The Change is Nintendo’s best-selling house console of all time, and extensively beloved for its wealthy library of video games—a dramatic flip from the middling Wii U earlier than it. Nevertheless it’s been seven years because the Change launched, and followers are getting antsy for Nintendo’s subsequent massive factor.
Fortunately, it will not be far off. Rumors and reviews level to a Change successor that can pack in additional energy than the unique whereas sustaining its successful mix of house console and handheld performance. We’ll name it the Change 2 for now.
Studies recommend that main recreation builders have already been proven the brand new {hardware}, which—if true—might recommend a not-too-distant launch window. Right here’s all the things we’ve heard up to now about Nintendo’s subsequent handheld recreation console, and keep tuned as we are going to replace this story usually with new particulars and hopefully future official bulletins, too.
What’s the Nintendo Change 2?
Nothing’s official but, however leaks and reviews from main publications level to a extra highly effective recreation system that maintains the identical convertible method. Nintendo’s present Change is actually a transportable console that may be plugged right into a dock and performed in your TV, though the Change Lite variant is solely handheld.
Bloomberg reported in Could 2023 that show producer Sharp was engaged on screens for an upcoming handheld console. Sharp has labored with Nintendo earlier than, and Nintendo is by far the largest participant nonetheless making transportable gadgets which might be purely centered on enjoying video video games—though Sony has a brand new PlayStation Portal that may play video games from a paired PlayStation 5, plus Valve’s Steam Deck is fashionable amongst PC die-hards.
And Nintendo is clearly desirous about what’s subsequent. In response to a fan query in June 2023, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated, “As for the transition from Nintendo Change to the next-generation machine, we wish to do as a lot as attainable in an effort to easily transition our prospects, whereas using the Nintendo Account.”
However for now, Nintendo seems content material to give attention to the unique Change and maintain again particulars on the following {hardware} till it is good and prepared. In November, Furukawa stated on an earnings name that “rumors are circulating primarily on the web as in the event that they had been public data, however they’re inaccurate.”
Apparently, many builders have admitted to engaged on Change 2 video games, even when they are not keen to place their names to it but. For the 2024 Recreation Builders Convention (GDC) State of the Recreation Trade survey (through VGC), launched in January 2024, about 8% of the three,000 respondents admitted that they are at present engaged on video games for Nintendo’s subsequent console.
That is about 250 individuals, however we do not know what their roles are or what number of completely different studios they work for. Even so, it should not be shocking, given the rising wave of leaks and reviews.
When will the Nintendo Change 2 come out?
Nintendo has but to formally announce a next-generation Change, however reviews till not too long ago have constantly pointed to a late 2024 launch goal—which might be about seven-and-a-half years after the unique. Now, nonetheless, there’s reporting that implies an early 2025 launch is extra doubtless.
A July 2023 report from VGC factors to a launch goal of the second half of 2024 for brand new {hardware}, citing a number of sources aware of Nintendo’s plans. The report means that Nintendo is raring to keep away from the varieties of {hardware} shortages seen with many previous console launches, and the Change successor is more likely to see important demand, given the recognition of the unique.
In October 2023, a leaker—who WCCF Tech stated has beforehand shared dependable data—claimed that the next-generation Change is being focused for a September 24, 2024 launch, though they declare that Nintendo has pegged November 3, 2024 is one other potential date.
At CES 2024, peripheral maker Altec Lansing introduced a brand new model of the GameShark cheat code software program instrument known as AI Shark, and wrote that the “official launch is deliberate to coincide with the Nintendo Change 2 in September 2024.”
Unsurprisingly, this set off some alarms amongst avid gamers and the gaming press. Altec Lansing gave Digital Developments a extra imprecise “fall 2024” after it inquired, and the corporate advised Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier that they had been “simply guessing” concerning the date, in his phrases. However even trade gamers assume a fall launch is now doubtless.
Including gas to the fireplace is a Nikkei Asia report about Nintendo’s surging inventory value, which notes that buyers look like enticed by “the anticipated launch of a brand new online game console following its Nintendo Change megahit.”
That aforementioned leaker pegs the worth level for the Change 2 at $449 for the bottom mannequin and $400 for a model that’s totally digital with out cartridge help. By comparability, the unique Change launched for $300 in 2017, with the purely handheld Change Lite rolling out for $200 in 2019. With some premium enhancements (together with a bigger, bolder display screen), the Nintendo Change OLED mannequin shipped for $350 in 2021.
The VGC report means that Nintendo might use LCD screens as a substitute of OLED panels to maintain down prices, nevertheless it doesn’t point out what sort of value level Nintendo is concentrating on with its subsequent console. Nintendo’s final three console methods have averted utilizing the newest, cutting-edge tech to maintain costs down. Will that maintain true once more this time round?
