Nintendo Switch 2 release date could be further away than we thought
It sounds like Nintendo Switch 2 won't be launching in March 2025 after all
😢 Nintendo Switch 2 might not be out until April or May 2025
📆 It’s been widely tipped to release in March 2025
👏 An announcement is due to take place this fiscal year
🔜 Nintendo could reveal the Switch 2 in September
The Nintendo Switch 2 release date was widely predicted to be March 2025 but that might not be the case. Nintendo confirmed it will reveal the console during this fiscal year, though we might have to wait until April 2025 to get our hands on the Switch successor.
According to Chris Dring on the latest GameIndustry Podcast, developers aren’t confident the Nintendo Switch 2 will be released this financial year.
“No developer I’ve spoken to expects it to launch in this financial year [which ends March 31, 2025]. In fact, they’ve been told not to expect it in this financial year,” said Dring. “A bunch of people I spoke to hope it’s out in April/May time.”
Releasing a month or two later than initially thought wouldn’t be a disaster for Nintendo, and would allow the company to generate as much hype as possible while giving recently announced Switch games more room to breathe.
Still, the console will be eight years old in March 2025, which is geriatric by today’s standards, and hardware sales have begun to fall. Nintendo sold 2.1 million consoles across the Switch family of systems between April 1 and June 30, which was a 46.3% decline year-on-year.
The Nintendo Switch has surpassed 143 million units sold, putting it around 11 million units behind the Nintendo DS, the company’s most successful system. Nintendo will hope the Switch has enough legs to surpass Sony’s PS2, which is still the best-selling console with 155 million units sold.
A price cut could help, as Nintendo hasn’t had to discount its console during this generation – other than the odd sale or deal during Black Friday. But don’t expect one until the Switch 2 launches.
While it shouldn’t be seen as a direct competitor, Sony is expected to launch the PS5 Pro in November and portable PCs continue to be refined like the Steam Deck OLED and Asus ROG Ally X. We could also see the announcement of an Xbox handheld and PSP 2 next year, which would certainly give Nintendo some more competition.
For now, we’ll have to wait for official confirmation from Nintendo, which could take place in September. Nintendo has historically held a Nintendo Direct in September, so fingers crossed we finally see the Switch 2.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.