“Mamma mia!”, must have exclaimed Mario on learning that the next console from Nintendois eagerly awaited by gamers. video games of the Current Switch. At least, that’s what the Japanese group announced on Wednesday November 6, 2024, even though the day before it had expressed a more pessimistic view of its results over the coming months.
Until then, Nintendo had confined itself to confirming thata new console was in the workspromising an announcement by the end of March 2025, its president Shuntaro Furukawa said on Wednesday on X that “Nintendo Switch games will also be playable” on it.
A console with a cult following
Japan’s video game pioneer met with great success. success worldwide with the Switch, released in 2017 and sold, since then, to over 146 million units – making it the third best-selling console in history! Some 1.3 billion units of games for Switch have been sold to date, according to the latest figures from the group.
But in anticipation of the announcement of a successor to its aging machine, Nintendo saw its net profit fall by 60% year-on-year in the first half of its offbeat fiscal year beginning in April 2024, and announced on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, that it was revising its annual forecasts downwards.
Backward compatibility hoped for
L’subscription to Nintendo’s online services, which had 34 million users by the end of September, will also be available on the next console, said Furukawa. More information on this machine will be communicated “at a later date”, he added on Wednesday during an online presentation.
In any case, “this backward compatibility is no surprise”, commented consultant Serkan Toto of Kantan Games, interviewed by theAFP. “It was widely expected because Nintendo wants to offer users the possibility of continuing to use their old games.”
According to him, this feature “suggests that the next console will be very similar” to the current Switch. However, it’s “difficult to determine Nintendo’s precise timetable” for the coming months, commented Takeshi Koyama in a recent note from Mizuho Securities.
Launch in spring 2025
The video-game giant “concentrates on sales of its current Switch console in 2024″, and especially during the traditionally lucrative season of holiday seasonNews of the next console “could therefore arrive from mid-January 2025”, added Mr. Koyama.
Several analysts are expecting a launch between March and June 2025, which would enable Nintendo to turn around its fortunes in fiscal year 2025/26, due to begin on April 1. Nintendo shares jumped on Wednesday Toky Stock Exchangeo, gaining up to 6% and returning to last weekend’s level.