In a Nikkei interview posted in early October 2023 (through VGC), Furukawa affirmed that Nintendo will proceed to help the unique Change with new software program by means of at the very least the fiscal 12 months that ends in March 2025. Fairly doubtless, if the Change 2 is certainly set to roll out in late 2024, we’ll most likely proceed to see new Change video games for years to come back. However Nintendo itself might shift gears rapidly to the brand new {hardware} whereas third-party publishers proceed to guess on the Change’s sizable viewers.
In February 2024, reviews started surfacing that prompt that the Change 2 will as a substitute launch in Q1 2025 as a substitute of on the finish of this 12 months. VGC reported {that a} Brazilian journalist Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe broke the information through a YouTube video, after which Eurogamer reviews that it confirmed the shift with builders engaged on video games. Nintendo reportedly advised builders to plan for Q1 2025 as a substitute of late this 12 months.
What’s going to the Nintendo Change 2 appear to be?
Leaks and rumors have largely pointed to an analogous handheld-meets-home-console method for the Change 2, however there’s nonetheless room for probably substantial design adjustments inside that form of mannequin.
A Nintendo patent software, filed in November 2022 however solely printed publicly in October 2023 (and first reported by Recreation Rant) factors to a twin convertible machine that remembers the corporate’s earlier Nintendo DS and 3DS handhelds.
Nevertheless, there is a completely different angle right here—it is apparently convertible, letting gamers select to make use of the machine with a single display screen, with two stacked screens, and even to disconnect them and use them individually. Since they’re wirelessly linked, that might probably open up the opportunity of two-player gaming utilizing a single separated piece of {hardware}.
After all, a patent software doesn’t suggest that Nintendo is certainly going this route for the next-generation Change. Who is aware of? Perhaps Nintendo is considering reviving the sensationally fashionable DS line. Or perhaps it is simply an thought that can by no means truly be used, like so many tech big patent functions over time.
In April 2024, an adjunct producer named Mobapad wrote in a weblog put up that it realized that the Change 2 could have magnetically-attached Pleasure-Con controllers, somewhat than the snap-on controllers of the unique Change. The “magnetic suction” that Mobapad reported may very well be enabled by means of electropermanent magnets, Polygon suggests, maybe with an on-off change to connect or take away them from the machine.
How highly effective will the Nintendo Change 2 be?
Persevering with the above thread, reviews recommend that Nintendo will certainly not attempt to compete with the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Sequence X because the standard-bearers for house consoles and as a substitute ship a gaming expertise with a bit much less constancy. Even so, it feels like a big enchancment over the Change.
In September 2023, leaked paperwork from main recreation writer Activision confirmed that the corporate had evaluated the {hardware} in late 2022, finally surmising that the Change successor could have related energy to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One {hardware}.
Whereas these are 10-year-old house consoles, it nonetheless can be a notable step up from what the unique Change can deal with. The Change’s hybrid home-plus-handheld mannequin additionally signifies that Nintendo has to remember a slim kind issue and battery life expectations, so it’s unlikely that we’d even see a Change-like machine with top-end internals at an inexpensive value. VGC additionally reported that the Change 2 is predicted to maintain a cartridge port for bodily video games.
Eurogamer reported that Nintendo confirmed off personal tech demos for the Change 2 to builders on the Gamescom convention in August 2023, and that it used an upgraded model of 2017’s hit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as an indication of the brand new {hardware}’s capabilities.
VGC supported that report and added that Nintendo additionally used Epic Video games’ The Matrix Awakens tech demo for Unreal Engine 5, with capabilities like ray tracing (lifelike lighting results) and AI-driven visible upscaling methods enabled. One other rumor factors to the usage of “ray reconstruction,” a much less hardware-intensive method of delivering ray tracing results with the assistance of AI, through Nvidia’s DLSS 3.5 tech.
All advised, this may increasingly level to {hardware} that’s truly extra succesful than the PS4 or Xbox One, even when it doesn’t fairly match the benchmarks of the current-gen PlayStation 5 or Xbox Sequence X. It may very well be comparatively nicely outfitted when it comes to RAM, nonetheless, with famous leaker Felipe Lima suggesting that the machine with have 12GB onboard—that is greater than the Xbox Sequence S console at 10GB.
A February 2024 report from Reuters cites a supply claiming that the Change 2 will use a customized Nvidia chip, very similar to the unique Change {hardware} did.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furakawa suggests you should not imagine all the things that is been reported concerning the Change successor, nonetheless, saying in November 2023 that reviews that {hardware} was demonstrated for builders are “unfaithful.” However he may be enjoying coy till Nintendo is actually prepared to indicate its hand.
In response to a January 2024 report from Bloomberg, Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayase says that Nintendo has picked a large 8-inch show for the Change 2, and the show will use LCD tech as different reviews have beforehand famous. Nintendo declined remark. The present Change OLED mannequin has a 7-inch display screen, so this could be bigger than any unique Change machine.
