While rumors have been circulating for years about the successor to Nintendo Switch, it's looking increasingly likely that a launch will be happening in 2024. According to new reporting from Video Games Chronicle, development kits are now in the hands of Nintendo's "key partners," with a launch planned for the second half of next year. Sources for the outlet claim that the system will still have a cartridge slot for physical games, though backwards compatibility "remains unclear." It's also possible the system may launch with an LCD screen rather than OLED to help reduce costs.

Next year will mark the seventh anniversary of the Nintendo Switch, which launched on March 3rd, 2017. The system has been a massive success for Nintendo, and software sales have been incredibly strong. After decades of supporting two platforms at the same time, Nintendo made the risky move to combine its console and handheld markets into one system. The gambit paid off in a big way, and VGC's reporting confirms that Nintendo's next system will also be a hybrid.

So far, Nintendo has been very quiet regarding the Switch successor. In May, the company stated that the length between the console's announcement and its release could be shorter than it has been in previous generations; notably, Switch was fully revealed in 2016 before a release the following year. If VGC's sources are correct, that might mean we won't hear about the new system until late 2023, or even early 2024. The one thing that we do know for sure is that the system will carry over current Nintendo Accounts, "in order to smoothly transition" customers.

If the Nintendo Switch era truly is coming to a close, it seems that things will be ending on a high note. This year has seen the release of critically-acclaimed games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pikmin 4, and Metroid Prime Remastered, while Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Detective Pikachu Returns, and Super Mario RPG are all set to release before the end of the year. The company's plans for 2024 have been somewhat quieter, but we do know that a Princess Peach game and a remaster of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon will both be releasing.



Posted: Aug 04, 2023 11:21 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/nintendo-switch-2-second-half-2024-launch/