by Nintendo has confirmed that the yet-to-be-announced Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with original Switch games and will include Nintendo Switch Online.
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa shared the news during the company’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing, revealing a little more about the successor to 2017’s Nintendo Switch.
“This is Furukawa,” Nintendo wrote on X/Twitter. “During today’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch Online will also be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch. More information about the Nintendo Switch successor, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date.”
We still have a lot to learn about this new Switch, as we’re still waiting for the actual announcement, which Nintendo has previously said will take place in late March 2025.
The current state of the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo also shared more about sales of the current Switch and its software, including that it lowered its current hardware sales forecast for the financial year ending March 2025 from 13.5 million units to 12.5 million units.
Nintendo suffered a 17% drop in sales and a 69% drop in profits compared to the same quarter last fiscal year, selling 4.72 million Switch units in the six months ended September 30. The latter figure is lower than the 6.84 million units sold during the same period last year.
On the software side, Nintendo said sales of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom have reached 2.58 million, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has increased by 2.31 million, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has increased to 1.94 million. and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HDs have hit 1.57 million.
For context, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has now surpassed a whopping 64.27 million copies sold, far surpassing the best-selling Switch game. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is currently in second place with 46.45 million copies sold.
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Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
