Nintendo Switch successor to be released in March 2025

The Nikkei Shimbun newspaper announced in late February 2024 that Nintendo is expected to release a successor to the home game console 'Nintendo Switch' in March 2025. However, Nintendo has not confirmed the news.

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According to Nintendo's official website, a total of 139.36 million units of the Nintendo Switch (released in March 2017) have been shipped worldwide so far. Additionally, according to information released in February 2024, domestic shipments reached 33.34 million units, surpassing the Nintendo DS to become the best-selling game console in Japan.

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It has already been nearly seven years since the Nintendo Switch was released, and it is expected that the console will soon overtake the Family Computer to become the longest-running Nintendo device until its successor is released. As a result of long-lasting expectations, there has been a lot of speculation about the release date of the successor model.

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In August 2023, the Nikkei Shimbun reported that "many people believe that the new hardware will be announced in 2024," while Bloomberg published several articles predicting different release dates.

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In January 2024, Bloomberg predicted that a successor would be released by the end of the year, based on statements by the British research firm Omdia. Responding to this report, Nintendo stated: "We have no specific comment."

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Meanwhile, Nintendo's February announcement projected strong sales of the current console, both in terms of hardware and software. It did not mention anything about a possible new model.

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In February, Bloomberg reported from an "anonymous source" that the release of the successor model may be delayed to next year. In response to the news, the stock price, which had risen due to expectations, plummeted.

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The Nikkei Shimbun paper argued on February 26 that the console would be released in the next year to prevent resale and to enhance the game software that will be released at the same time.

Image: trial event at the time of Switch announcement in January 2017

Analysts at Omdia also told Bloomberg that Nintendo's new console will have an 8-inch LCD, larger than the current console.

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Bloomberg suggests that the popular series 'Call of Duty' (COD) may be playable on next-generation consoles.

Activision Blizzard, the developer of the COD series, was acquired by Microsoft in October 2023. It also committed to providing the COD series to Nintendo for 10 years.

However, it must be noted that all of these reports are, at this point, nothing more than predictions based on the judgment of researchers at each media outlet.

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During a question-and-answer session at Nintendo's financial results briefing in February, journalists suggested that the strong business of current consoles could affect the release date of new consoles. Nintendo President Furukawa answered: "Regarding hardware, we are constantly researching and developing new hardware and software, but there is nothing more we can tell you."

"There are times when articles and speculation are reported, mainly on the Internet, that appear to be information published by our company," the president continued. He assured the journalists that decisions were being made on the basis of speculation by the media.

In response to another question, President Furukawa acknowledged that changing the generation of game consoles is "by no means easy." For example, Nintendo had poor sales of the Wii U after it presented it as the successor to the Wii.

While Nintendo is doing very well with the Nintendo Switch, the future is uncertain. What will the next-generation console look like, and when is it coming out? The world is watching.

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