As rumours surrounding the release of a more powerful Switch Pro continue to swirl, Nintendo’s president says that the company is currently working on a full successor to the wildly successful home console-handheld hybrid device.
In an interview with Nikkei first translated by VGC, Shuntaro Furukawa, who has held the position of Nintendo’s president since 2018, explained how the Japanese gaming giant wants to “propose new forms of entertainment.” He went on to say that Nintendo’s hardware and software teams are in the same building and “communicating closely” regarding what the company’s next-gen games will look like.
“In order to create a single piece of hardware, we have to do a lot of preparation several years in advance, so we are working without stopping,” said Furukawa in the VGC interview. “In the end, the deciding factor in whether or not to commercialize a product is whether it can create a new experience.”
Furukawa also alluded that Nintendo is planning for the Switch to have an extended life cycle. For context, the Switch launched back in early March 2017, making it nearly four years now.
“…since one piece of hardware can be used to play both stationary and portable games, we can offer a wide variety of software for this purpose. The life cycle can still be extended,” said Furukawa.
According to the company, the Switch has shipped nearly 80 million consoles worldwide as of December 31st, 2020. The company’s most recent Direct livestream revealed several new games coming to the console, including The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Mario Golf: Super Rush and Splatoon 3.
Rumours regarding a Switch Pro that features a 4K display, more powerful hardware and improved build quality, have been circulating for years. There have also been reports that Nintendo has plans to release a dock with built-in hardware for the Switch that makes the portable device more powerful.
Nintendo released the Switch Lite, a smaller, portable-only version of the console, back in September 2020.
Source: Nikkei, VGC Via: GamesRadar
