Nintendo has announced its long-awaited successor to the 150m-selling Switch console, called the Nintendo Switch 2. It will be out later in 2025.
The first Nintendo Switch debuted on 3 March 2017, and pioneered the hybrid console: it can be played both on the move, with its snap-on controllers, and at home, connected to a TV. The Switch 2 follows the same model, with a larger screen and bigger, redesigned controllers that attach magnetically to its sides. The controllers can be used like a mouse, or held in the hands like a traditional joypad, and also have motion-control functionality.
In a short trailer, a new version of Mario Kart was shown running on the console.
This continuity represents a step-change for Nintendo, which has innovated consistently throughout its 40-year history in the video games market. The Nintendo 64, launched in 1997 was the first console to introduce an analogue stick to control characters’ movements in three dimensions, and 2006’s Wii was the first to bring motion-controlled games into homes with Wii Sports’ tennis and bowling. Less successfully, 1995’s Virtual Boy experimented with an early form of VR, and the Wii U was the first console to have a screen embedded in its controller. With a few exceptions, the size, shape and names of Nintendo consoles have been distinct in each new generation.
The Nintendo Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with all Nintendo Switch games, allowing players to bring the games they have bought over its eight years on the market forward with them to the new console when it launches later this year.
The wider video games industry has recently been experiencing a contraction, with widespread layoffs, protracted game development cycles and uncertainty around the viability of increasingly expensive business models. Analysts and commentators have expressed hopes that the launch of a new Nintendo console will provide a shot in the arm, reviving sales and excitement in the sector.
More details are due on 2 April, and Nintendo will hold several events across the world later that month where people will be able to play the new console. A lottery will open on 17 January at 2pm for fans to win tickets to attend.
