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Nintendo’s Switch Successor to Be Backward Compatible; Online Services Also Carried Over to New Console Generation

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Nintendo Switch consoles and games are seen at a shop in Osaka in February 2022.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:10 JST, November 7, 2024

Nintendo Co. said Wednesday that the successor to its Nintendo Switch flagship game console will be compatible with existing Switch games.

Nintendo Switch Online, a paid service, will be also available on the successor console, the company said.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa made the announcement during an online management policy briefing.

Nintendo has sold more than 1.3 billion game units for the Switch as of the end of September since its launch in 2017. This is the highest number of sales among the company’s game consoles. Nintendo Switch Online — which allows users to save their game data, play online with others and access retro games — has more than 34 million subscribers.

“We’ve concluded that it would be best that the existing games be playable on the successor console,” Furukawa said.

The company is scheduled to make a formal announcement about the successor console by March next year. Furukawa stopped short of providing the details of the successor, only stating, “We will give you more information at a later date.”