Seven years after the launch of the Switch, Nintendo is actively preparing a next generation console. The Japanese firm has just announced excellent news: it will be compatible with all games from the first model.

Seven years after the launch of the Switch, Nintendo is actively preparing a next generation console. The Japanese firm has just announced excellent news: it will be compatible with all games from the first model.

The Nintendo Switch has enjoyed – and still enjoys – an insolent success, with 146 million copies sold around the world since its release seven years ago, in March 2017. It thus became the third best-selling console in the world. history of video games, behind the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2. Even today, many units continue to be sold and new titles continue to be a hit, like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. However, despite its many playful qualities, the weight of time is felt on the Switch, particularly in terms of power. Also, players can’t wait to discover what Nintendo is concocting to succeed it.

Numerous rumors have been circulating on this subject for over a year now, but nothing official to sink our teeth into. Not even a name: at the moment, everyone is talking about a Switch 2, but nothing says that Nintendo won’t opt ​​for another name, obviously keeping the word Switch.

In the absence of official technical details, the Japanese giant has however come to announce excellent news : as many users hoped, the next console will be compatible with games from the current console, which it will be able to run in addition to titles developed especially for it! In addition to this backward compatibility, it will also be compatible with the Nintendo Switch Online service, which had 34 million users worldwide at the end of September 2024.

Nintendo Switch 2: a hybrid console with backwards compatibility

So, where exactly are we, more than seven years after the launch of the first Switch of the name? The least we can say is that Nintendo jealously keeps the secret, contenting itself with stating that more information on this machine will be communicated “at a later date”. We are well advanced!

We only know that in September 2023, development kits were distributed to third-party studios, so that they could begin the development of future titles for the future console, while this had been discreetly unveiled during Gamescom 2023 with from a small, hand-picked committee (see our article). Since then, the launch of the Switch 2 has been regularly mentioned in the press, but no concrete information has really leaked.

According to rumors, the next console would retain the same operating mode as the first of the name, with the possibility of using the console on the go or plugging it into your TV, which seems to be confirmed by the announcement of the backward compatibility of the games . However, we do not know the specific details about its equipment. However, let’s hope that Nintendo decides to improve the Joy-Con, which suffers from connection problems and Joy-Con Drift – the more the controllers are used, the more the joystick sensors tend to get stuck in one direction, making the characters and the camera completely out of control.

Nintendo Switch 2: what power for the new console?

We can hope that the next console will be at least as powerful as the PS5 or the Xbox Series third-party developers and publishers. The Japanese manufacturer should extend its partnership with Nvidia in order to be able to use the company’s DLSS (deep learning super sampling) upscaling technology – which is an exclusive function of its graphics cards –, with advanced ray tracing activated.

As a reminder, on PC, DLSS uses AI to increase the resolution of games, allowing developers to achieve higher graphics settings and better refresh rates on weaker hardware, avoiding being too energy-hungry. We could imagine that this technology could be activated when the future console is placed in its dock and connected to a television. In any case, we should be entitled to an official announcement by March 2025. Let’s hope that our patience is rewarded!