The Swap is Nintendo’s best-selling residence console of all time, and extensively beloved for its wealthy library of video games—a dramatic flip from the middling Wii U earlier than it. But it surely’s been over six years because the Swap launched, and followers are getting antsy for Nintendo’s subsequent massive factor.
Fortunately, it will not be far off. Rumors and experiences level to a Swap successor that can pack in additional energy than the unique whereas sustaining its successful mix of residence console and handheld performance. We’ll name it the Swap 2 for now.
Stories counsel that main sport builders have already been proven the brand new {hardware}, which—if true—could counsel a not-too-distant launch window. Right here’s every part we’ve heard up to now about Nintendo’s subsequent handheld sport console, and keep tuned as we’ll replace this story recurrently with new particulars and hopefully future official bulletins, too.
What’s the Nintendo Swap 2?
Nothing’s official but, however leaks and experiences from main publications level to a extra highly effective sport system that maintains the identical convertible strategy. Nintendo’s present Swap is actually a conveyable console that may be plugged right into a dock and performed in your TV, though the Swap Lite variant is only handheld.
Bloomberg reported in Might 2023 that show producer Sharp was engaged on screens for an upcoming handheld console. Sharp has labored with Nintendo earlier than, and Nintendo is by far the largest participant nonetheless making transportable units which might be purely targeted on enjoying video video games—though Sony has a brand new PlayStation Portal that may play video games from a paired PlayStation 5, plus Valve’s Steam Deck is widespread amongst PC die-hards.
And Nintendo is clearly excited about what’s subsequent. In response to a fan query in June 2023, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said, “As for the transition from Nintendo Swap to the next-generation machine, we need to do as a lot as potential with the intention to easily transition our prospects, whereas using the Nintendo Account.”
When will the Nintendo Swap 2 come out?
Nintendo has but to formally announce a next-generation Swap, however experiences level to a late 2024 launch goal—which might be about seven-and-a-half years after the unique.
A July 2023 report from VGC factors to a launch goal of the second-half of 2024 for brand spanking new {hardware}, citing a number of sources acquainted with Nintendo’s plans. The report means that Nintendo is keen to keep away from the varieties of {hardware} shortages seen with many previous console launches, and the Swap successor is prone to see important demand, given the recognition of the unique.
There’s no indication of pricing, nevertheless. The Swap launched for $300 in 2017, with the purely handheld Swap Lite rolling out for $200 in 2019. With some premium enhancements (together with a bigger, bolder display), the Nintendo Swap OLED mannequin shipped for $350 in 2021.
The VGC report means that Nintendo could use LCD screens as an alternative of OLED panels to maintain down prices, however it doesn’t point out what sort of worth level Nintendo is focusing on with its subsequent console. Nintendo’s final three console programs have averted utilizing the newest, cutting-edge tech to maintain costs down. Will that maintain true once more this time round?
How highly effective will the Nintendo Swap 2 be?
Persevering with the above thread, experiences counsel that Nintendo will certainly not attempt to compete with the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Collection X because the standard-bearers for residence consoles and as an alternative ship a gaming expertise with a bit much less constancy. Even so, it appears like a major enchancment over the Swap.
In September 2023, leaked paperwork from main sport writer Activision confirmed that the corporate had evaluated the {hardware} in late 2022, finally surmising that the Swap successor could have related energy to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One {hardware}.
Whereas these are 10-year-old residence consoles, it nonetheless can be a notable step up from what the unique Swap can deal with. The Swap’s hybrid home-plus-handheld mannequin additionally signifies that Nintendo has to bear in mind a slim kind issue and battery life expectations, so it’s unlikely that we’d even see a Swap-like machine with top-end internals at an affordable worth. VGC additionally reported that the Swap 2 is predicted to maintain a cartridge port for bodily video games.
Eurogamer reported that Nintendo confirmed off personal tech demos for the Swap 2 to builders on the Gamescom convention in August 2023, and that it used an upgraded model of 2017’s hit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as an indication of the brand new {hardware}’s capabilities.
VGC supported that report and added that Nintendo additionally used Epic Video games’ The Matrix Awakens tech demo for Unreal Engine 5, with capabilities like ray tracing (real looking lighting results) and AI-driven visible upscaling methods enabled.
Which will level to {hardware} that’s really extra succesful than the PS4 or Xbox One, even when it doesn’t fairly match the benchmarks of the current-gen PlayStation 5 or Xbox Collection X.
What video games will the Nintendo Swap 2 have?
We don’t have any clear indication of Swap 2 video games at this level, however you possibly can guess that we’ll see Nintendo’s tried-and-true franchises like Tremendous Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, and plenty of others within the combine earlier than lengthy.
As talked about above, Nintendo is reportedly utilizing an upgraded model of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to showcase the system’s tech capabilities to builders, however there’s no sense at this level that Nintendo will really launch an enhanced port of the 2017 smash.
But it surely begs the query of whether or not the Swap 2 might be backward-compatible with authentic Swap video games, and if that’s the case, whether or not they’ll profit from the elevated energy of the brand new {hardware}. Think about if you happen to may pop in your Breath of the Wild cartridge and see a way more lavish rendition, just like how PC video games can scale to match their {hardware}.
It’s a whole lot of hypothesis for now, however for individuals who adopted the event of the unique Swap forward of its launch, most of the early leaks and experiences proved to be true—and finally coalesced into Nintendo’s triumphant return after the Wii U flop.
We’ll observe the Swap 2 story within the coming months as an increasing number of particulars emerge, so watch this area.