The Nintendo Switch is dead; long live Nintendo Switch. As my least-favorite console of the last decade, entombed in its dock until my fiancée decides to finish The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I'm surprised by how sentimental I feel in the wake of Nintendo's latest announcement. Sales of the original Switch family in the UK and Europe will cease in early 2027, just in time for the last-gen console's 10th anniversary.
It's darkly poetic that a console should die a month out from its birthday. But this is no true death. Rather, I see the end of its reign in EU markets as a step toward a new future – one where the Switch OLED, Lite, and classic editions are forever enshrined among other discontinued consoles that can still be enjoyed today. And yes, that means the OG Switch is officially retro.
Down but not out
Hear me out before you hunt down my email or unload your vitriol in the comments section. We are living in a very strange new world when it comes to gaming trends and markets. What's new is too expensive, and what's old is too viable to dismiss.
The price of a new Nintendo Switch 2 console has risen globally by $30-50 since its launch last summer. Xbox Series X consoles have seen an even steeper price hike in recent months, while a brand new PS5 Pro has risen to almost $1,000 in Sony's latest round of retail refreshes. The global RAM shortage and other side effects of the AI boom are the culprit here. To top it all off, the impending cessation of physical PS5 game discs by 2028 will see Sony embracing a digital-only future that will suck for everyone.
Not only are gamers being priced out of their own hobby, the element of choice in how we collect our games is suddenly being eroded. There's something slightly heartening, then, about Nintendo's decision to sunset its original Switch.
It’s easier to be kinder to discontinued consoles. They shift from being a site of active and ongoing critique, whether it be a price hike or something as industry-quaking as threatening physical ownership altogether, to historical time capsules. It's probably what's making me look upon my own classic Nintendo Switch with a little more softness as I anticipate the fact that this, too, shall pass.
The line between "retro" and "last-gen" is blurrier than ever.
And pass, it must. It's the natural way of things, and it doesn't mean a console is immediately no longer fit for enjoyment. I remember when the Nintendo DS Lite was discontinued. The 3DS had been booming for three years by that point, but instead of demanding a new handheld for my 19th birthday two months before I went to University, I held on to it. Why would I replace something that still worked fine?
My DS Lite – a limited edition silver and black model with the Guitar Hero logo emblazoned on the front – still sits in my bedside drawer. The charger cable is more of a charger tangle at this point, stiff and yellowed with age, though perfectly capable of re-juicing the decades-old handset whenever I please. I break it out for the odd visit to The Sims 2's Strangetown or to feed my Nintendogs from time to time. Someday, I hope to copy my friend: years after receiving a classic DS for Christmas when we were just 11 years old, she passed it down to her son as his one and only device when he turned six. His friends are definitely jealous, even the iPad kids – the dual screens and stylus combo is just as exciting today as it was in 2004, apparently.
Old and still gold
It’s easier to be kinder to discontinued consoles.
Games consoles as heirlooms sounds like a strange concept. But each and every one is a piece of technological history. The best DS games are just as playable now as they were in 2006. Given the formatting demands of a DS game, many can't be accessed on any other family of consoles. They're windows to the past, allowing us to experience the simplicity of days gone by, and I wouldn't part with my DS Lite or PS2 for anything.
But unlike the DS Lite or PS2, you might not view the Switch as a retro console yet. You'd be right about that in theory. The Switch doesn't quite meet the textbook definition of retro just yet – just like the PS4 or Xbox One, the more appropriate term might be last or past-gen. But with tech specs having always lagged just behind Sony and Microsoft's since it launched in 2017, the line between "retro" and "last-gen" is blurrier than ever. The latter infers an inherently unfavorable comparison to current gen consoles, outdated in the face of modernity. Retro proudly claims neither. It refuses to compete, and therefore becomes cool again.
Maybe it's not time for Switch to be considered retro, but in my mind, it's felt old-school since 2020. As new games get pricier and consoles have fewer marked improvements justifying each generational leap, our notion of retro consoles needs to evolve past the point of "something 15 years old or more". What's so different about my mother's friend's husband gifting my brother his old PS1 back in 2001 and me hoarding my old Nintendos for the kids I don't have yet? Both are examples of video games as precious commodities being passed down to – you guessed it – the next generation. It just so happens that when a console gets discontinued, it only gets more special because of the memories you have attached to it.
Check out the best Switch games to play on your OG console right now in 2026. Who needs new ones, anyway?
