The Switch 2 could be arriving even later than previously thought, with a new report suggesting it’s being pushed back past March 2025.
Approaching its seventh birthday, the Switch is still selling healthily – which might explain why Nintendo isn’t rushing to put out a successor.
The rumour was that the Switch 2 would emerge in late 2024, but there are now reports that the console won’t be released until March 2025, and could be pushed back further still.
That report comes from Japanese outlet Nikkei (via Eurogamer), which suggests that the release is being held back from its original 2024 window in order to ensure there’ll be enough consoles in production to fulfil demand.
Backing up earlier reports, Nikkei’s news piece (translated from Japanese) suggests that the Switch 2 – not its official name – will be similar in design to its predecessor, being both a portable and traditional under-the-telly console. It adds that the screen will be slightly larger than the existing Switch’s – 6.2 inches – with a higher resolution to boot.
Read more: The Nintendo Switch 2 and the risky nature of console launches
A report earlier in February said that the Switch 2 would be backwards compatible with original Switch games, and would still support physical media – suggesting the proprietary card-based format developed for that earlier console will remain unchanged. It’s also said that the console will include Nvidia’s Tegra X1 chip, and that a whole new building has been constructed by Nvidia in order to make those custom chips.
Official details of the Switch 2 are firmly under wraps, but given that hundreds of developers are meant to be quietly working on games for the system, there’ll be lots of information out there in the industry somewhere, all locked up under terrifying non-disclosure agreements. Indeed, Eurogamer previously cited an anonymous source which said that another reason for the Switch 2’s delay is to ensure a glittering launch line-up for the console.
Given that the stupendously successful Wii was followed by the slow-selling Wii U, which conspicuously lacked much in the way of support from third-party developers, Nintendo is no doubt keen to avoid having that chapter in its history repeat itself.
