Why The Next Switch Is Sooner Than You Think + Other Rumors.

Alrighty then, so...

There's been a number of rumors coming from multiple proven sources including Nate Drake, Jeff Grubb, Emily Rogers and Bloomberg.

I'm going to give my thoughts of all of this and throw in some little bits of knowledge of my own.

Let's start with the rumors of an enhanced remaster of Metroid Prime:

Here are the tweets about them if you want to read them yourself:

https://mobile.twitter.com/EmilyRogersBlog/status/1440929893458616320?s=20

https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffGrubb/status/1443658850238795808?s=20

Check out this video featuring Nate and John from Spawn Wave, great video and great channel:

https://youtu.be/I1tw1l3RQSw

These are rumors that popped up right before the Direct, and they're extremely intriguing for a number of reasons:

1. I think this absolutely makes sense given the timing of Retro's previous game being cancelled. Working on a remaster of the game that made them a beloved studio from the ground up is a very smart idea.

2. While this is my personal speculation, if I were to bet, it was what was landed them Prime 4. Fate had a way, and Bamco's version of Prime 4 and Retro's new game seemingly fell apart around the same time. I believe wholeheartedly that both projects being ill-fated was a good thing. 

3. Dread is already breaking sales records. The game is a bonafide hit, something they predicted correctly, and Nintendo would be smart to keep this going. Having a 3D Metroid installment just a year later is a smart move. It keeps the momentum going and from a personal point of view, we fans don't have wait to years and years for the next installment. Many people prefer Prime over the 2D games, and vice versa. So, catering to both audiences just makes business sense.

4. Prime 4 is still a ways out. Retro is crafting something major and they've still got hunk of work ahead of them. This is something that can keep fans sustained until the next installment ready. This is a win for everyone involved. It helps that Prime 1 is of the absolute best games ever made. 

So, yup, all in all, I buy it, 100 percent. 

Alrighty, next, comes the big one: 

Bloomberg has been talking about an upgraded Switch that isn't the just released Switch OLED, for months now, claiming that it would feature the capability of 4K, and things came to a head with this tweet: 

Nintendo did their thing and shot it down immediately, this is easy to explain, however.

They're doing their job. They don't you going into a holiday with all of that money, ready to buy a Switch, and then you find out that a new generation of Switch is fairly right around the corner. There's a good chance the  customer will decide to not buy the product in lieu of a newer one coming out. It looks bad on Nintendo, that's the reason they shot this down. The report is legitimate, and Nintendo is going to do all the damage control possible to keep this from getting out. It's basic business.

Nate, and his good friend ModernVintageGamer did an excellent video explaining what he's heard about the upcoming system, which you can watch here:

https://youtu.be/5AGh5J92H_A

Also, just subscribe to both of their channels. They both put out great content.

To sum it up, the "Switch Pro" wasn't what we originally thought it was. It's something much bigger. Bloomberg isn't off the mark, at all, and they have receipts:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/nintendo-switch-4k-developers-make-games-for-nonexistent-console

Just for the sake of simplicity, from this point forward, I'm going to refer to this thing as the "NGS" (Next Generation Switch). 

Giving this article a massive update because there's much more to this story:

Back in July, noted YouTuber and reliable Insider Moore's Law Is Dead made a video regarding the NGS and it's eventual release, calling it in his words, the "Nintendo Super Switch". (Love the name!)

Shout-out goes to tech expert GalacticPirate for informing me of this video. Check it out here: 

https://youtu.be/cUJtIK94Djc

Another quality YouTube channel to subscribe to, I'm loving this trend.

Nintendo has a habit of releasing upgraded versions of their systems/portables a short while before their next system, NGS will likely be no different.

For example, The Nintendo DS XL released in the west a mere 11 months before the launch of the 3DS in Japan. 

They do this kind of stuff regularly.

He also notes that Nintendo bought up 30 million Tegra X1 chips for the Switch this previous year, which may be all they need for remainder of the Switch's life, if we take into account the next 18 months or so.

https://www.gamereactor.eu/amp/nvidia-to-stop-switchs-soc-production-this-year-gamereactor-was-told/

Gamereactor also released a report that the Tegra X1 is being permanently discontinued by the end of this year, meaning once again that Nintendo bought as many as they probably will need for the rest of Switch's lifespan, lending credence to Moore's analysis.

