Nintendo Switch 2 Release Window Narrowed Down in New Report

Nintendo's next console, tentatively called the Switch 2, may be released as early as March 2025. That's according to a newly emerged report that also revealed some other alleged details about Nintendo's plans for the upcoming system.

The Switch successor has long been expected to hit the market in the second half of 2024. Industry watchers' consensus on its availability changed in mid-February, when a number of reports alleged that the Switch 2 had been delayed until 2025. Nintendo is even said to have started briefing its biggest developer partners about the postponement, which is ostensibly how the news leaked in the first place.

A new report from Nikkei has now corroborated some of those claims, in addition to revealing several other alleged details about Nintendo's release plans for the console. Specifically, the Tokyo-based outlet narrowed down the Switch 2 release window to March 2025, citing sources close to Nintendo. Nikkei believes that time frame could be pushed back even further, depending on the state of Nintendo's production capabilities in early 2025. Specifically, the gaming giant is allegedly adamant about avoiding the shortages and price scalping that have troubled the Switch for months post-release, to the point that it's said to be willing to delay the console even further if it believes its production cannot meet the launch demand for the system.

As for the previously reported postponement, Nikkei's report partially attributes it to Nintendo's desire to accompany the Switch 2 with a stronger first-party launch game lineup than what its predecessor had received. Although the Switch enjoyed a fairly steady influx of first-party titles in 2017, it launched with just three Nintendo-made games. Of those, only The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a true system-seller despite not even being a console exclusive, having also debuted on the Wii U. The other two titles were 1-2-Switch and Snipperclips, both of which were much less ambitious and more