It’s been nearly six years since the March 2017 launch of the Nintendo Switch, and many have wondered when or if a new version of the console was coming. New Nintendo Switch Pro rumors have been running around for years now, but it has never come to be. Apparently, though, it was supposed to happen.
In a video posted on Tuesday, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman said that at some point, based on his information, a new version of the original Switch was planned.
“So I think at one point internally, from what I can understand from talking to different developers, is that there was some sort of mid-generation Switch update planned at one point and that seems to be no longer happening.,” he said. “And thus it’s pretty clear that whatever they do next is going to be the actual next-generation hardware.”
On top of talking about a mid-generation Nintendo Switch, Linneman said that he still thinks a Switch 2 is going to happen. However, he doesn’t think it’s coming in 2023.
The latest version of the console, the Nintendo Switch OLED, launched in October 2021. In addition to a slightly larger OLED screen, the system featured an ethernet port on the dock as well as updated speakers. That said, the internals of the system remained the same as the initial release making it something more of a nice-to-have as opposed to a must-have upgrade. Any new version of the system will need to have major performance improvements in order to handle the latest generation of games as well as games in the future.
What do you think of the latest Nintendo Switch speculations? Are you ready for a new version of the popular hybrid console?
For more Insider Gaming, check out our story on Naughty Dog’s next video game.
