For years, Nintendo has largely brushed off talk of a full successor to their wildly successful Switch, but it seems like the company is finally starting to seriously think about what might come next. When asked by Bloomberg about a Switch successor earlier this week, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa declined to comment – a subtle, but perhaps meaningful change from the past, when he would typically outright deny a new system was forthcoming. Meanwhile, during an investors Q&A, Furukawa admitted smoothly transitioning from the Switch to a new platform was a “major concern” for the company (thanks to Video Games Chronicle for the translation).
The question of whether we will be able to just as smoothly transition from the Nintendo Switch to the next generation of hardware is a major concern for us. Based on our experiences with the Wii, Nintendo DS, and other hardware, it is very clear that one of the major obstacles is how to easily transition from one hardware to the next. To help alleviate this risk, we’re focusing on building long-term relationships with our customers. While we will continue launching new software on the Nintendo Switch, we will also provide services that also use Nintendo Accounts and other IP outside of gaming software. We intend for this to help build a lasting impact with our customers.
In another interesting tidbit from the Q&A, Furukawa admitted they’ve only announced a “portion” of their software roadmap for the next year, hinting some surprises may still be in store…
We have already announced a portion of our software roadmap releasing up to next spring. Unlike the past, we continue to have a large variety of games scheduled to be released, even beyond five years of release. This is because the Nintendo Switch has had such a smooth launch, allowing us to focus all of our development resources on a single platform.
You can get more details on Nintendo’s latest financial results and sales milestones, right here.
