Nintendo confirms that the Switch 2 will be backwards compatible, full reveal on the way

It's official: Nintendo has confirmed that the Nintendo Switch successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, will be backwards compatible. This means it will be able to play all current and existing Switch games, including digital purchases.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa took to social media to make the announcement. He also confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online, the company's online service that includes access to classic games from retro Nintendo hardware, will be available on day one.

"At today's Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch," Shuntaro Furukawa wrote. "Nintendo Switch Online will be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well."

Unfortunately, that was the extent of the announcement, with Furukawa adding that "further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch" is coming "at a later date." This is vague enough that it could mean one month, two months, or anytime in the first half of 2025. The good news is that this confirms the rumors and speculation we've heard about the Nintendo Switch 2, in that it will be the first Nintendo home console to be fully backwards compatible with current Switch software.

This aligns Nintendo's console strategy with Sony and Microsoft, whose PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S console hardware allows gamers to play every game from the previous generation, with gamers' digital libraries carrying over. In addition to backwards compatibility, hopefully, Nintendo will tap into the Switch 2's more powerful NVIDIA GPU to improve or enhance the performance of titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which does experience some performance issues on the current Switch hardware.

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