Rumors of a more powerful Nintendo console – often dubbed the ‘Switch Pro’ by fans and the media – have persisted for years. The thought was that Nintendo would release a new piece of hardware that wasn’t a direct successor but was a step up from what we’re looking at now. Sony and Microsoft did it with the PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One X. A Pro version of the Nintendo Switch would probably use DLSS and display the games technically better.
Nintendo NX logo & loading screen revealed
John Linneman from Digital Foundry has now in the latest podcast of the outlet commented on the situation. After speaking to some developers, he believes Nintendo once toyed and flirted with an update to the Nintendo Switch hardware. However, “that doesn’t seem to be happening anymore” and the company is apparently aiming for a real successor instead. Frankly, you don’t have to be an analyst or get bogged down in wild speculation to come to this conclusion, as a Nintendo Switch successor is virtually inevitable.
So I think at one point internally from what I can understand from talking to different developers, is that there was some sort of mid-generation Switch update planned at one point and that seems to be no longer happening. And thus it’s pretty clear that whatever they do next is going to be the actual next-generation hardware. I don’t think it’s going to be 2023.
John Linneman of Digital Foundry
After the Nintendo GameCube didn’t do so well, we saw the Nintendo Wii sell over 100 million units. However, with the Wii U that followed, we saw one of Nintendo’s worst-selling systems. The company now owns one of the best-selling consoles of all time, the Nintendo Switch. The marketing department will certainly be very nervous about not repeating the trend, which is why the new system must also be a blockbuster. The Nintendo Switch OLED model that you currently win at Nintendo Connect probably could have had better hardware – if it hadn’t been for the chip crisis.
chip crisis refers to the global shortage of semiconductor products (e.g. microprocessors) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taiwan conflict and the Ukraine conflict. We don’t expect a successor to the Nintendo Switch to appear in 2023, but perhaps the company is slowly announcing it. Would mean The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwhich will be released on May 12, 2023, still has to make do with the current Nintendo Switch hardware.