Nintendo have finally broken silence on the Switch 2... but it's not what fans were hoping for.
With the average life cycle of the typical video game console being five to seven years, Nintendo has had a good run with milking the Nintendo Switch for all it's worth. Sony and Microsoft went head-to-head with the new-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series in 2020, and while those two continue duking it out, Nintendo has been happily doing its own thing.
Since the Nintendo Switch released in 2017, it's gone on to become one of the best-selling consoles of all time and remained undefeated as the best-selling console of the year from 2017 until the PS5 toppled it in 2023.
While the Switch has slipped from its place on the console throne, there are high hopes that the upcoming Switch 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) can claw its way back to the top.
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Although rumors and leaked designs had been doing the rounds for months, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa finally confirmed the Switch successor was coming in an underwhelming May 2024 announcement.
Frustratingly, Furukawa simply said the next console would be revealed this fiscal year, meaning we'll get our first glimpse at the Switch 2 before March 31, 2025.
Even though our hopes of getting an all-star Switch 2 Nintendo Direct in 2024 are fading, the House that Mario Built is dangling a tantalizing carrot in front of our faces with a major tease of what's to come.
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Keen to keep us invested, Furukawa posted on the official Nintendo Japan X account and confirmed the Switch 2 will be backwards-compatible with the OG Switch: "This is Furukawa. At today's Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch.
"Nintendo Switch Online will be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well. Further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date."
Nintendo has a checkered past with backwards-compatability. The move from N64 to GameCube saw games lost to the history books, while the Wii and Wii U let you play older games. The Switch has slowly expanded its Nintendo Switch Online catalogue to bring over classics from all generations, although beloved games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker are still left languishing.
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Microsoft arguably does it best when it comes to backwards-compatibility, but in 2025, we'd at least expect the Switch 2 to be compatible with its bigger brother. We've shelled out a small fortune on Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, so if Nintendo expects anyone to buy the upcoming Metroid Prime 4: Beyond or Pokemon Legends: Z-A, it was always going to have to bridge the generations.
Furukawa didn't reveal other tech features about whether the Switch 2 will use the same cartridges as the Switch, while his promises of a 'later date' are getting a little frustrating for those who just want the next generation of Nintendo hardware in their hands.