Nintendo has denied reports of a behind the scenes demonstration of the Switch successor, dubbed Switch 2, to developers at Gamescom 2023.
During a press conference on the occasion of the company’s interim consolidated financial results for September 2023, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated that any rumors regarding Nintendo demonstrating the Switch 2 to certain game developers earlier in 2022 and later at Gamescom 2023 are inaccurate and untrue.
Furthermore, regarding the recent discovery of a patent for a gaming device equipped with dual screen functionality similar to that of the 3DS, Furukawa stated that Nintendo filed for the patent with the understanding that its details would be shared with the public. He clarified that the existence of such a patent does not necessarily mean that it would be part of a final product, suggesting that it was mainly filed for R&D purposes.
Meanwhile, sales of the Nintendo Switch increased by 6.84 million units, roughly 2.4% over the same period last year. In May, the company set a target to sell 15 million Switch consoles in the fiscal year ending March 2024, and this remains unchanged. Furukawa stated that the important thing for Nintendo is whether it can convert replacement and new demand into purchases during the holiday season.
Previously, during an interview, Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser hinted at the strong possibility of the Switch 2 supporting backwards compatibility. He was asked whether he has thought about helping those people who will be making the transition from the existing console to the next platform while reassuring them that their content and investment in the Switch will somehow transfer to its successor. Bowser responded by stating that one thing Nintendo has already done with the Switch with regards to the communication of this transition is the formation of the Nintendo Account. In the past, every device Nintendo console users transitioned to had a whole new account system. According to him, creating the Nintendo Account has allowed the console maker to communicate with with players that if and when it makes a transition to a new platform, it will help ease that process or transition.
