It's been seven long years since the release of Nintendo's original Switch console. Feel old yet?
In that time, we've seen a lot happen in the world of console gaming: a new, two-tiered generation of Xbox consoles as well as a mid-cycle refresh and three new iterations of Sony's PlayStation 5 — the original, the Pro, and the Slim. Sony even found time to throw in a limited edition 30th anniversary redesign inspired by the PS1.
Meanwhile, in that seven-year timeframe, Nintendo has offered us, well... OLED. And don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining — the OLED Switch is a welcome upgrade, especially for those of us who enjoy playing the Switch outside of our homes. But what we're really waiting for — the Switch 2 — remains elusive. Though, maybe not for long.
Nintendo's Switch hiatus may finally end as early as the spring of 2025 if a slew of recent leaks and rumors are accurate. As a fan of everything the Switch offers, that prospect excites me. More Switch! Cool!
But, more palpably, the Switch 2, without ever being released, also has me feeling something else, and "excited" isn't really the word I'd use.
The Switch 2 so far
While we don't have a ton of information about what the Switch 2 will have in store for us, a recent leak from accessory maker Dbrand has given us the most substantial insight so far.
Thanks to an alleged 3D scan of the Switch 2 provided to Dbrand, we've gotten a few major hints. First, information suggests the Switch 2 will be bigger (wider and taller) than the original — that's no surprise, especially if the console gets a performance upgrade.
There's also evidence that the Joy-Cons will be magnetically attached as opposed to the current design, where controllers slide in on either side from the top down. Then there are also hints at a better kickstand and slightly larger screen — 8 inches instead of 7 — as well as a new, mysterious button.
Those are the hints so far about the Switch 2, and I think anyone can agree that they'd all be welcome upgrades. With that said, the biggest potential improvement is likely the one we know little about: performance.
If there's one category where the Switch has room to grow, it's in its ability to handle bigger, more demanding games. That capability might not matter with most first-party Nintendo titles, which aren't known for their technical complexity, but it could have a significant impact on the ability to run ported games like The Witcher 3 or The Outer Worlds.
it also potentially misses the point of why people like the Switch in the first place.
A performance upgrade could be a literal game-changer, to be sure, but for as big as the upgrade is, it also potentially misses the point of why people like the Switch in the first place.
A victim of success
The Switch is beloved for a lot of reasons.
Nintendo is no stranger to shaking up hardware form factor and — while it's had some misses over the years (cough, cough, Wii U) — the Switch landed on something truly magical. It's a proper game console that you can bring with you on the go. It's the best of both worlds.
Even its Joy-Cons, for all the drift controversy, are a stroke of genius with their modularity and transformer-like utility as individual or combined controllers. Combine all of that thoughtfulness with the whimsical allure of Nintendo's official game catalog, and you've got a massive hit on your hands.
the Switch landed on something truly magical.
In all of that Switch goodness, however, there's one thing that people don't often cite: performance. Obviously, that's because the Switch doesn't have a lot of compute power. It's also because it objectively doesn't need it.
People love Switch in large part because of its exclusive titles, and (spoiler alert) Super Mario doesn't need ray tracing. And if the biggest selling point of Nintendo's Switch 2 is that it can play bigger, more complex games, well, I'd argue that it's improving, but not in the areas that made the Switch successful in the first place.
Again, don't get me wrong, better performance is an upgrade, but if seven years of anticipation over a Switch successor have you stoked for something truly groundbreaking (as pivotal as the original Switch), I'd start tempering your expectations now.
This is all speculation, of course. There could very well be some left-field feature that makes the Switch 2 as ingenious as its namesake, but right now, I'm not seeing it. And at the end of the day, what can the Switch 2 do to justify being a sequel?
Personally, I don't want the form factor to change, and I'm fairly certain most people would agree with that. That leaves more incremental changes like the ones we've already seen rumors for.
Maybe those, in aggregate, will add up to something greater than their parts, but I have my doubts. And in a lot of ways, that's okay. The Switch is an incredible game console that doesn't need a total revamp.
I don't know if "sophomore slump" is apt, but I'm preparing for a "sophomore small bump."
