More than six years on from its launch, rumors continue to swirl suggestingNintendois hard at work on the successor to theSwitch, the best-selling home console in its history. However, with sales still strong, and 125 million consoles sold so far, Nintendo has hinted it’s in no hurry to launch whatever’s next, hence the near radio silence when it comes to official information on the project.“We believe that there is an opportunity to take advantage of the large number of units of software in the market,” Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said during a shareholder Q&A (viaResetEra). “In addition to continuing to release new titles, we also plan to distribute additional content for existing titles so that customers can enjoy them for a long time.”RELATED:This Is How You Get Me To Buy A Switch 2The answer was a response to a question highlighting the time that has passed since the Switch’s launch. Nearing the longest period between Nintendo consoles, it has already been longer than the gap between the release of theWii Uand the Switch. The big difference here, of course, is that the Switch has been and continues to be a massive success whereas the Wii U definitely was not.
Not only is the Switch one of Nintendo’s best-selling consoles ever, while its sales are naturally decreasing year-on-year, they are doing so at a much slower rate than normal. “In the history of our game console business, there has never been a case where we expect to sell 15 million hardware units and 180 million software titles in the seventh year,” Furukawa explained. If Nintendo really does sell 15 million more Switch consoles before the end of this financial year, it’s easy to see why it wouldn’t be in any hurry to start flaunting its replacement.
As if Furukawa’s comments alone aren’t enough to demonstrate we might be waiting a while for Nintendo’s next-gen system, what was shown off during last week’sDirectshould help convince you. A slew of remasters and new games were revealed,Super Mario Wonderanda Super Mario RPG remakeamong them. There’s alsoPokemon Scarlet & Violet DLC still to comebefore the end of the year, andperhaps even some additional content for Tears of the Kingdom. Oh, andMetroid Prime 4. That’s still happening, right Nintendo?
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