Users don’t have to take great pains to preserve their Switch to make sure they can still play their favorite games on it years and years from now. Nintendo has revealed in its earnings report that the upcoming successor to the Switch will have backward compatibility and will be able to run games made for the current console.
Moreover, Switch Online will also be available on the Switch 2, which means their saves stored on the cloud will be carried over and they will be able to play NES, SNES, and Game Boy games on the new console.
The company explained that it’s making Switch Online available on the upcoming console because it thinks it’s important for Nintendo’s future to "carry over the good relationship" it has built with its more than 100 million annual playing users to the new device.
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How Will Current Games Work On Nintendo Switch 2
The main way to do this is to make use of the Nintendo Account, which ties a user’s history to one account and allows the company to "maintain a continuous relationship" with them across console generations.
Before the Nintendo Account was introduced, Nintendo had no easy way to carry a user’s history and purchase the next console. "As a result, our relationship with the consumers was interrupted when a new system was purchased," it said.
The company assured to give out more information about the Switch 2 "at a later date," though it didn’t say when exactly. In a recent event where we thought the new console could be launched, Nintendo introduced an alarm clock instead.
Considering its earnings results, it looks like people could choose to wait for the new console instead of buying the current Switch. The company had to downgrade its sales forecast for the fiscal year due to a big decline in console sales compared to the same periods last year.
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Nintendo Switch 2 Launch “Very Unlikely” Before 2025
Nintendo is now “very unlikely” to launch its highly-anticipated Switch 2 hardware this year, a games industry analyst has told Eurogamer. The recent financial results from Nintendo revealed a larger-than-expected drop in hardware and software sales for the current Switch, as the console ages and its release calendar quietens.
The results also passed by without even talking about Switch 2 being shown - and perhaps with Nintendo’s new hardware not due to arrive until sometime in 2025 - for good reason.
During an interaction with Eurogamer, industry analyst Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese game industry consultancy Kantan Games, said any mention of the anticipated Switch 2 now would only further hamper Switch 1 sales during the console’s last holiday season.