According to previous reports, the development of a new generation of Nintendo Switch handhelds may be nearing completion, and it is expected to be released next year.
The European Union recently released details about Microsoft’s acquisition, which mentioned that after Nintendo and Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement on “Call of Duty”, they hope to “reflect the technical characteristics of these games” on their own consoles, and will soon launch a console with higher specifications, which will become more powerful competition for Xbox and PlayStation.
However, the European Commission did not provide any evidence as to when Nintendo will launch its next-generation console, or whether the hardware specifications of this new machine will be comparable to those of Sony and Microsoft’s current generations of consoles. In this regard, Nintendo stated that “Nintendo has publicly and generally affirmed the process of continuous development work on multiple occasions”.
Previous FTC court documents also mentioned that Microsoft expects Nintendo to launch a new Switch game console next year.
According to the CEO of Activision Blizzard, the information performance of Nintendo’s next-generation console is close to that of Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. At present, the performance of this new machine will not be stronger than the Sony PS4, but it is also enough to run “Call of Duty”.
Although the official did not disclose the specific information of the next-generation NS, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has already hinted at the existence of this new machine.
When asked about the Nintendo Switch successor, he said that Nintendo wants to “make the transition for customers as smooth as possible” from the Nintendo Switch to the successor console, and they plan to use the Nintendo Account system to achieve this goal.
Rumors swirled earlier this year that following the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Kingdoms, there would be fewer Nintendo Switch games in preparation for the release of the Switch successor next year.
Nintendo stated that they are still discussing “to break through the unknown”, and a specific response as follows:
・Future hardware specifications are still under discussion.
・There is currently no guarantee that the new console will retroactively play Switch games.
・Although the proportion of downloaded games has increased, we still want to develop consoles that integrate software and hardware in the future.
・Although Switch has been on the market for the seventh year, it is still considering breaking through the unknown.
・We will continue to devote all our efforts to the game.
・About the resale of new-generation game consoles in the future, it is emphasized that market demand will be met.
