Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with Switch, Nintendo confirms

Nintendo has confirmed that the successor to the Nintendo Switch will be backward compatible with the Nintendo Switch.

In a post on X, a message from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa also announced that further information about the successor to the Nintendo Switch would come “at a later date.”

“This is Furukawa,” the message reads. “At 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 be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well. Further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date.”

The post also confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online would be available on the successor console. No further details on its implementation were announced.

Earlier today, Nintendo reiterated it still intends to announce its next console hardware before the end of its current fiscal year, which concludes on March 31, 2025.

President Shuntaro Furukawa made the comments during an online press conference on Tuesday, following the publication of Nintendo’s latest earnings results, but the executive did not add any additional details.

According to a report, developers have reportedly been briefed not to expect Nintendo’s next console to launch before April 2025.

“No developer I’ve spoken to expects it to be launching this financial year,” said GI.biz journalist Chris Dring. “In fact, they’ve been told not to expect it in the [current] financial year. A bunch of people I spoke to hope it’s out in April or May time, still early next year, not late.

“I don’t think any of us wants a late launch for Switch 2 because we all want a new Nintendo console, everyone gets very excited for it, and we don’t want that crunch of Grand Theft Auto 6 and Switch and all that kind of stuff on top of each other.”

Having launched in March 2017, Switch is in its eighth year on the market. In July, it surpassed the Famicom as the Nintendo console with the longest lifespan before being replaced.