Despite moving to within 10,000 sales of becoming the second best-selling console of all time, Nintendo will eventually move on from the Nintendo Switch and shift all of its attention to the Switch 2. However, a development update has revealed that shift might be happening far sooner than most would have assumed.
Nintendo has expanded on the quarterly numbers it shared this week with some more in-depth insight into its inner workings via its latest quarterly report. In that report, Nintendo has confirmed that from now on, its game development will be centered around the Switch 2.
“Going forward, we will shift our primary development focus to Nintendo Switch 2 and expand our business around this new platform,” the report reads. You might see this and think “well, duh”. The Switch 2 is Nintendo’s shiny new console; of course that will be its focus from now on, it likely has been since the day the system launched, maybe even before.
People Are Making The Next-Gen Leap Faster Than Nintendo Expected
To an extent, that’s true. While the development of games for the original Switch has continued, the focus will have somewhat shifted to the Switch 2. However, stating it in this manner, and five months into the Switch 2’s run, implies that Nintendo may already be moving away from developing games for the Switch 2’s predecessor entirely.
That doesn’t mean we have already seen the last Nintendo-published game developed for the Switch, of course. We’ve still got Metroid Prime 4: Beyond to come in a few weeks and a handful of games already announced to release in 2026. These comments imply that starting now, games developed under the Nintendo banner will be developed for the Switch 2 alone and will not be cross-gen releases like Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
It’s a little surprising to see Nintendo begin the process of leaving the Switch behind so soon after the launch of the Switch 2. However, this week’s numbers confirmed it had already sold more than ten million Switch 2 consoles by the end of September. Today’s more in-depth report also reveals that 84 percent of those ten million are people who have made the jump from an original Switch.
Those numbers might be what have spurred Nintendo on to focus solely on developing games for the Switch 2. It’s not as if this is a sudden gear change based on today’s comments alone, though. The Switch 2’s biggest first-party launch window games, Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, were both developed solely for the Switch 2. Of course, whatever Nintendo is working on now, whether it be a new 3D Mario or the next Super Smash Bros, would follow that framework.
- Brand
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Nintendo
- Original Release Date
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June 5, 2025
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$449.99
- Operating System
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Proprietary
- Resolution
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1080p (handheld) / 4K (docked)
- HDR Support
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Yes
