New reports suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 (or whatever the successor will eventually be called) is planned to launch next year in 2024.
VGC reports that Nintendo plans to release new hardware in the second half of 2024, with development kits already with key partner studios to ensure a healthy lineup of launch games.
The report also suggests the Switch successor will once again be usable in a portable mode, and will retain the cartridge slot for physical games. It’s currently unknown whether it will be backwards compatible with the existing Nintendo Switch family.
We’ve detailed all of the reported new features for the Nintendo Switch 2 below.
Release date
The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to launch in the second half of 2024, according to a new report by VGC.
This lines up with expectations, with the current Nintendo Switch sales starting to dwindle six years after its original launch. It’s also been nearly 2 years since the release of the Switch OLED revision, making 2024 an ideal time for Nintendo to offer a new upgrade.
We imagine it’s highly likely that Nintendo will opt for a November 2024 release date, with the proximity to Christmas likely providing a boost to sales. This is the same tactic that Microsoft and Sony adopted for the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
It’s highly unlikely that the Nintendo Switch 2 will arrive this year in 2023, with Nintendo yet to make an official announcement. And with development kits only recently handed out to key partners, it wouldn’t allow for much time to get a healthy supply of video games ready for launch.
Price
Nintendo has been tight-lipped about how much this new console will cost. With the original Nintendo Switch priced at £279/$299 and the Switch Lite costing £199/$199, we expect a sequel to cost over £300/$300.
VGC reports that the Switch successor could launch with an LCD screen, instead of an OLED screen, in a bid to bring down costs. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Switch 2 will be more affordable than the £299/$349.99 Nintendo Switch OLED, since the former is expected to have more powerful specs.
We will update this article when we know more about the pricing.
Specs
The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to boast improved specs over its predecessors, although we don’t have any concrete details on the internals yet. Since the original console is powered by the Nvidia Tegra X1 processor, we expect the new console to run on an upgraded version of this.
The next iteration of the Nintendo Switch 2 has long been expected to support a 4K resolution. Back in 2021, a data miner (via Wccftech) found references to a Realtek chip that has support for 4K UHD multimedia.
Bloomberg has also reported that the future console will support Nvidia’s DLSS technology. Put simply, DLSS uses artificial intelligence and clever upscaling technology to boost the frame rate of a game without impacting the visual quality. DLSS is currently used by Nvidia’s high-end graphics cards like the RTX 4000 and RTX 3000 series and has been well received by gamers.
DLSS would make sense on a console like the Switch as it could help to make up for the limited hardware and boost the frame rate high enough to make 4K gaming possible.
Taking a closer look at the 4K rumours, Bloomberg alleged that the company is asking developers to make new Nintendo Switch games 4K ready in docked mode. Bloomberg also claims that up to 11 game studios have had access to an official development kit that featured 4K support. Although it’s possible that this was for the rumoured Nintendo Switch Pro which was shelved in favour of the Nintendo Switch OLED.
This means it’s difficult to know whether these scrapped plans will be re-used for the eventual successor of the Nintendo Switch. It’s entirely possible that Nintendo decides to go in a different direction altogether.
VGC reports that Nintendo could boost the storage for the Switch 2 in order to keep up with the inflating sizes of modern games, and will likely retain the cartridge slot in order for it to continue running physical games. There are doubts on whether the Switch 2 will offer backwards compatibility.
While it’s possible that the Switch 2 will support a higher 4K resolution, VGC suggests that Nintendo will stick with an LCD screen rather than an OLED. This will apparently be done to keep down costs, although we suspect an OLED iteration could launch a few years after.
Games
Since the new console has yet to be announced, there are no official games for the Switch 2 yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on what could be arriving.
Nintendo has been suspiciously quiet about a potential follow up to Super Mario Odyssey. Odyssey was released fairly early into the Switch’s life cycle, and there’s no sign of a sequel to Mario’s globe-trotting adventure which might indicate it as being earmarked as a Nintendo Switch 2 launch title. Fans have also been clamouring for a new Mario Kart game, since Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the last iteration and launched back in 2017.
Nintendo has a wide breadth of IPs to choose from when it comes to launching future games. There are plenty of genres that the company could dip into, with many opportunities for sequels that fans would be excited to see.
We are hoping that the Switch 2 will offer backwards compatibility with the existing Switch family, although there’s no guarantee for this.
That’s everything we know about the potential Nintendo Switch 2 so far, but we’ll be updating this article as soon as we hear more.
