A longtime manufacturing partner for the Nintendo Switch is reportedly working on a new console. The highly-successful Nintendo Switch has been on the market since 2017, and has proven to be one of the company’s most lucrative systems in recent memory thanks to blockbuster exclusives like Super Mario Odyssey, Metroid Dread, and the soon-to-be-released Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. However, now that the Switch is over six years old fans have started to wonder when Nintendo could begin work on its next major console.
There have been many conflicting rumors and reports on when Nintendo could unveil its hypothetical Switch successor. Some insiders believe that the development of this new console could begin after Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches tomorrow. A recent Nintendo financial report has also left speculators theorizing that the company could start working on a new system due to the Switch’s reported drop in sales in the last 12 months. However, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently stated that there are no plans to announce a new Switch follow-up until at least the end of next March.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that a new Nintendo console isn’t already in the works, and a longtime manufacturer of Nintendo Switch parts has just confirmed it is working on a new project. Sharp CEO Robert Wu revealed that his company is currently developing LCD screens for an unspecified system during a recent earnings call. While he didn’t reveal what exactly this new console is, he noted that it will supposedly launch sometime before March 2024.
Sharp has supplied Nintendo with parts for the Switch, so many are naturally guessing that this new system Wu spoke of is Nintendo's next console. While this might contradict Shuntaro Furukawa’s statement that Nintendo won’t announce its new system until next year, some have pointed out that the Switch originally launched just a few months after it was formally announced. In the meantime, Nintendo remains committed to selling 15 million Switch units in 2023 despite the aforementioned drop in sales.
Of course, the new console that Sharp is providing parts for could be anything, but Robert Wu’s specific mention of LCD screens seems to suggest that it might be the much-speculated Nintendo Switch successor. Wu also says that this console could launch as early as next March, so it might not be too much longer before gamers know what it is.
Source: Bloomberg (via GamesRadar)
