Nintendo’s long-rumoured successor to its Switch console may launch in March 2025, according to a new report from Nikkei.
Per the Japanese outlet, the system is anticipated to be released “as early as March.” This aligns with previous reports that the console, colloquially referred to as the ‘Switch 2,’ will come out in Q1 2025 instead of this year, as has long been believed.
The reason for the apparent delay reportedly comes down to Nintendo wanting both to secure enough supply and have a sufficient lineup of games for the launch period. Nikkei says Nintendo is also working on “measures to prevent resale,” although it’s unclear exactly what those would be.
Often, new gaming hardware launches in the fall ahead of the holiday season, although Nintendo did launch the Switch in March 2017 to significant demand, so the company may want to revisit that successful release window.
What’s even more impressive with the Switch, though, is that it sold extremely well despite only having one new flagship title for several months: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Otherwise, the company benefited from many people having not purchased the Switch’s beleaguered predecessor, the Wii U, by re-releasing many updated versions of that system’s games on Switch, starting with Mario Kart 8 in April 2017.
It remains to be seen, then, what the company’s software strategy will be for the Switch successor. Rumours have indicated the system will be backwards compatible with the Switch, which is something the Switch did not support with Wii U games. There’s also been speculation that Nintendo has been preparing the long-gestating Metroid Prime 4 and the next mainline 3D Mario (which would be the first since 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey) for its next console.
Ultimately, though, Nintendo has yet to speak publicly about its next console, so all of this should be taken with a grain of salt. One rumour suggests the company will formally announce the new system in June, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
For now, the company is only talking about this year’s Switch games lineup, which, while softer than last year’s, still includes the likes of Princess Peach: Showtime! (March 22nd), a remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (TBA) and a remaster of Vancouver-based Next Level’s Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (TBA). Additionally, third-party games like Xbox-owned Bethesda’s Pentiment and Grounded and Rare’s Killer Instinct were confirmed for Switch during a February 21st Nintendo Direct.
Finally, Nintendo just launched Mario vs. Donkey Kong — you can read more about that in our review.
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