Developers working on games for the Nintendo Switch 2 – or whatever the mystery gadget ends up being called – have reportedly been told not to expect the console before April 2025.
The tidbit comes from Gameindustry.biz’s Microcast podcast, where the publication’s head of games, Christopher Dring, says developers had been briefed on the console’s later-than-expected launch plans.
“No developer I’ve spoken to expects it to be launching this financial year,” Dring says around the 10-minute mark in the podcast’s latest episode. “In fact, they’ve been told not to expect it in the [current] financial year. A bunch of people I spoke to hope it’s out in April or May time, still early next year, not late.”
Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki later corroborated the news and tweeted that “recently fewer people are considering March as a possibility” for the Switch 2’s launch.
Nintendo previously said it would announce the Switch successor “within this fiscal year”, which ends on March 31, 2025, though it now looks like it won’t launch in the same period. Other rumors also suggested that the console had been delayed to next year to fight off scalpers, and with so many upcoming Switch games on the horizon, I can’t really be too sad at the elongated wait.
All signs point to a slightly longer wait for Nintendo’s next console; the only question now is how much longer. Xbox is already planning its Fable and Doom: The Dark Ages release dates around the inevitable black hole that’ll spawn from GTA 6‘s 2025 launch, and for the sake of everyone’s ever-growing backlogs, I’m hoping Nintendo’s hybrid console also avoids brushing up against the open-world behemoth.
Other rumors claimed that the Nintendo Switch 2 would have physical and digital backward compatibility, plus “enhanced” older games.