Nintendo game console timeline from predecessor to successor
– 1985: NES
– 1990: SNES (5 years)
– 1996: N64 (6 years)
– 2001: GameCube (5 years)
– 2006: Wii (5 years)
– 2012: Wii U (6 years)
– 2017: Switch (5 years)
A Switch successor will be released later this year or 2024.
To clarify further this is the Nintendo game console timeline & [final game release year](https://vgmaps.com/temp/NintendoHistory.png)
– 1985-1994: NES (9 years)
– 1990-1998: SNES (8 years)
– 1996-2002: N64 (6 years)
– 2001-2007: GameCube (6 years)
– 2006-2019: Wii (13 years)
– 2012-2020: Wii U (8 years)
– 2017-2030(?): Switch (13 years(?))
by kygelee
11 Comments
N64 should have come sooner. I remember waiting on that console as a kid. I’m pretty sure it was delayed at least a year.
Or you could take:
. 1989: Gameboy
. 1998: Gameboy Color (9 years)
. 2001: Gameboy Advance (3 years)
. 2004: Nintendo DS (3 years)
. 2006: DS Lite (2 years)
. 2008: DSi (2 years)
. 2010: DSi XL (2 years)
. 2011: 3DS (1 year)
. 2012: 3DS XL (1 year)
. 2017: Switch (5 years)
. 2019: Switch lite (2 years)
So, who’s to say? Switch was always a hybrid between a home console and a portable device.
I hope late 2024 by then the switch might have passed the ps2 in sales
There was recently an official statement from Nintendo that the switch still has years of life left.
Nintendo said the Switch will have a 10 year lifespan. It’s currently on year 6, and they tend to discontinue a console within a year of it’s successor releasing. So I wouldn’t expect one for at least another 2-3 years.
I see a lot lists and predictions but imo the most relevant situation was what happened with the WiiU. Because they said the Wii didn’t need to be Hd… and then that’s exactly what they did. So for all we know, even though now they’re convinced they don’t need any immediate changes to hardware, maybe sooner than later they’ll decide the opposite and Switch 2 will become a reality.
Any pattern is not necessarily a guarantee, though. This is the first hybrid console; it could very well break all the prior timelines and last at least a few more years like they’ve said before. But ofc they won’t want to prevent sales by prematurely announcing anything either.
Tl;dr it’s all speculation till the next system actually happens. I personally hope for later cuz I just got the oled and don’t want that to be a wasted investment lol
I don’t think that we’ll see a Switch successor this year or next to be released, maybe 2025
Why?
Both Sony and Microsoft made a mistake with their console launches by launching too early. The PS4 is the “de-facto” game console for Sony still because even though the PS5 is nearly two and a half years old by now, it wasn’t until well after 2 years after launch that you could buy the thing without purposefully hunting it down and that’s had a ripple effect.
If you look at the best selling page on a PS5 store (North America as of writing) out of the top 20 games for “best selling” on the PS5 Store only a single game is PS5 exclusive (Hogwarts Legacy) and its getting a PS4 release next month. All 19 other games you can buy and play on the PS4. In fact, out of the top 20 one of them is even a PS4 game (Final Fantasy VI) with no added features for PS5 at all.
What’s the point of going “next gen” if no one is playing “next gen” games? Sure maybe you get some (mildly) improved visuals but what else is there? If Nintendo can’t get the “Switch 2” into the hands of gamers just like Microsoft and Sony failed to get their “next gen” consoles into the hands of gamers, then developers aren’t going to develop for it. They’re going to continue to make Switch games which may be playable on “Switch 2” via backwards compatibility but ultimately don’t really take advantage to what the new console offered.
Technology hasn’t changed as rapidly as it did years ago, while there was a huge difference in seeing Super Mario Bros. on the NES and seeing the remake on the SNES. And there was a huge difference between playing StarFox on the SNES and Star Fox 64 on the N64 and even a huge leap forward between the N64 and GameCube now things have slowed. Assuming Nintendo doesn’t significantly change up the format of the console the way they did between the GameCube and Wii and knowing the difficulties of producing technologies in a timely manner, I don’t see that it makes sense for Nintendo to release a successor yet.
As long as they don’t forsake physical media, don’t implement a trophy/achievement system, allow me to play my switch games on it, and call it the Super Switch, they can release whenever they’d like. That’s all reasonable, right?
You used the North American release year for NES, but then the Japanese one for SNES? This list is inaccurate.
I suspect that the Switch will *not* follow the typical Nintendo home console lifecycle but instead be closer to the typical Nintendo handheld lifecycle.
* 1989 – 1998: Gameboy
* 1998 – 2001: Gameboy Color [Backwards Compatible]
* 2001 – 2004: Gameboy Advance – [Backwards Compatible]
* 2004 – 2011: Nintendo DS Family (DS, XL, DSi, DSi XL) [Original DS Backwards Compatible]
* 2011 – 2020: Nintendo 3DS Family (3DS, 3DS XL, ‘new’ 3DS, 2DS, etc) – [Backwards Compatible]
* 2017 – Present: Switch family (Switch, Switch OLED, Switch Lite)
I think we’ll see an upgraded ‘Switch’ model soon – the equivalent of a Gameboy Color or ‘new’ 3DS – that supports more powerful games but with backwards compatibility as a major selling point.
I hope this is the last year but it will probably be 2024. I expect backwards compatibility because that’s also the trend now as well. Handheld specs might remain about the same but the Dock will do 4k via DLSS.
Considering some of their exclusives barely manage 720p docked, it’d be really nice to get those to take advantage of the new hardware as well.