What’s the Switch 2 cross-gen plan? Nintendo’s history may tell us

This story was first published in Switchboard, a newsletter from Polygon that delivers all the latest Switch 2 news, reporting, and rumors directly to your inbox. Sign up here to get it weekly.

Last week’s Pokémon Presents was more than a peek at what’s next for the Pokémon franchise. The showcase revealed new details on Switch games Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Pokémon Champions, but it also got to some of the biggest questions about the future of the original Switch, including:

• How will Nintendo transition from the most widely-owned video game consoles on the market to a new system that will have to build its install base from zero? 
• How long will Nintendo and its closest partners release games for the original Switch and its tens of millions of active players? 
• Which big new releases will be cross-generational games?

Nintendo has previously said that it’s working to give users a “smooth transition” from Switch to Switch 2, thanks to the widespread adoption of Nintendo Accounts. Depending on how smoothly that goes, the next-gen transition to Switch 2 should let Nintendo Account holders carry over their digital libraries, subscriptions, and personal information.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has also said that the company is trying to produce as many Switch 2 units as possible for launch, both to meet consumer demand and deter resellers. The same is true on the software side; Nintendo is reportedly working to develop a robust launch lineup of exclusive games for Switch 2.

What’s left for the original Switch?

Nintendo has only a handful of first-party Switch games on its slate, including Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, the latter of which drops this month. Whether the company has anything substantive in store for Switch 1 beyond those two titles is unclear; there have been persistent rumors that Nintendo’s sitting on various Legend of Zelda and Metroid Prime remasters for the original Switch, but Nintendo hasn’t confirmed any additional software for its current-gen console.

In February, Furukawa addressed the state of the Switch lineup going into 2025, but his response to questions about further games for the 8-year-old system was pretty open-ended.

“Since many people are playing Nintendo Switch, if we are able to develop appealing software, we would like to continue releasing new titles,” Furukawa said in translated remarks. “On the other hand, exclusive games are crucial when launching new hardware. With this in mind, we will consider various ways for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 to encourage as many consumers as possible to enjoy our games.”

For a look at what Nintendo might be planning in the future, we can look at its past.

When the original Switch was released in 2017, Nintendo was coming off the success of the 3DS and the failure of the Wii U. With more than 65 million 3DS systems in customers’ hands when the Switch launched, Nintendo wisely supported the 3D handheld for years into the Switch’s life with games like Metroid: Samus Returns and WarioWare Gold.

It was a very different story for Wii U. With just 13 million of those consoles sold by 2017, Nintendo made a clean break; the final game it released for Wii U was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which launched concurrently with the Switch version.

The Switch being an instant hit (and Wii U practically dead) incentivized Nintendo to fully embrace the next generation back in 2017.

With more than 150 million Switch consoles sold to date, we can expect Nintendo to continue to cater to that platform’s existing audience, at least for a little while. There are still plenty of Wii U, 3DS, and GameCube-era games that could get upgraded Switch versions to keep the system humming along with “new” Nintendo games.

Switch-to-Switch 2 games

Nintendo has pledged backward compatibility for Switch games on Switch 2, so any future games released for the original Switch should be supported by its successor.

What’s less clear is Nintendo’s cross-generational strategy beyond backward compatibility. Will the company release native Switch and Switch 2 versions of games like Metroid Prime 4 (à la previous cross-gen releases Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild), or is the long-in-development Metroid game being built to play well on Switch and play better through backward compatibility on Switch 2? The latter seems more likely, or at least less complicated for Nintendo.

Nintendo certainly doesn’t want to fall into the trap that its console competitors have found themselves in this generation. Sony and Microsoft have supported the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One well into the life cycle of their successors, resulting in very few truly “next-gen” game experiences and a generation of consoles that never really felt like they had their moment.

So don’t expect Nintendo to support the original Switch for too long. Its focus seems clearly on Switch 2, and a clean break is likely coming soon. Maybe not in 2025, with a handful of Switch games still on the horizon — but soon enough to let Switch 2 stand on its own.