What to expect from Nintendo in 2024: Might we finally see a new Switch? How about New Mario Kart? And could we see Call of Duty arrive on the Nintendo Switch?
2023 was another great year for Nintendo. The mercurial Japanese gaming company hasn’t seemingly had too many bad ones in its 134-year history. There was no new Switch hardware, with rumours of a Switch 2 or Switch Pro, despite the initial Switch arriving all the way back in 2016.
While we awaited an announcement on a success to the almighty Switch, the console kept selling well and rising to the third best-selling games console of all time.
Nintendo once again let its iconic and ageless first-party franchises do the talking. The long-awaited The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was a raging success, while long-time Nintendo fans also got joyous new side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. Wonder platformer.
In yet another year of disappointing forced annual releases from the Call of Duty, Madden, and FIFA/EA Sports FC stables, Nintendo proved that less is more when it comes to big franchises.
Add to that Metroid Prime: Remastered, the Super Mario Bros. RPG Remake, and Pikmin 4, it really was an excellent year for Switch gamers.
However, 2023 is all but over and Nintendo gamers are already looking to what’s to come in 2024. It promises to be an even bigger year for the Switch-maker, but as everyone knows, Nintendo doesn’t follow anyone’s timescale but its own.
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Nintendo Switch 2 announcement
We are expecting 2024 to yield the official sequel to the Nintendo Switch, although it shouldn’t be seen as a given. There’s currently only one new original first party game confirmed for this year (Princess Peach: Showtime) with some remakes also on the slate. That suggests Nintendo is keeping its powder dry for the next-gen releases.
We’d expect plenty more power with a successor to Nvidia Tegra X1 processor and 4K HDR gaming in docked mode. Knowing Nintendo there’ll be some new tweaks to the experience beyond an internal overhaul. Does Nintendo have the cajones to move away from a winning formula after the Wii U upset the apple card?
Our money is on an announcement in the second half of 2024, with a release coming in early 2025, with the promise of some big new Mario games.
More-a Mario
After the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie the plumbers are enjoying a mid-life renaissance. Now the Mario Kart 8 DLC releases have come to an end, we’d expect a Mario Kart 9 announcement won’t be that far behind. And if Nintendo does announce new hardware, you know a new 3D Mario game to succeed the brilliant Odyssey.
Plenty of new Switch games (and remakes)
As we mentioned above, the tentpole 2024 release for the Switch is currently Princess Peach: Showtime. It’s the first time Peach has had her own game since Super Princess Peach that arrived for the DS in 2005. Peach will need to “Fend off the Sour Bunch with sensational swordplay as a swordfighter.” It arrives in March.
Mario vs Donkey Kong comes in February and Luigi’s Manion 2 HD (a remake) arrives in September, while another remake Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door won’t be along until the end of the year. Perhaps we’ll get Metroid Prime 4 too?!
Call of Duty on Switch?
Nintendo was one of several gaming hardware and software providers signing accords with Microsoft to guarantee wide access to Call of Duty games following its takeover of Activision Blizzard. It’s unlikely any new AAA Call of Duty game would run well on the Switch (maybe the successor will be powerful enough?), so that would mean access via the cloud. Nintendo hasn’t really explored much in the way of cloud gaming yet. But an adoption of Xbox Game Pass might be a mutually beneficial arrangement for Microsoft and Nintendo.
