The Nintendo Switch has been on the market for almost four years, but is still in high demand and, at the moment, shows no signs of slowing down. It is unlikely to be able to defeat the Nintendo DS as Nintendo’s best-selling hardware, but it is about to beat the Nintendo Wii and perhaps even the Game Boy, Nintendo’s third and second best-selling consoles, respectively. The aforementioned DS has approximately 154 million units sold. Again, this is going to be difficult to win. However, the Wii and the Game Boy have 101 million and 118 million.
In November 2020, Nintendo sold 68 million Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite units. To achieve the aforementioned hardware parts, it will not only need a few more years on the market, but a few more years as Nintendo’s main console. That said, it looks like it will stay at least another 3-5 years as Nintendo’s main console, meaning it should, as long as current trends continue, be Nintendo’s second best-selling console for the rest of its life.
Speaking to Polygon, Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser confirmed that the Nintendo Switch is at the “midpoint” of its life cycle. In March, the Nintendo Switch will be four years old, which means it is safe to assume that it will be the Nintendo console for another four years or more. Sure, a more powerful revision may be introduced at some point, but now Nintendo is denying that a “Nintendo Switch Pro” is in the works.
If the Nintendo Switch is going to have approximately an 8-year lifecycle, that means that the next Nintendo console should be released around 2025. For now, this is just an assumption, but that’s what Bowser suggests if you’re saying that the Switch is at its midpoint.
For now, all of this is a little speculative, but at the very least it provides us with an approximate roadmap for the future, and more or less confirms that we won’t see a brand new piece of hardware from the company for at least many years.
If Nintendo provides more information or clarification on Bowser’s comment, we will be sure to update the story. In the meantime, for more coverage on all things at Nintendo – including all the latest news, rumors, leaks, offers, guides, reviews and more – click here.