Mobapad additionally factors to an 8-inch show, which it says it’s upgraded from 720p HD decision on the unique Change to 1080p Full HD decision on the successor.
What video games will the Nintendo Change 2 have?
You’ll be able to guess that we’ll see Nintendo’s tried-and-true franchises like Tremendous Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, and plenty of others within the combine earlier than lengthy. And there are already rumors circulating about different massive video games headed to Change 2.
A leaker known as Zippo, who Tom’s Information describes as having a “cheap observe report” with earlier scoops, says that Nintendo is getting ready a giant new 3D Tremendous Mario recreation to launch with the Change 2 in 2024. Will it’s a sequel to the sensible Tremendous Mario Odyssey on Change or one thing completely new? We do not know simply but.
Zippo additionally claims that Nintendo will debut a brand new Mario Kart recreation in 2025 that can reportedly be known as Mario Kart X. Wait, “X” as in 10? Whereas Mario Kart 8 was the final massive mainline entry on Wii U after which ported to Change, the cell recreation Mario Kart Tour may successfully be known as the ninth entry. Zippo describes the brand new Mario Kart as “one of the costly video games Nintendo has ever put into manufacturing,” so there could also be quite a bit driving on it.
The identical leaker beforehand stated that Nintendo’s EPD Tokyo studio is engaged on a brand new Donkey Kong recreation that is slated for the corporate’s subsequent console. In September 2023, a leaker and impartial journalist who goes by “Necro” Felipe Lima stated that the as-yet-unannounced Far Cry 7—the rumored subsequent entry in Ubisoft’s fashionable open-world shooter collection—will launch on the Change successor similtaneously different platforms. Insider Gaming pegs the Far Cry 7 launch for fall 2025, so it could be after the Change 2 is already launched.
After Rockstar Video games’ latest official reveal of Grand Theft Auto 6, which is at present introduced for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X and S, it begs the query: Will it come to Change 2, too? And maybe extra pressingly, will the Change 2 be highly effective sufficient to run it?
There is not any official phrase for now, in fact, and there would not be till Nintendo truly reveals its subsequent console. However within the meantime, the technical consultants at Digital Foundry are doubtful that the Change 2 could have sufficient energy to deal with Rockstar’s subsequent massive recreation—at the very least based mostly on the leaks up to now.
“I’d like to say it could occur. I don’t assume it can, realistically,” stated Digital Foundry founder Richard Leadbetter in a YouTube video (through IGN). “It’s a cell chipset. We’ve seen quite a lot of wonderful issues on the Change 1. Change 2 goes to be quite a bit higher, a correct generational leap, and forward-looking in some ways. However the stuff they appear to be rolling out for GTA 6 is presumably past that.”
“It appears a step past,” he added, “and out of character with what we find out about Rockstar’s M.O.”
What about Digital Arts? EA has been an inconsistent Nintendo platform supporter over time, so it is unclear whether or not the foremost writer will embrace the Change 2 after a half-hearted launch technique on the unique Change.
When requested in January 2024 how it could method Nintendo’s subsequent console, EA CEO Andrew Wilson needed to tiptoe across the query, responding that he would “completely not touch upon something that has not been introduced or acknowledge it in any method.” However broadly, Eurogamer reviews, he stated the corporate is happy for “new platforms” as a option to convey new varieties of video games to much more gamers.
As talked about above, Nintendo is reportedly utilizing an upgraded model of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to showcase the system’s tech capabilities to builders, however there’s no sense at this level that Nintendo will truly launch an enhanced port of the 2017 smash.
Nevertheless it begs the query of whether or not the Change 2 will probably be backward-compatible with unique Change video games, and in that case, whether or not they’ll profit from the elevated energy of the brand new {hardware}. Think about if you happen to may pop in your Breath of the Wild cartridge and see a way more lavish rendition, just like how PC video games can scale to match their {hardware}.
Current reviews shared by Eurogamer in February 2024 recommend that Nintendo will supply simply that, letting customers play their unique Change video games (each bodily and digital) within the Change 2 {hardware} with enhancements. Builders will reportedly must replace their video games to unlock such upgrades, nonetheless, which suggests not each recreation will essentially reap the benefits of the Change 2’s improved energy. Mobapad’s report additionally suggests backwards compatibility with each bodily and digital video games.
It’s quite a lot of hypothesis for now, however for many who adopted the event of the unique Change forward of its launch, lots of the early leaks and reviews proved to be true—and finally coalesced into Nintendo’s triumphant return after the Wii U flop.
We’ll comply with the Change 2 story within the coming months as increasingly more particulars emerge, so watch this house.
Editor’s be aware: This story was initially printed on September 19, 2023 and final up to date on April 29, 2024.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa
