Nintendo Switch at the “midpoint” of its lifecycle, says Nintendo of America president

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser believes we're roughly at the "midpoint" of the Nintendo Switch's lifecycle.

Speaking to Polygon in a recent interview, Bowser said that "we believe we’re just at the midpoint of this life cycle on this platform" when asked about the possibility of an upgraded model of Nintendo Switch. Bowser very much echoed Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa's beliefs from a corporate policy meeting for the fiscal year ending March 2021.

Basically, the Nintendo Switch isn't going anywhere anytime soon. In the same interview with Polygon, Bowser poured cold water on the longstanding rumors of an upgraded "Nintendo Switch Pro" model launching next year in 2021, saying that the continued success of the Nintendo Switch entering its fourth year on the market will be the company's focus for the foreseeable future.

The key focus in the interview with Bowser was that the Nintendo Switch's continued success has enabled the company to ditch the traditional 4-5 year lifecycle of a console. The sales of the Nintendo Switch have been nothing short of astounding, and it even beat out the PS5 and Xbox Series X sales during their launch month in November. As such, Nintendo isn't looking to replace the Switch after 4-5 years on the market, as they previously replaced the Wii with the Wii U, for example.

Bowser had good news for dedicated Animal Crossing: New Horizons players in the interview with Polygon. The Nintendo of America president revealed that we'll see a slate of updates for the game in 2021 similar in quantity to what we've been given so far in 2020.

For a complete look at all the games coming to the Nintendo Switch over the course of 2021 so far, you can head over to our upcoming Switch games guide for more. If you've yet to pick up the console, check out the latest options with our Nintendo Switch bundles and Nintendo Switch Lite prices guides.

PRODUCTS

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.