Handheld gaming has returned in a new and weird way. Enthusiast indie handhelds like the Panic Playdate and Analogue Pocket have tapped into the spirit of the old Game Boy. Streaming-capable handhelds like the Razer Edge, Logitech G Cloud and Sony’s upcoming Project Q are playing with second-screen ideas that go back to the Nintendo Wii U, but for a streaming-game age. Then there are shrunken-down gaming PCs for your hands, like the Steam Deck, Valve’s PC gaming handheld. Regardless of the device, though, they all show off how much power can fit in your hands in 2023.
I’ve been living with a Steam Deck for the last few weeks. It’s been available for more than a year and has won gamers over with its surprisingly capable design and the seemingly magical ways it handles PC-level games on the go. As a Nintendo Switch user from Day 1, I’ve been surprised. It has a few flaws — it’s big, and it’s complicated — but in many ways, it’s everything I want a Nintendo Switch 2 to be.
The Switch 2’s moment could be soon: A recent report suggests a late 2024 release, which could also coincide with a PlayStation 5 Pro, and would be two years into the Steam Deck’s life cycle. There are a lot of good reasons for a Switch 2 to happen, even if the existing Switch is still my favorite game console right now.
Read more: Steam Deck evolves: Valve’s portable gaming PC, one year later
Six years have gone by fast
The Nintendo Switch arrived on the scene on March 3, 2017, and over six years later, not all that much has changed. Since its initial release, Nintendo has improved the Switch’s battery life, released a smaller Lite model and added an iteration with a larger OLED screen. The idea of the Switch, however, has remained the same. All of the models mainly use the same type of CPU and GPU, too. As I discussed with former Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aimé, the Switch seems due for some sort of upgrade… but according to Nintendo, the Switch’s life cycle could be as long as 10 years.
As always, it’s hard to know whether Nintendo is going to create a truly revamped “Switch Pro” model that’s been expected off and on for years. And for however successful the Switch has been — it’s one of Nintendo’s top products of all time — it’s over 6 years old. It’s overdue for it to get more advanced to stay competitive.
To Nintendo’s credit, it knows how to maximize its hardware and graphics: 2023’s Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4 show how well the Switch can still play games. But it’s fallen behind in other areas, places where Nintendo could leap ahead again with a true Switch successor. Will it happen in the next year? Perhaps. Nintendo has stated there won’t be a new platform in the next financial year, but expectations from the industry, including competitors like Microsoft, say a new Switch is around the corner. Nintendo’s working on something, and has already confirmed that a new platform will be backward-compatible with the current Switch.
Read more: Happy birthday, Nintendo Switch: Those years flew by
The time has come
Nintendo has historically released new consoles roughly every five to six years, and the Switch came out in 2017. The Wii U, in 2012. The Wii, 2006. The GameCube, 2001. The N64, 1996.
Does that mean Nintendo could dream up a whole new successor to the Switch, something that could be completely different and unexpected? As different from the Switch as the Wii was from the GameCube? Who knows? But we may see a true upgraded version of the Switch (a Switch 2, a Switch Pro or whatever it’s called) sooner rather than later if leaks and rumors are to be believed. It should be something that’s a true boost compared with the more modestly tweaked Switch OLED from back in 2021.
Watch this: Nintendo Switch, 5 Years In: What Comes Next?
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