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Facepalm: The Nintendo Switch 2 should debut next year with the company promising an official announcement by the end of this fiscal year (March 31, 2025). This timeline puts a potential Switch 2 launch into the summer 2025 at the earliest. Nintendo may even wait until after GTA 6 launches in the fall to avoid consumer distraction.
Nintendo has told developers not to expect the Switch 2 to be released this fiscal year. In the latest episode of the Games Industry podcast, head of games B2B Chris Dring claimed that every single developer he spoke to recently expects Nintendo to postpone the launch to the next fiscal year.
While some of the developers he talked to said they hope the launch will happen in April-May 2025, there's no guarantee about that either. Dring also pointed out that Nintendo only confirmed it would "announce" the successor to the Switch by the end of fiscal 2024 and that a launch was still TBD.
Nintendo is not historically known for simultaneously announcing and launching a product. So, when it said it would announce the Switch 2 during the 2024 fiscal year, the assumption would be that it would release the console sometime after that. Depending on the timing, that could have meant a launch before or near March 31, 2025. However, that's not looking promising.
Echoing the sentiments of millions of gamers, Dring said that most people will be disappointed with a delayed Switch 2 launch because they have been clamoring for the successor to the OG Switch for years. However, Nintendo has other factors to consider for a successful launch.
"We don't want that crunch of Grand Theft Auto 6 and Switch and all that kind of stuff on top of each other," Dring pointed out. Rockstar expects to launch GTA6 in fall 2025 for Xbox Series and PlayStation 5, while the PC release should land in 2026. Therefore, if Nintendo plans to release the Switch 2 next year, summer and winter are the right times to keep the GTA 6 frenzy from stealing its thunder.
The first-gen Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017 to quickly become the most popular handheld in the world, selling more than 140 million units. It is the third-highest-selling game console ever, trailing only the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS. Despite getting a little long in the tooth, the OG Switch is still going strong, with Nintendo on track to sell 13.5 million units in the current financial year.
Nintendo is also launching new games for the Switch despite the device being in its last year. At its Nintendo Direct showcase in June, the company announced several new games for the aging console, including The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Metroid Prime 4, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Upcoming third-party titles include Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Stray, and more.