The successor to the Nintendo Switch will not see the light of day until after March, 2024, based on the latest information.
In its Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings report, Nintendo has stated that the Switch successor would not launch during this fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2024. This may come as a disappointment to fans who had been hoping to see next generation hardware from the console maker sooner rather than later. Given the current state of things, Nintendo will not launch a new console before April, 2024.
Additionally, it was reported that Nintendo Switch lifetime unit sales are now 125.62 million, after shipping 3.07M in the quarter ending March 2023. It has reached sales of 17.97 million units in the fiscal year, slightly falling short of the console maker’s 18 million target. Nintendo has set a sales target of 15 million units for the fiscal year ending March, 2024.
Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch lifetime software sales have now passed 1 billion. The best-selling Nintendo-published games include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (53.79 million), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (42.21 million), Super Smash Bros Ultimate (31.09 million), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (29.81 million), and Pokémon Sword/Shield (25.82 million).
Previously, a job offer from Nintendo had made mention of next generation hardware and cross-platform development among the position responsibilities. The job listing in question was for the position of Game Technologies R&D Engineer/Scientist at Nintendo European Research and Development. Among the listed position responsibilities, the new recruit would aim for and go beyond state-of-the-art solutions in the field of technologies related to cross-platform game development, targeting current and next generation Nintendo hardware.
The mention of cross-platform development suggests that the current generation Nintendo Switch will still be supported. Rumors regarding Nintendo’s next generation console had suggested the same. During a recent episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily podcast, Jeff Grubb, who is known for his game industry insights, stated that the next console from Nintendo may be something in-between the “Switch Pro” and a full-fledged successor in order to continue the Switch generation.
