This is Furukawa
It’s happening! Nintendo announced via a simple Tweet that the next console will be announced this fiscal year. So until March 31st 2025, we will now more about the next Switch.
It will be a Switch successor, which Nintendo president Furukawa also confirmed. This is all great news and also shakes some of my predictions. I initially said that Nintendo will not announce the next console before Christmas in order to sell more of the current Switch, however, I guess Nintendo now thinks otherwise, and I believe we also can guess why, let me explain:
So many Switches
Nintendo also announced that they expect to sell about 13,5 million Switches in this fiscal year, which is quite a lot for a console in its last year. This can only mean one of two things in my opinion.
Huge upcoming games that will also sell consoles or have special edition consoles
Price cuts
I don’t believe we will see many huge games in the latter half of 2024, which will sell consoles. These games will probably be launched with the next console in order to sell more of the next console. See my last blog post about potential games coming this year.
It must be price cuts!
This would also explain why Nintendo announced the next console now. Whoever is waiting for the next console, already has a Switch and won’t buy the current Switch this year. However, many people don’t have the money or weren’t ready to buy the current Switch for its untouched price. With a deep price cut, Nintendo could reach many more people. Including families where a second Switch makes sense so more kids can play simultaniously.
I can imagine a Switch OLED for $299 instead of $349 and the Switch Lite for $149 instead of $199, both bundled with a game. That would be a great offer already. What if Nintendo even goes lower to $279 and $129, respectively? That would be THE Christmas gift for many many families.
Another Message
This announcement also sends a signal to all Gamers: “Don’t buy a PS5 Pro“. It is expected that Sony will release a PS5 Pro this Christmas, but with the next generation Switch coming out shortly after, many might wait and spend less money on a completely new generation console, instead of a Pro version of a PS5, which has almost no exclusive games.
Additionally, now that we know the next console is officially coming soon, Game Studios can announce games for that platform. If Gamers know a game is launching on the PS5 Pro and the Switch 2, they have another reason to wait for the Switch 2.
