The wait for Nintendo’s next-gen console may have gotten a little longer. According to multiple reports, Nintendo is now planning to launch its Switch successor in the first quarter of 2025 – or about eight years after it launched the original Nintendo Switch.
Brazilian journalist Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippeciting multiple sources, reported it in a new video on Friday that Nintendo recently informed publishers of an updated launch window for the new console, colloquially known as ‘Switch 2’. That report has now been confirmed by reports from VGC And Eurogameralso citing sources saying that Nintendo’s original plan for a next-gen launch in the second half of 2024 has been pushed to the first quarter of 2025.
VGC’s report says the Switch 2’s delayed launch may be due to Nintendo’s desire to develop “stronger first-party software for the console.”
Nintendo has not yet officially announced a successor to the Switch, nor has it indicated a possible launch window for the system. But multiple reports have previously pegged it at a 2024 launch.
Company Chairman Shuntaro Furukawa recently told investors that the original Switch would be Nintendo’s “main business” for the upcoming fiscal year, which runs from April 2024 through March 2025. Furukawa also has a “smooth transition” to any next-generation platform promised.
Nintendo’s current generation console-handheld hybrid continues to sell well despite its age. More than 139 million Switch systems have been sold to date, making it Nintendo’s second best-selling console of all time.
If the Switch 2 is delayed until 2025, Nintendo fans will have to stick with the company’s currently announced lineup. Mario vs. Donkey Kong was just released on Friday and is still to come Princess Peach: Showtime!, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HDAnd Paper Mario: The Millennial Door. Nintendo has that too Metroid Prime 4 is on the release schedule, but that long-awaited sequel doesn’t have a release date.
Polygon has reached out to Nintendo for comment and will update when the company responds.