Nintendo has confirmed that there will not be a new Switch model arriving in 2020. This comes after months of speculation that Nintendo would attempt to backstop the impending market share loss to the PS5 and Xbox Series X with a more powerful portable console. The company has had strong growth across the board over the last four or so years.
With more than 52 million Switch consoles sold, the gaming sector of Nintendo has kicked into high gear in 2019, making cash by the truckload. However, things have not been entirely positive. Despite strong reporting on the revenue side, some problems have emerged. Chinese production has slowed due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The company has also struggled with technical issues, like the problems with JoyCon design flaws.
The Financial Times undermined the conclusions of the company’s third quarter earnings report, and stated that Nintendo is “stuck on pause.” Going further, the analysis postulates that Nintendo could be stuck playing catchup against a gaming market that has moved past it’s gimmicks. “The Switch, three years old in March, is teetering on the brink of becoming outdated. Rivals are launching smartphones and new consoles with the latest features, while cloud gaming poses challenges to the sector,” asserted The Financial Times.
The cloud gaming claim may not be all that strong, given the laughably poor showing of Google Stadia, but there’s definite merit to the idea of being outdated. The Nividia Tegra X1 chip that powers the Switch and Switch Lite is just plain fighting a losing battle. AAA games will want to make use of more and power as 4K gaming becomes the norm, and the Switch as it stands could be left without AAA support at some point. Sure, the strength of the indie market and ports of older games has made the Switch a solid number 2 within the console war in 2019, but that may not last.
Going into the ongoing rumors, the earnings call did make a mention of the possibility of a new Switch saying, “please note that we have no plans to launch a new Nintendo Switch model during 2020.” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa goes further, saying that the current offerings of two Switch SKUs are more than enough. “Regarding Nintendo Switch, we believe that it is important to continue to communicate the appeal of both Nintendo Switch systems and expand the installed base. We feel that we have not yet fully communicated the special features and appeal of Nintendo Switch Lite, so we will continue to address this going forward,” says the company president.
So that’s it then, the Switch won’t be getting a revamp in 2020.
