【Monica Swinn】

The Monica Swinnwait for the next Nintendo console continues.

Nintendo's oft-rumored follow-up to the Switch (which we'll call "Switch 2" for the sake of convenience) may not launch in early 2025, as many had hoped. That's according to Chris Dring, the head of GamesIndustry.biz, anyway, who said on that site's podcast (as spotted by VGC) that developers aren't expecting the Switch 2 to launch before the end of Nintendo's current fiscal year. In case you were wondering, Nintendo's fiscal year ends on March 31, 2025, so April 1 is the earliestwe could see Switch 2, according to Dring's comments.

“In fact, [developers Dring has spoken to have] been told not to expect it in the [current] financial year," Dring said. "A bunch of people I spoke to hope it’s out in April or May time, still early next year, not late."

To be clear, it wouldn't be accurate to call this a "delay" because Nintendo never announced a release date to begin with. In fact, Nintendo hasn't announced the console at all; the most it has given us is assurance that it willbe announced in the current fiscal year. For comparison's sake, the Switch was announced in October 2016 and launched in early March 2017. It was a very quick turnaround, and Nintendo could theoretically use that approach again, meaning we may not hear a peep about Switch 2 from the company itself until the end of this year at the earliest.

Of course, no one outside of Nintendo's offices knows the company's plans, so this could all be completely wrong. However, the company just recently showcased a boatload of really exciting-looking OG Switch games (including Metroid Prime 4), some of which have 2025 release dates. In other words, Switch owners will have plenty to chew on until there's a new machine to buy.

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