As Nintendo begins the ramp up to the release of its next-generation gaming system, it’s reassuring fans that the games they’ve purchased over the past seven years won’t be useless when the so-called Switch 2 is released.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, on Wednesday, confirmed in a social-media post that Switch software will be playable on the successor to the game system.
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…— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) November 6, 2024
There aren’t a lot of details available about the new system as yet. Nintendo has not given the Switch successor a formal name or revealed a release date—and isn’t likely to until the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Anticipation of that new hardware, along with the age of the Switch, forced Nintendo to downgrade its annual sales forecast earlier this week. Net profits were down 60% year-over-year as well.
“Unit sales of both hardware and software were extremely high for the first half of the previous fiscal year,” Nintendo said, adding that the Mario movie had “energized our dedicated video game platform business. … There were no such special factors in the first half of this fiscal year, and with Nintendo Switch now in its eighth year since launch, unit sales of both hardware and software decreased significantly.”
Games continue to sell well for Nintendo, however. Between April and September 2024, the company said The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom sold 2.58 million copies. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold another 2.31 million, taking its grand total to 64.27 million. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door sold 1.94 million copies and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD sold 1.57 million.