New evidence has emerged which points to the likelihood that Nintendo is preparing to announce new hardware.
At the end of June, Nintendo released its spending figures for the last financial year, which showed that the company spent 8000x its regular budget on raw materials during this period. Looking at patterns of spending on hardware development, and the rising production costs, the publisher appears to be preparing for the launch of a new console.
If the increased spending is linked to a new product, it does not necessarily mean that Nintendo is ready to unveil the successor to the Nintendo Switch. Recently, Nintendo has been attempting to extend the life of its legacy software, to cater to its already established player base. You only have to look at the number of updates Mario Kart 8 has seen in the eight years since it was first released to understand this strategy.
If this is the case, then Nintendo could be preparing to announce something like a Nintendo Switch Pro; a console capable of playing the Switch’s large and well-established library of games while offering improved graphical and hardware capabilities. If so, this will be the fourth version of the Switch produced, including the handheld-only Switch Lite and the Switch OLED with its improved screen.
Nintendo fans who have been watching the company since the release of the financial report noticed new evidence which points to the upcoming announcement of new hardware. As discovered by Twitter user Shokio_YT, Nintendo recently set both the videos for the Switch Lite and Switch OLED to private on its official YouTube account. The company usually privates the videos of old hardware leading up to the announcement of new hardware in order to focus customers’ attention.
All of this still remains speculation, with no official word from Nintendo about new hardware, or even if it is intending to make any upcoming announcements. However, it has been over five years since the Switch’s release and the hardware was behind the specifications of its competitors then. While Nintendo doesn’t aim for the most powerful console, it seems likely that it would want to keep up with the competition.
Conversely, former Nintendo employee Kit Ellis, said the privatization of the trailers was “most likely nothing”. He points to the fact that it has been one year since the release of the OLED trailer, and many videos like this use actors or music which are only licensed for the year.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.