Nintendo reportedly revealed Switch 2 behind closed doors at gamescom 2023 last month, showing off the power of its upcoming next-gen console.
According to Eurogamer, the Switch 2 was shown running a ‘souped up’ version of Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, although there’s apparently no suggestion the game will be re-released.
Meanwhile, VGC reported Nintendo showed off Epic’s The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo running on hardware with the specs Nintendo is targeting for its future console. The site said this demo ran using Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS upscaling technology alongside ray tracing, with visuals ‘comparable’ to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.
Nintendo is reportedly set to release its next-gen console during the second half of 2024, with development kits now with partner studios.
Apparently this new next-gen console can be used in portable mode, like the Nintendo Switch, and has an LCD screen as opposed to an OLED screen in order to keep costs down. It also comes with a cartridge slot for physical games. However, the crucial question of backwards compatibility with Nintendo Switch games remains unclear. Nintendo has yet to comment on the reports.
In May, Nintendo said it’s the long-rumoured Switch successor wouldn’t release until April 2024 at the earliest. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explained during an investors presentation that the company isn’t considering new hardware in the 2023/24 financial year, which ends March 31, 2024.
This comes despite a decline in Switch sales. The console sold close to 18 million units in the last financial year, down from 23 million sold the year before and 28 million the year before that. Nintendo isn’t looking to rush a new console out to tackle this decline though, as it has forecast another drop for the coming year.
“Sustaining the Switch’s sales momentum will be difficult in its seventh year,” said Furukawa during the presentation. “Our goal of selling 15 million units this fiscal year is a bit of a stretch, but we will do our best to bolster demand going into the holiday season so that we can achieve the goal.”
Rumours surrounding a new console have been circulating for years. The new console was said to offer boosted graphics akin to the PlayStation 4 and its Pro model, but there is no official information regarding the next piece of Nintendo hardware yet.
This week, Nintendo said it had moved on to a brand new The Legend of Zelda game, ruling out Tears of the Kingdom DLC. It seems likely this new Zelda game will launch on Nintendo’s next console. But will Nintendo re-release Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2?
Meanwhile, Nintendo has announced a raft of games for Switch due out between now and the end of its fiscal year. These include Detective Pikachu Returns, the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. Wonder, WarioWare: Move It!, a Super Mario RPG remake, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet DLC, a visually enhanced version of Nintendo 3DS game Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and an untitled Princess Peach game. Nintendo still lists the MIA Metroid Prime 4 as a Nintendo Switch game.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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