Nintendo explains why it decided to make a direct follow-up to Switch with Switch 2

As part of its latest financial results, Nintendo explained why it decided to make a direct follow-up to Switch in the form of Switch 2.

Sometimes Nintendo creates “sequel” to hardware, but that definitely doesn’t happen ever time. We’ve seen it for generations such as the NES to SNES and DS to 3DS. That’s now happened once again from Nintendo Switch to Switch 2.

Shuntaro Furukawa, the worldwide president of Nintendo, spoke about this in a financial results briefing today. He noted how Nintendo Switch popularized the idea of three different playstyles as both a home console and handheld, so “it was important for the successor system to expand and evolve the unique characteristics and potential of Nintendo Switch.”

Furukawa stated:

“Nintendo Switch, which launched in 2017, has delivered unique and diverse new forms of play for over eight years. Based on the concept of ‘play anytime, anywhere, with anyone,’ it has served as a dedicated video game platform that combines the features of both a home console and a handheld system. Consumers around the world have embraced Nintendo Switch for the three different play styles it offers—TV mode, handheld mode, and tabletop mode. For this reason, we felt it was important for the successor system to expand and evolve the unique characteristics and potential of Nintendo Switch. We also recognized that with expanded processing capability, we can further support developers to bring more of their new and innovative ideas to life. With this in mind, we designed Nintendo Switch 2 to be a more powerful hardware platform, built upon the strengths of Nintendo Switch, to accommodate the creative ambitions of software developers.”

Furukawa also spoke about the early success Nintendo Switch 2 has seen thus far. Read those comments here.