Nintendo just confirmed one of the first features for the Switch 2

The Nintendo Switch’s successor, commonly referred to as the Switch 2, hasn’t been officially revealed yet, but that doesn’t mean Nintendo isn’t talking about it’s highly-anticipated console. The company has revealed one detail that I think will make many Nintendo fans even more excited about it than they already are.

Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2 will be able to play current Switch games. This is great news for current Switch owners, as it means all their games and their Nintendo Switch Online account will be carried over to the new console. Nintendo announced the news during its midyear policy briefing, and also posted the news on X.

The news about the Switch 2’s backwards compatibility comes as the company reports a drop in revenue and net profit due to interest in the seven-year-old Nintendo Switch console waning.

The Switch 2 is expected to release next year

Nintendo says more news about the console “will be announced at a later date”

While information about the Switch 2 is sparse, rumors and speculation point to the console getting an early 2025 release.

The official reveal of the console not being until next year is also looking increasingly likely. Speaking to Reuters, Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda said announcing a new console this year would be difficult.

“Making an announcement this year has gotten quite difficult […] You would not want to divert attention to an upcoming console in the middle of the critical year-end shopping season,” Yasuda said, speaking to Reuters.

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This analysis and sentiment makes sense to me. This is likely to be the Nintendo Switch’s last holiday season as Nintendo’s flagship device, and the company likely wants to sell as much inventory as they can before it reveals and eventually launches the Switch 2. The moment the public catch a glimpse of the new Switch console, demand for the old one will certainly fall off even more than it already is.

The Nintendo Switch has had an amazing life-cycle though, with hundreds of incredible and memorable games released on it, like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo says the Switch has sold 146 million units since it first launched in March 2017.

The company also says cumulative software sales have reached 1.3 billion units. “More software has been played on Nintendo Switch than on any other Nintendo hardware,” Nintendo said in its Q2 briefing. Thankfully, with today’s news, that means all that software users have bought over the years for the Switch will carry over to the new Switch 2.

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