Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2 is in production in the most casual way imaginable. The publisher has taken to Twitter to say that it will "make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year."
In his statement, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa says, "it will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015." Nintendo's fiscal year is set to conclude on March 31, 2025, so there's still plenty of time to get caught up on the best Switch games before the next-gen console is revealed.
That doesn't mean that we'll be waiting for another 10 months for any Nintendo news though. Furukawa also confirmed that the company "will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June" – likely falling within the broader Summer Game Fest 2024 schedule – "regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation."
While it's certainly a shame that the Nintendo Direct June 2024 showcase won't host the reveal of the Switch successor, I can't deny that I'm happy the publisher is ready to announce some new titles, as the list of upcoming Switch games is looking a little dry… call me an optimist, but hopefully this is where we'll see some of Metroid Prime 4.
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct…May 7, 2024
All this news arrives alongside Nintendo's latest financial results for the year ending March 2024. The manufacturer announced that it has shifted an additional 15.7 million Switch consoles, bringing the total sold to an incredible 141.32 million to date. It's an impressive accomplishment and puts the Switch on track to be the best-selling console of all time – Nintendo estimates that it will sell through another 13.5m units before the end of this financial year.
Either way, confirmation that a Switch successor is in the works is undoubtedly good news, as rumors have been swirling for months now. There's been reports suggesting that the Switch 2 was targeting an early 2025 release date before another rumor suggested that the console had been delayed to 2025 to hinder scalping, meanwhile a GDC survey seemed to confirm that developers are already turning their attention to the unannounced Switch successor.
It's likely that rumors will continue to circulate as we await our first official look at the Switch successor, but at least we know that an announcement is on the near horizon – and that there will still be a few new Switch exclusives to add to the new games of 2024 calendar.
Meanwhile, this uber-rare prototype Super Famicom that Nintendo built years before the SNES is set to fetch thousands at auction.
