The long wait is finally over. In a YouTube video with little fanfare, Nintendo officially introduced the long-awaited Switch 2. The first true next-gen follow-up to the original Switch includes backwards-compatibility for owners of existing Switch hardware and will be available on April 2, 2025.
The announcement of the Switch 2 has been a long time coming. Today’s news caps off months of speculation about when the company would unveil new hardware. The community interest in a Switch 2 was vocal enough that president Shuntaro Furukawa posted on X ahead of the June 2024 Nintendo Direct not to expect any new console news, although he did confirm that the Switch’s successor would be introduced by March 2025. [Un?]fortunately, we did[n’t] have to wait that long.
Nintendo has given players some minor upgrades over the years since the Switch first arrived on the scene in 2017. The Switch Lite offered a more compact handheld ideal for gaming on the go, and the Switch OLED delivered a premium screen. But even within the limitations of a portable gaming device, the Switch has lagged far behind other consoles when it comes to power and performance. Once we get our hands on the Switch 2, we’ll know whether it delivers enough oomph to feel worth the wait.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-arrives-on-april-2-2025-131325195.html?src=rss