The Nintendo Switch has just overtaken the Famicom (the original, Japanese version of the NES) as the Nintendo home console to have had the longest lifespan before being succeeded by a new machine.
First released on March 3rd, 2017, the Switch has officially been around for 2688 days (at the time of writing, July 12th), or just over seven years and four months, compared to the Famicom’s 2686-day run before it was superceded by the Super Famicom. Given that we still know next to nothing about Nintendo’s next machine, that margin of victory is only going to continue to grow from now.
Thanks to the folks at VGC, who brought this to the world’s attention and put together a fantastic comparison of Nintendo home console lifespans (go take a look at it here), we can also see that the Switch is on its way to doubling the comparative lifespan of the Wii U, which was on the market for just 1,566 days before becoming outmoded – if not earlier in the eyes of most consumers.
Will we see the Switch reach its 8th birthday without a successor hitting the market? It seems more likely every day. And of course, even after a new Nintendo console does arrive it’s hard not to see the current Switch enjoying many more years of life given its immense popularity and top-notch library of first party titles.
For now, all we know is that Nintendo plans to formally announce its next console at some point between now and the end of March 2025.
“This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo,” the company’s announcement a couple of months ago read. “We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation.”