An Upgraded Nintendo Switch Is Slated For Release Next Year
Well, it won’t be out in time for the holiday season but it’s looking like an upgraded Nintendo Switch is on the way. According to information obtained by Bloomberg News, the unnamed Switch variant is slated for release next year along with a mountain of new titles.
While the exact details of the hardware capabilities of the new Switch are currently unknown, sources said that Nintendo was looking into adding better graphics capabilities as well as 4K resolution.
With the new Switch would come a plethora of new games from both Nintendo and third parties, which may explain why recent Nintendo Directs (or lack thereof) have been lean on new titles and major announcements.
Nintendo may be missing out on the holiday sales season, which has historically been a solid time for videogame sales, but the move is in line with their previous console release strategy. Typically, the company will wait until after other console manufacturers have released their new consoles before releasing their own, sometimes waiting years. While an upgraded Switch may not constitute a new console, the strategy of waiting until the competition subsides for the release of new hardware still makes sense.
Nintendo also said that they have mostly resolved production bottlenecks that were leading to a shortage of Switch and Switch lite consoles throughout the pandemic. Production of the new Switch is not slated until early next year, giving Nintendo time to further dedicate resources.
Nicolas Perez is an editorial intern at Paste and opinion co-editor for New University. He’s rambling on Twitter @Nic_Perez_.