Nintendo will support the Nintendo Switch until at least March 2024, and the console will receive new games until March 2025.
In a new interview with Nikkei, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was quizzed about the company's plans for the inevitable Switch successor. Furukawa was a little tight-lipped on the matter but revealed that the company is currently planning to support the Nintendo Switch for the remainder of the fiscal year, which wraps up for Nintendo in March 2024.
Furukawa stated that Nintendo is effectively all-in on maximizing business for the Nintendo Switch until then. This goal is actually a lot more short-term than it sounds - March 2024 is barely five months away, meaning we're already most of the way through the fiscal year that Furukawa is talking about here. If a new console from Nintendo was going to launch in the next five months, we'd know about it by now.
- Nintendo boss says it's not Switch 2's fault that Switch sales are "below expectations," and the company will keep selling the old console "as long as there is demand"
- Nintendo Switch 2 expected to launch by September according to publisher Nacon, which "already has compatible games and a full range of accessories" for the new console
Elsewhere in the Nikkei interview, Furukawa reveals games for the Switch will continue to be made until at least the following year, in March 2025. Considering Nintendo has already confirmed Switch games for deep into 2024, like the Luigi's Mansion 2 HD remaster, this isn't a huge surprise.
The upcoming Switch games definitely support Furukawa's view of increasing business for the current console until at least March 2024. We've got the likes of Princess Peach: Showtime launching on March 22, 2024, Splatoon 3's hefty Side Order DLC releasing in Spring next year, and the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake for the Switch sometime in 2024.
However, we do have reports claiming that Nintendo plans to launch the Switch successor next year in 2024. The new console is allegedly meant to launch in the latter half of the coming year, a claim which actually gels with Furukawa's statement of wanting to support the Switch until at least March 2024. Considering Furukawa's other comment about Switch games, we could see titles launch simultaneously on the current and new console.
Oh, and don't sleep on Mario vs. Donkey Kong next year in February 2024 - that's sure to be a banger.
