Nintendo has yet to confirm or deny those rumored new versions of Switch, but its president has said outright that it won't announce new hardware at E3 2019. Shuntaro Furukawa, who took over as the head of Nintendo in June 2018, gave Japanese reporters the news (as shared and translated by Bloomberg).
“As a general rule, we’re always working on new hardware and we will announce it when we are able to sell it,” Furukawa told reporters in Osaka. “But we have no plans to announce that at this year’s E3 in June.”
A March report from the Wall Street Journal indicated that Nintendo is working on two new versions of the Switch hardware: one cheaper model for more casual players, and one more expensive model for "avid" fans. Furukawa's comments don't rule out their existence, but they do indicate it could be a while until we hear anything more about them.
All that said, Furukawa's comments aren't a surprise. Nintendo's gotten away from big E3 or E3-adjacent hardware announcements in recent years. The initial reveal of Nintendo Switch was a commercial-style video in October 2016, followed by a more detailed reveal event in January 2017, and then the hardware launch in March. In fact, if Furukawa was being particularly cagey with reporters, we could still get announcements for more Switch hardware any time that is not "this year's E3 in June." Don't give up your hopes for brightening your holiday season with a vibrant, 1080p handheld screen just yet.
Bloomberg added that Nintendo's missed its sales projections for both Switch hardware and software this year (though not by much), so a two-pronged hardware refresh could help it start beating expectations again. Finally putting out that Animal Crossing Switch game couldn't hurt either.
See what else is on the horizon with our list of upcoming Switch games, or see what's new in games and entertainment this week with our latest Release Radar.
