Nintendo released the Switch seven years ago and has sold more than 130 million units since then. Because it is the most successful home console, the proverbial rumor mill is bubbling ever more intensely: When will a successor come? Because Nintendo does not confirm any information about its new console or rejects it as untrue and inaccurate, speculation is increasing. What is really known about the Switch 2:
Because Nintendo doesn’t even confirm development work on a successor to the Switch, even the name “Switch 2” is pure speculation and is probably only used in the discussion because it is the most obvious one. However, when it comes to hard facts, processors, graphics chips, screen resolutions or design: none!
However, Nintendo cannot work on the release of a console that is expected to sell millions of copies without certain signs becoming apparent. For example, the business portal “Bloomberg” pointed out the latest sales figures on the display market, which suggest that Nintendo could produce up to ten million units of the new handheld by the end of 2024.
However, parts of the gaming community are dissatisfied with the fact that these are LCD displays. These are generally inferior to OLED screens in terms of color reproduction and would represent a technical step backwards. The fact that the displays ordered from panel manufacturer Sharp have a diagonal of eight inches, which would make the Switch 2 the largest handheld on the market, does not take the coals out of the fire for many of the analysts and console owners on the Internet.
It would also be conceivable that Nintendo would offer an entry-level and a Pro model and that the price difference would then be justified by the display. Nintendo is likely to attach great importance to two things when launching a new platform: high availability and a low price. With the said ten million devices in the first year, one would at least ensure greater global availability than Sony, which produced 7.8 million units of the Playstation 5 in the first year.
For observers of the business world, Christmas business 2024 appears likely as a release, and some rumors are already considering September. It remains to be seen whether and how clearly Nintendo can keep the price below 400 euros – industry observers believe that this is the Japanese target price. There is also an indirect indication from the last Games Developers Conference that the console is actually in the starting blocks: In their large “State of the Industry” survey, 240 different developers stated that they were working on games for the Switch successor .
