Nintendo has announced that it will not release a new console by the end of March 2024. But the successor to the Switch could be released in the second half of 2024.
With the Switch, Nintendo is experiencing a golden period. There is however the after to prepare, and the Japanese firm of course has the ambition to do at least as well. But while the hybrid console turned six years old last March, the Switch 2 – which is not a definitive name – will not be released before March 31, 2024. It would actually be expected for the second half of the year. next, reports Video Games Chronicle in an article published on July 31. An indiscretion corroborated by Eurogamer.
Sources from Video Games Chronicle confided that some key studios are already in possession of the dev kit. The precise details on the console are obviously secret, but certain information – to be taken with the tweezers of the occasion – emerges. They allow you to draw a first table of the characteristics of the Switch 2.
The first rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2
LCD screen rather than OLED
The first rumor is surprising: for the launch of the Switch 2, Nintendo would opt for an LCD screen. It’s amazing in that the Switch has switched to OLED technology, ensuring better eye comfort in handheld mode. It would therefore look like a regression, justified by the need to keep production costs lower and to favor storage (the first Switch was content with 32 GB). There is also a commercial interest: launching a Switch 2 OLED a few years later, to force renewal.
Still a hybrid console
We wouldn’t change a winning team. A priori, the future Nintendo console would retain the hybrid philosophy of the Switch, with always a portable mode. We recall that this argument, linked to different modes of use, had an immediate positive effect during the presentation of the Switch. There is no reason to go back to a more classic format, which would limit the use of the console.
Always cartridges
If the video game market tends more and more towards 100% digital, the Switch 2 would continue to rely on a cartridge reader (in addition to the eShop). However, this would not guarantee backward compatibility with the Switch catalog. Some Nintendo partners would not necessarily see this feature appreciated, in the sense that it could cannibalize the sales of future games.
It would be quite the opposite of the market: the PS5 is backwards compatible with PS4 games while the Xbox Series S and the Xbox Series X read four console generations. But we know that Nintendo does nothing like the others. We still remember that some Wii models were running GameCube games without problems. Everything is possible on this point.
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