With 2025 almost upon us, and the festive season nearing its apex, it’s only natural to wonder about the Nintendo Switch 2 release date.
There’s no doubt that players the world over will be playing with their current Switch consoles over the Christmas break — whether you’ve got a base model, a Switch Lite or a Switch OLED, the time between Christmas and New Year is the ideal period to engross yourself in the best Switch games around.
As you boot up your Switch for the millionth time, though, you may start to wonder — when’s the next console coming out? Hasn’t it been ages since the Switch arrived in our lives?
The original Switch console came out in 2017, and in March next year, we’ll hit the eighth anniversary of that hugely successful launch.
So yes, a new console is due, and Nintendo has admitted publicly that it’s working on a ‘successor’ for the Switch.
The launch of this console is one of the biggest things to look forward to next year if you’re a big gamer, with the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 arguably being the only thing to eclipse it in terms of pure hype and speculation. Read on for a handy round-up of the current Switch 2 status!
When will the Nintendo Switch 2 release? Our speculation
The Nintendo Switch 2 release date is expected to land in 2025, with May or June looking like a decent estimate at this point.
Speaking via the GamesIndustry.biz Microcast on 16th December, respected industry journalist Chris Dring provided a little update on the current status of the Switch 2.
Dring had recently attended The Game Awards, where Nintendo didn’t share any console news, but Dring caught up with a number of interested parties about the Switch 2.
In Dring’s words: “I think the only thing missing was, of course, Nintendo. And Nintendo hasn’t appeared at one of these events for a while.
“But there was a lot of chatter behind the scenes about Nintendo. A lot of publishers and developers have dev kits now for Switch 2, or whatever it’s gonna be called. There’s also a bunch of developers that don’t, and they’re very cross about it.
“Again, it’s all just chatter at the moment. A lot of the chatter at the event — and again, I don’t have any first source for this, it’s all second sources — is that we’re now looking at a Q2 release for next year for Switch 2, around May-June time, hopefully.”
As for when the console could be revealed with its first trailer, the “chatter” that Dring has heard suggests that, “it may even be right as the New Year starts.”
If that chatter proves to be true, we’ll update this page as soon as the console is revealed and we have some firm details.
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct…
— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) May 7, 2024In terms of the official channels, Nintendo has all but confirmed that the Nintendo Switch 2 will not be released before April 2025.
Speaking to investors in May 2024 as part of an earnings call (translated by GamesIndustry.biz), Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said that its forecast for the current financial year (April 2024 to March 2025) does not include sales of any new console.
Before this, the Japanese games maker stated on 7th May 2024 (via X) that a further announcement would come “within this fiscal year” regarding a successor to the Nintendo Switch.
What has been reported by several outlets – such as Eurogamer and Bloomberg – is that the next Nintendo console was originally aiming for a 2024 release date, before being delayed internally. A 2025 release is now expected.
Nintendo Switch 2 rumours and leaks
Nintendo Switch OLED. NintendoAll of the latest Nintendo Switch successor rumours and leaks point towards this being a full new console and not a “Pro” version of the old hardware – essentially, this is the proper Switch 2 we’re talking about here.
It was reported by Eurogamer in September 2023 that Nintendo secretly demoed the Switch 2 behind closed doors at Gamescom 2023 to a select few.
The lucky few Nintendo partners got to see a demo of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild running on the new console’s “beefier target specs”.
Expanding on Eurogamer’s report, a Nate the Hate podcast (via Nintendo Life) detailed that the Breath of the Wild tech demo was running at 4K 60fps, and that “load times had been erased”. This could be pointing towards SSD integration in the new Nintendo console.
It was also claimed that the tech demo showcasing the targeted system specs is capable of running The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 demo at a similar level to PS5 and Xbox Series X. The console is said to be using DLSS 3.5, too.
How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost?
New Super Mario Bros 2. NintendoWith no official release date, there’s no confirmed price for the Nintendo Switch 2 either.
The best way to figure out the future is often to look to the past. Nintendo’s latest model is the Nintendo Switch OLED, which arrived for £309.99/$349.99 in October 2021. This was an increase from the standard Nintendo Switch’s price of £279.99/$299.99 back in March 2017.
With at least three years passing before the Nintendo Switch 2 arrives, it’s fair to assume another price increase will take place.
A prediction from analyst Matthew Kanterman (via Bloomberg) in 2021 pointed to the Nintendo Switch 2 being closer to the $400 mark. “I still think Nintendo can drive strong demand even at $399.99,” he said at the time.
Considering a PlayStation 5 costs £479.99/$499.99 and Sony recently released the souped-up PS5 Pro for £699.99/$699.99, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Nintendo to enter the £400 bracket.
While the hardware will certainly be less powerful than any type of PS5, it will still be an upgrade from the current Nintendo Switch models, and this always means higher manufacturing prices which then go on to the consumer.
So, with that, we could see a Nintendo Switch 2 for £399.99/$399.99. Still, until anything is announced, this is purely speculation.
Nintendo Switch 2 specs and features rumours
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. NintendoRumoured tech specs
There have been several reports and rumours surrounding what to expect from the Nintendo Switch 2. Everything from 4K resolution to better battery life, to bigger storage, to a fix on Joy-Con drift, has been mentioned at some point.
One set of rumoured Nintendo Switch 2 specs mention an 8-inch screen (up from the original’s 6-inch), 12GB RAM (up from 4GB) as well as 256GB storage (up from 32GB). It will reportedly have support for HDMI 2.1, USB-C ports and magnetic Joy Cons. One source who spoke to VGC backed up these specs, stating that this is what Nintendo has told its partners.
It was reported by Bloomberg in January 2024 that the new console will possess an LCD display at launch, rather than an OLED display.
Rumours suggest that the Switch 2 could support 1080p in handheld mode and 4K resolution when docked.
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One report from Android Authority in May 2024 put together all of the supposed leaks surrounding the Switch 2’s specs at the time. This includes one from Famiboards user LIC that analysed the shipments and data between Nintendo, NVIDIA and other companies.
Based on all this stuff in the rumour mill, the following potential specifications were then reported:
12GB RAM – 7,500MT/s transfer (up from 4GB RAM on the Switch OLED) 6GB LPDDR5X modules x2 256GB UFS 3.1 Storage (up from 64GB on the Switch OLED)Without claiming to be tech geniuses, those uplifts from the Switch OLED specs — with the new console reportedly more than doubling the RAM and the storage space of its predecessor — sound like seriously juicy upgrades to us.
If we assume that there are similar uplifts happening across the board, it’s easy to fantasise that the Switch 2 will be able to run much more powerful games with better graphics than the previous Switch. That is, of course, if these rumours are proven right and our hopes all come true.
Some further details then were shared by known leaker CentroLeaks, stating that the Nintendo Switch 2 may have an eight-inch display (one inch bigger than the Switch OLED) with a fan-made mock-up shared to social media.
Based on leaked parts, here's a to scale mockup of the Switch 2 size, compared to OG Switch and SteamDeck.By mjayer on famiboards pic.twitter.com/14WfkY6NGW
— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) May 9, 2024
Backwards compatibility
We can now confirm that the next Nintendo console will be compatible with the previous generation of games. Read more about that here.
The general assumption is that the Nintendo Switch 2 will work better and faster than its predecessor, whichever mode you choose to play your games in. Some fans are hoping that extra-speedy SSD storage might be included, allowing the console to cut down dramatically on loading times.
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