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09th May 2023

Rumoured release date for next Nintendo console revealed

Rory Cashin

Switch

The follow up to the Switch could be arriving sooner than we thought…

Nintendo have a long and almost exclusively successful history of handheld devices leading up to the release of the Switch. From the original Gameboy in 1989, to the Gameboy Color (1998), the Gameboy Advance (2001), the Nintendo DS (2004), the Nintendo 3DS (2009), before landing with the Switch in 2017.

In much the same way that all eyes are already on when Sony might drop the next PlayStation, considering we’re now into year seven of the Switch’s life cycle, folks are wondering when the next Nintendo handheld console might drop.

On the one hand, we definitely know when it WON’T be arriving, and that is any time before 31 March 2024. Bloomberg reports that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa announced during the company’s financial reports meeting that no new replacement for the Switch will be shipped before the end of Q1 2024.

On the other hand, we don’t DEFINITELY know when the new hardware might be arriving, but reports have given us a good idea. Games industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls told Eurogamer the following:

“There is still some life in the Switch platform yet. I expect the new Zelda to drive hardware sales to those upgrading from older versions to the latest OLED model and probably from some entirely new Switch buyers. That will help Nintendo reach its 15m shipment target for the year ending March ’24. Software sales remain pretty robust especially for first-party titles. [We expect] a next-gen Nintendo console to be released in late 2024.”

So there you have it. No need to add the Switch 2 to your Christmas list this year… but between this and the potential for a new PlayStation next year, Christmas 2024 is going to cost gamers a pretty penny!

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