From what he's been able to gather from his sources, the NGS is sounding like this:

-Based on the "Orin Family", most likely a custom version. 

-Will likely will be using Nvidia's "Lovelace" tech.

-Expects a launch anywhere from Spring to Holiday of 2023.

-Lovelace is likely a next gen gaming architecture of some sort.

So, with that, I'll go out and say it, I wholeheartedly believe that 2022 is the last full year of the original Switch. Let me explain why.

Nintendo Has Released A New Game In Every One Of Their Major Franchises:

This is pretty easy reasoning. From a 2D Mario to 3D Mario, to Mario Kart, Zelda, Smash Bros., Pokemon, Kirby, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem and Splatoon, to making a new major franchise in Ring Fit, Nintendo has done the big ones, and sometimes even twice over. Next year will still be a great year for the system, but it's pretty obvious that things are starting to wind down, which brings me to my next point:

Third Party Support Is Dwindling:

If the last year, or heck, even the last Direct we just had wasn't enough to convince you of this, then I don't know what will. Third party support from Nintendo's major partners is starting to dwindle, and fast. The only three notable games we have word of as now are SEGA's upcoming open world Sonic game, Sonic Frontiers (Yes, that's apparently the title.), Shin Megami Tensei V, and the remastered Grand Theft Auto Trilogy, which are essentially, just upgraded versions of the mobile releases, still a huge deal, but that's...kind of it.

The NGS needs to be here sooner, not later.

Many third parties have done all they can with the current platform, and it's flat out time for new hardware, far past time, in fact. Speaking of which, here's another reason why:

Nintendo Is Late:

Nintendo never goes more than a few years into their console's lifespan without mentioning the next one, here's a quick list of when Nintendo announced their next console during the lifespans of the current ones:

Super Famicom Release:

November 21, 1990

"Project Reality" Announcement:

August 23, 1993

Nintendo 64 Release:

June 23, 1996

"Dolphin" Announcement:

May 13, 1999

GameCube Release:

September 13, 2001

"GCNEXT/Revolution" Announcement:

April 11, 2004

Wii Release:

November 19, 2006

"Project Cafe" Announcement:

April 25, 2011

Wii U Release: 

November 18, 2012

"NX" Announcement:

March 17, 2015

Nintendo Switch Release:

March 3, 2017

As you can see from the historical data of the dates, Nintendo on average announces their next console about three or so years into the generation. We're going into our sixth year of the Switch. They're not only late, but very well overdue. How much longer do people expect this system to go on? The NGS is a thing that people should be expecting to hear about before too long, and it's only natural that developers have dev kits. 

What I've Heard:

Speaking of which, while I obviously have nowhere near the scope of knowledge as Bloomberg does on the situation, I have heard of one developer that has an NGS dev kit, and that's Game Freak.

From what I've been able to gather from talking Game Freak are developing the next generation of Pokemon for the NGS specifically, so much so that Nintendo/The Pokemon Company are pushing to have the next game within the first six months of the system being store shelves, something that's never happened before. A Pokemon RPG in the first year of a Nintendo system is unprecedented, and it's brilliant business move that will get droves of early adopters to buy the system.

Zippo's Educated Guess:

Considering what I've got to go on, and the timing of Nintendo's recent console announcements, I'm gonna go and say that Nintendo will officially announce this thing in either February or March, with a release in that could be from next November to the following March. 

How this will affect games like Breath of The Wild 2, Prime 4 and whatnot is something we'll have to get back to when there's more information. The NGS is an extremely exciting proposition and I'm excited to see what the developers can do with the new tech they're being given.

Likewise, this was a doozy to get finished up. I hope everyone that dropped by enjoyed the read. Thank you to everyone that was able to put up with my rambling on there, but I had a lot to say. I'll continue to look into this further. The NGS is closer than you think it is.

Till next time, see ya!