Sony and Microsoft already have their last-gen consoles on the market, let’s see if Nintendo can catch up to them eventually.
Microsoft and Sony, who have high stakes in the video game industry, have already released their latest generation of consoles to consumers, but Nintendo is still supporting its console that got released in 2015 with new iterations and additions every year. The design and the usability of Switch still hold up to this date. According to many people, it is getting redundant, and the game giant has to come up with a new console to keep itself even in the competition. For that, Nintendo might have something up its sleeve, ready to be released next year. No name or design has been revealed yet; however, there are signs that it is coming very soon.
According to some sources, the biggest partners of Nintendo have already got their hands on the development kit for the new console and are currently working on the new titles. It further proves the fact that Nintendo has been easing off from Switch releases, as recent Direct showcases aim at smaller names or ports added to Switch’s library. Except for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which was included in the latest Direct, there is a high chance of that title being the last Mario title being developed for Nintendo Switch as well.
The same source that provided information about the upcoming console also spares a few more details, such as the overall design, quality, and specs, too. Just like Nintendo Switch, it is expected to be used in portable and home console styles, although it is going to look a lot different than Switch.
Further down the line, we could expect it to have a bit of a downgrade, such as including an LED screen instead of an OLED one to countermeasure the stock shortage PlayStation had when Sony released PS5 in 2020. This way, they aim to make more consoles first and later add revisions to bring more interest to the consoles, just like what they did with the Switch.
Nintendo is also planning to keep using the cartridge system for the new console to keep its stability up with demanding games. Nowadays, a new AAA title can have more than 100GB in file size, and in order to combat this, Nintendo is going to ultimately raise the storage capacity of the upcoming console from 32GB to a higher amount, and the cartridges are going to hold more data than the previous ones.
Though it is still ambiguity on whether backward compatibility will take effect on the upcoming console, as Nintendo has forwarded their opinions on it and said it should be the norm and an industry-standard from now on. Still, we have to wait until the second half of 2024 to see what Nintendo has been studying since the release of the Switch almost ten years ago.
