The successor to the Nintendo Switch’s backward compatibility with existing software has been addressed by the company’s President during a recent earnings call, when asked how it would affect current Switch’s sales.

The reveal that Nintendo’s upcoming console would be backward compatible with not only Switch games, but the Nintendo Switch Online service’s titles came as a shock to fans, as it meant their existing library would stick around.

During an earnings call presentation, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa was asked if the backward compatibility would affect Nintendo Switch sales, as people would be motivated to move to the new console.

Furukawa responded that the Switch’s player base is so big that Nintendo wants consumers to be able to keep playing the games they have already purchased.

The company will continue to promote the original Switch alongside its successor.

"Nintendo Switch is being played by many consumers, and we decided that the best direction to take would be for consumers to be able to play their already purchased Nintendo Switch software on the successor to Nintendo Switch."

One frustrating aspect of the Nintendo Switch is that pretty much every first-party Wii U game was remastered for the system.

This made sense from a business standpoint, as few people played those games, and it gave a wider audience a chance to enjoy them, via easy to produce remasters with extra content.

Nintendo can’t do this with the Switch, considering it’s the third best-selling console of all time. There’s less incentive for players to pay full price for remasters when all of the biggest games sold like hotcakes.

As such, it makes far more sense for Nintendo to assure fans that the Switch’s successor will play old games. That way, they can continue to buy titles for the existing library without needing to worry about shelving them when the new system is released.

Instead, Nintendo can promote the fact that game libraries will still be playable and offer the chance to upgrade them.

While the Switch’s successor will need some great launch games to convince fans to shell out cash, there is also the incentive of upgrading the existing library.

If Nintendo promotes the Switch’s successor with high-performance versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Super Smash Bros.Ultimate with a better online mode, then that will be a huge reason for existing fans to jump on board the new system.

Posted: Nov 12, 2024 8:53 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/nintendo-explains-why-switch-2-is-backward-compatible/