Nintendo Says It is Working on the Concept on Next-Gen Console - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 November 2021 / 4,263 Views
Nintendo following its policy briefing for the earnings report answered some questions asked by investors, which was attended by Japan-based analyst and investment adviser David Gibson.
The gaming giant was asked about its next-generation console. Nintendo said the Switch is in the middle of its lifecycle and with the OLED launch momentum continues with a wide variety of software.
Nintendo is internally discussing the concept for the successor to the Switch, as well as working out the timing of its release, and more.
Nintendo this week announced shipments figures for the Nintendo Switch reached 92.87 million units as of September 30, 2021.
The Switch launched in March 2017, the Switch Lite in September 2019, and the Switch OLED in October 2021.
A: On next gen, we are not saying right now, we are still going through internal discussion on concept, timing etc and discussing everything 3)
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) November 5, 2021
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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And water is wet. MS and Sony released their consoles less than 1 year ago and are already developing their new console so it is obvious Nintendo is already developing the Switch sucessor for a long time already.
Don’t say it. People don’t like being told the true.
Yes, that's always true. But, there are people who are sure of themselves that a Switch successor will be on the market within the next year or 2. The time between Nintendo first announcing the Switch (as the NX) in March 2015 was exactly 2 years before actual release in 2020. This wasn't even an announcement. This was just a statement that they are still working on a concept. That would indicate an unlikelihood that we see a Switch successor released before holiday 2023.
This isn't even the first time they've talked about their next-gen console releasing in 20XX. It's clearly not coming before
2024.
I believe you are giving the 2015 "announcement" too much credit. They revealed basically nothing about NX in 2015 other than it's existence. Iwata basically just said "We are making new dedicated hardware, it's codenamed NX, we'll talk about it more next year." That was it. It's barely more than we're getting here.
Regardless, they diverted attention to the NX so early because of the failing of the WiiU, they needed investors etc to look forward to a fresh new beginning and not the ongoing disaster. I wouldn't expect they will talk about the Switch successor so far in advance because their is no reason to get people thinking about the next console 2 years before it comes out while the Switch is such a success.
So the time between them mentioning NX for the first time in march 2015 and releasing in March 2017 shouldn't be viewed as evidence of any kind of schedule for their next console.
Though yes I definitely don't see their next system launching before Holiday 2023.
Just doubling on that, usually we really have announcements and confirmations about new systems between 6 and 12 months before they release.
Well supposedly the Xbox SX started development in 2016, 3 years after the Xbox One released.
Perhaps some more relevant parts started in 2016 (even more because well they were developing the X1X after the X1), but you can be sure the concept, ballpark, general architeture, bluepring have at least started the discussions months after the X1 released, or as Pemalite said perhaps even before X1 released. Because they can reasonably well guess how much would cost and performance a system in 5 or 10 years, and sure will be adjusting along. That is the reason you can make API, engines, etc "future proof".
Interesting that they are still looking into concepts. That, coupled with Switch being in it's "middle phase" definitely has me thinking we aren't seeing a successor until holiday 2023 at the absolute earliest, and 2024 being much more likely than that.
With 2-3 more years of support, provided there is no cliff, we could see Switch ending with pretty spectacular numbers.
They've said this before. Nothing new here.
"the 20xx next gen device"
My god, Nintendo is building Megaman X!!! Here, take my money and give me a shining blue robot with dash boots!
The next concept is fairly easy: Switch 2.
It could be another hybrid, but we all know Nintendo - they will surprise us with another gimmick noone is thinking of...
There are two kinds of successors; architectural successors, and philosophical successors.
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The SNES was both an architectural and philosophical successor to the NES.
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The N64 was a philosophical successor, but not an architectural successor, to the SNES.
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The N64 had no architectural successors, and the move to optical media and a significant controller rethink makes it a matter of debate as to whether the Gamecube is even a philosophical successor to the N64.
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The Wii is unquestionably an architectural successor to the GC, and the Wii U is undeniably an architectural successor to the Wii, but I would argue that (despite retaining backwards compatibility with past user interface options) neither is a philosophical successor due to significant changes to the intended dominant human-machine interface.
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The GBC is undeniably both an architectural and philosophical successor to the GB.
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The GBA is not an architectural successor to the GBC, but I would argue it IS a philosophical successor despite the move from portrait to landscape in its orientation.
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The DS line-up is an architectural successor to the GBA, but not a philosophical successor.
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The Switch is not a philosophical successor to the DS line-up, but was an architectural successor.
So the question is whether Nintendo's next system is an architectural successor, a philosophical successor, both, or neither vs. the Switch. And with Nintendo, nothing is ever guaranteed on this front! :) It's by no means a sure thing that their next system will be a Switch 2. If there's one thing Nintendo likes to do, it's the unexpected. For good (DS, Wii, Switch) and ill (keeping carts one generation too long, everything about the Wii U, etc.).
Very good analysis. This comment deserves much more praise.
Thanks. :) Some of that I already knew, but some of it I had to research for the comment, which was pretty interesting with the GBC-to-GBA-to-DS-to-Switch transitions.
The Switch is doing 100x better than Mac OS though. I got my new 14" Macbook Pro, amazing product. Not even Tetris Effect or Overwatch on Mac... ;(
I sure miss Bootcamp. Thank goodness for Fantasian.
Nintendo portable console traditionally has 6 year product life before next generation is released, then 7th year existing generation console new game starts to coming to the end, switch 2 more than likely be released on 2023, likely to be oled based and support HDR visuals, might even be 1080p portable mode, might even use nvidia Orin system on a chip
Looking into conepts?
Just make Switch 2. BOOM. You're done.
Just make a faster version of the current console, man.
Now that it will be late 2022 at the earliest they can beat the PS4 easily enough and get closer to the Series S instead I hope.
Actually, the Series S raises an interesting point. Nintendo could, and maybe should, release two SKUs out of the gate next-gen. An entry-level SKU that delivers Switch-when-docked performance, but does it in a handheld mode. This version might have a dock, or might be an upgrade to the Switch Lite. Developers might like that it wouldn't add a new performance target, it would be an existing performance target but an upgrade for consumers who only play in handheld mode. And then there'd be the full-on next-gen Switch that'd be even better.
There really isn't a reasonable alternative to the hybrid model for them anymore. They wouldn't be able to maintain two HD consoles.
Essay Pro