Nintendo announced Tuesday that the Nintendo Switch software “will also be playable on the successor to the Nintendo Switch,” according to a post from Nintendo’s Corporate X account. The post, attributed to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, also confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online will be offered on the new console.
There was no mention of compatibility with Joy-Con controllers or other Switch hardware accessories, although it has already been reported.
The post says Nintendo announced the Switch 2’s backwards compatibility at its Corporate Management Policy Briefing, a semi-annual investor meeting where the company presents its sales and roadmaps.
The presentation that is publicly accessiblealso addresses whether players’ Nintendo Accounts will work on the new console: “We believe that it is important for the future of Nintendo to use the Nintendo Account and continue the good relationship we have with the above 100 million playing users per year.” Nintendo Switch as its successor.” The report further clarifies that “customers will be able to play not only the Nintendo Switch software they currently own, but also their next purchase from a wide range “Be able to choose from a selection of titles released for Nintendo Switch.”
According to a previous leak, the Switch 2 supposedly has a card slot. However, the news doesn’t confirm that the new Switch will be able to play physical Switch games. Nintendo’s statement states: “Further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date.”
Backwards compatibility was considered a crucial feature for the Switch 2. Although there were many rumors, doubts remained that Nintendo would create it if the new machine’s chip architecture was completely different or if third-party publishers objected. The Switch itself was not backwards compatible with previous Nintendo consoles, and Nintendo made money from Switch re-releases of previous games, such as sales 63 million copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
But consumer expectations for backwards compatibility have changed since Steam normalized the idea of a persistent digital game library that works across multiple devices. In particular, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series In this environment, a console without backwards compatibility would have been a hard sell for Nintendo, especially considering it has already been sold over 140 million Switch.
Other notable revelations in Tuesday’s presentation include the report that the Pikmin, Kirby, Metroid and Xenoblade Chronicles franchises have experienced “dramatic sales growth on Nintendo Switch” compared to sales of those series’ titles on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. recorded.
Correction (November 6th): An earlier version of this story noted that Nintendo had announced backwards compatibility with both the Switch hardware and software. Although previously reported, hardware compatibility has not been confirmed by Nintendo.
