In a latest interview with Nikkei, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has reiterated the agency’s intentions to help Switch with new video games subsequent yr.
Having launched in March 2017, the Switch is already over midway into its seventh yr in the marketplace. Asked whether or not the console’s lifecycle might be lengthened even additional, Furukawa reconfirmed that the corporate is “nonetheless engaged on software program for the Switch for the fiscal yr ending March 31, 2025.” (Thanks, VGC).
It must be famous that with these feedback Furukawa is reiterating what we already knew. Nintendo’s fiscal yr runs from April to March, and with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD pencilled in for a Summer 2024 launch and the Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door remake presumably launching post-March after Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Princess Peach: Showtime! have launched, these are each technically FY24/25 releases that Nintendo is at present engaged on.
With reviews that ‘Switch 2’ was demoed to builders at Gamescom, and new Nintendo {hardware} rumours coming in thick and quick over the summer season, all indicators are pointing to the launch of a Switch successor someday in 2024. However, even when that’s within the works, Nintendo will probably be eager to give attention to the present mannequin as we enter the profitable Holiday 2023 season, so the corporate’s continued dedication to the Switch is clearly a PR level that Furukawa is eager to hit.
The aforementioned Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Princess Peach: Showtime! are two first-party releases launching within the early months of 2024, so Switch house owners will nonetheless have some huge hitters to get pleasure from subsequent yr — if solely within the first six months.
It’s totally attainable that Nintendo has unannounced Switch software program in growth, too. The system had offered over 129 million models as of August 2023, so there’s an enormous set up base who will proceed shopping for video games lengthy after its successor is introduced.
Regardless, Furukawa’s feedback should not be handled as affirmation of first-party Switch video games nonetheless launching in 2025 simply but. April 2024 may be very a lot a part of the “fiscal yr ending March 2025.”
