After weeks of leaks and wild hypothesis, Nintendo has lastly introduced the Switch 2, the highly-anticipated successor to its wildly well-liked hybrid handheld console. The gamemaker launched a two-minute teaser at present with a primary have a look at the console, a handheld that seems similar to the unique Swap, however larger.
Nintendo additionally introduced on Thursday that it will likely be holding a Direct presentation to offer extra particulars on the Swap on April 2. Within the video announcement Nintendo debuted a bigger display screen with a pair of black and pink, and black and blue, Pleasure-Cons. The video additionally seems to tease a brand new Mario Kart sport with footage proven for only a few seconds.
The hand-held will play each Swap 2 and Swap video games, Nintendo stated in a press launch, however added that “sure Nintendo Swap video games will not be supported on or totally suitable with Nintendo Swap 2.”
The original Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, at a time when Nintendo was nonetheless recovering from poor sales of its earlier console, the Wii U. The place the Wii U failed to search out an viewers, nonetheless, the Swap soared. In 2023, it turned the third best-selling console of all time behind Nintendo’s DS and the PlayStation 2, a place it nonetheless holds.
By 2024, nonetheless, it appeared the console had peaked. Gross sales have been plummeting, and already rumors have been spreading of a next-gen entry. Almost a yr in the past, when Nintendo announced Pokémon Legends: Z-A could be coming to its “programs” in 2025, followers speculated {that a} new console was on the horizon. (By no means thoughts that the plural “programs” right here might have simply referred to Swap’s Lite and OLED fashions.)
In Could of final yr, the corporate promised it will reveal a brand new console by April 2025. Final month, particulars and alleged pictures of the system leaked from manufacturers, and later on platforms like Reddit and X.
Nintendo diehards, a minimum of, have been having enjoyable with the leaks—whether or not it’s using Tarot card readings to divine the announcement date, or making spoofs about options like “imported Italian air” or screws. “It has 10 grooves. So reveal January tenth,” one Reddit consumer joked. One other constructed a “summoning circle” stuffed with outdated video games and Mario and Luigi collectible figurines.
The following-generation Swap will probably be launched right into a a lot totally different console ecosystem than its predecessor. In 2022, Steam launched its handheld Steam Deck, which permits gamers to take extra PC video games on the go. Throughout CES this yr, Microsoft’s “Subsequent Era” VP, Jason Ronald, hinted to The Verge that there could be updates this yr to the Home windows gaming expertise. Microsoft Gaming chief, Phil Spencer, has additionally alluded to the potential for a handheld Xbox device.
