The wait for a Nintendo Switch 2 has been a long one, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is a deliberate strategy by Nintendo. The Switch’s lifecycle is already the longest Nintendo has gone without releasing a new console, surpassing even the gap between the NES and SNES. This fact was highlighted by PR manager Jess Thomas on LinkedIn, sparking curiosity about the length of these console transitions.
As of today, it’s been 2,688 days since the Switch’s release, exceeding the 2,686 days between the NES and SNES. It’s worth noting that these figures don’t include the time between announcements. The SNES was unveiled to the press in 1988, two years before its actual launch.
While a Switch successor is confirmed to be in development, concrete details are still under wraps. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa announced on X (formerly Twitter) that an announcement about the successor would come within this fiscal year, marking over nine years since the initial announcement of the Switch back in March 2015. This means we can expect news before March 2025.
However, beyond rumors and leaks, we have no official information about the Switch’s successor. Speculation suggests an LCD screen instead of OLED, the use of Nvidia’s T238 chipset, and, hopefully, backward compatibility.
The shortest time between console releases was a mere 1,566 days between the Wii U and the Switch. The Wii U, often considered a test for the Switch’s hybrid nature, didn’t achieve significant sales, making this short interval unsurprising. Interestingly, the time between the Wii and Wii U was 2,191 days, a seemingly long gap for two consoles with similar concepts.
Despite the lengthy wait, the Switch family (including the regular Switch, Switch Lite, and OLED model) has achieved impressive sales, exceeding 140 million units. Perhaps this success explains Nintendo’s less urgent approach to releasing a successor. The clock continues to tick, and the day count for the Switch’s reign will only grow.
