo Switch, it has confirmed a detail we’ve come to expect.
During the company’s second quarter earnings report, company president Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that the yet-to-be officially named Switch successor will be able to run Switch games, joining the Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 in supporting titles released for the previous generation of consoles. Furukawa summarized the announcement on Twitter:
Furukawa said in a summary tweet, “This is Furukawa. At today’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch Online will also be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch. More information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date.”
Here’s more from the company’s announcement: “Until Nintendo Switch, there was no easy way for consumers to carry their purchase and play history across generations of platforms. As a result, our relationship with consumers was interrupted when they purchased a new system. The introduction of the Nintendo Account made it possible to link consumers’ history to their personal account, allowing Nintendo to maintain a continuous relationship with consumers across platform generations.
We have announced that we plan to make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch this fiscal year. We believe that it is important for Nintendo’s future to utilize Nintendo Account and carry over the good relationship we have established with the more than 100 million users who play Nintendo Switch annually to its successor. For example, we will make Nintendo Switch Online, a service based on Nintendo Account, available on the successor to Nintendo Switch. In addition, Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch. In addition to being able to play the Nintendo Switch software they currently own, consumers will be able to choose their next purchase from a wide selection of titles released for Nintendo Switch,” Nintendo wrote.
So the Switch’s successor hasn’t been unveiled yet, and so it’s unlikely that it’ll launch in the first three months of 2025, but rather in April at the earliest. Why is that? We’ll talk about it in the news later today.
