In the wake of reports that Nintendo’s next console has been delayed from 2024 to early 2025, a recent report claims the new target release window is March 2025. The report claims this window is to ensure there’s enough of a supply at launch.
Nintendo still hasn’t formally announced any such hardware, but rumors of a Nintendo Switch 2 (or whatever it’s called) have persisted for months, with it widely assumed to at least be announced later this year. Nintendo has previously denied having plans to launch a new console in 2024, even calling the rumors “inaccurate,” but there was a lot of buzz to the contrary. That was until earlier this month when suddenly reports dropped of the Switch 2 being delayed to early 2025.
A Feb. 26 report by Japanese publication Nikkei (via VGC) now claims the plan was for a late 2024 release, but Nintendo opted to push it back until March 2025. This is partially to avoid any sort of stock shortages and prevent widespread reselling at launch, the report claims. According to Nikkei, “priority was given to ensure the initial inventory of the successor console and a lineup of software titles at the time of its launch.” As such, there does remain a possibility of the Switch 2 slipping out of March and releasing even later, depending on how manufacturing goes.
It makes sense for Nintendo to want the supply to meet demand and avoid what happened with the launches of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Recall how those two consoles launched in 2020 ahead of Christmas in rather limited supplies and were popular enough to sell out frequently, with scalpers hoarding loads of units so they could resell them at exorbitant prices to desperate customers.
A March 2025 launch would also be quite fitting since the original Switch came out in March 2017. This would make the Switch eight years old by the time its successor arrives. In terms of consoles, that’s practically ancient, so even without all these rumors and reports, people would be expecting new hardware from Nintendo around this point anyway. With the current Switch model still selling well as of November 2023, however, Nintendo’s not exactly under any financial pressure to get its next console out ASAP.
