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. But it surely’s been seven years for the reason that Change launched, and followers are getting antsy for Nintendo’s subsequent huge factor.
Fortunately, it will not be far off. Rumors and stories level to a Change successor that can pack in additional energy than the unique whereas sustaining its profitable mix of house console and handheld performance. We’ll name it the Change 2 for now.
Reviews recommend that main sport builders have already been proven the brand new {hardware}, which—if true—could recommend a not-too-distant launch window. Right here’s all the things we’ve heard to this point about Nintendo’s subsequent handheld sport console, and keep tuned as we are going to replace this story repeatedly with new particulars and hopefully future official bulletins, too.
What’s the Nintendo Change 2?
Nothing’s official but, however leaks and stories from main publications level to a extra highly effective sport system that maintains the identical convertible method. Nintendo’s present Change is basically a transportable console that may be plugged right into a dock and performed in your TV, though the Change Lite variant is only 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 targeted 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 well-liked amongst PC die-hards.
And Nintendo is clearly serious 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 doable as a way to easily transition our clients, whereas using the Nintendo Account.”
However for now, Nintendo seems content material to concentrate on the unique Change and maintain again particulars on the subsequent {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 have been public data, however they’re inaccurate.”
Curiously, many builders have admitted to engaged on Change 2 video games, even when they don’t seem to be prepared to place their names to it but. For the 2024 Recreation Builders Convention (GDC) State of the Recreation Business survey (by way of VGC), launched in January 2024, about 8% of the three,000 respondents admitted that they are at the moment 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 totally different studios they work for. Even so, it should not be shocking, given the rising wave of leaks and stories.
When will the Nintendo Change 2 come out?
Nintendo has but to formally announce a next-generation Change, however stories till lately 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 means an early 2025 launch is extra probably.
A July 2023 report from VGC factors to a launch goal of the second half of 2024 for brand spanking new {hardware}, citing a number of sources acquainted with Nintendo’s plans. The report means that Nintendo is keen 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 device 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 Tendencies a extra imprecise “fall 2024” after it inquired, and the corporate instructed Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier that they have been “simply guessing” in regards to the date, in his phrases. However even business gamers assume a fall launch is now probably.
Including gas to the fireplace is a Nikkei Asia report about Nintendo’s surging inventory worth, 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 authentic 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), the Nintendo Change OLED mannequin shipped for $350 in 2021.
The VGC report means that Nintendo could use LCD screens as a substitute of OLED panels to maintain down prices, but it surely doesn’t point out what sort of worth level Nintendo is concentrating on with its subsequent console. Nintendo’s final three console methods have averted utilizing the most recent, 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 (by way of 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 probably, if the Change 2 is certainly set to roll out in late 2024, we’ll in all probability proceed to see new Change video games for years to come back. However Nintendo itself could shift gears rapidly to the brand new {hardware} whereas third-party publishers proceed to wager on the Change’s sizable viewers.
In February 2024, stories started surfacing that steered 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 by way of a YouTube video, after which Eurogamer stories that it confirmed the shift with builders engaged on video games. Nintendo reportedly instructed builders to plan for Q1 2025 as a substitute of late this 12 months.
What’s going to the Nintendo Change 2 seem like?
Leaks and rumors have largely pointed to the same 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 revealed publicly in October 2023 (and first reported by Recreation Rant) factors to a twin convertible gadget that remembers the corporate’s earlier Nintendo DS and 3DS handhelds.
Nevertheless, there is a totally different angle right here—it is apparently convertible, letting gamers select to make use of the gadget with a single display, with two stacked screens, and even to disconnect them and use them individually. Since they’re wirelessly related, that would probably open up the potential of two-player gaming utilizing a single separated piece of {hardware}.
In fact, a patent software does not imply that Nintendo is certainly going this route for the next-generation Change. Who is aware of? Perhaps Nintendo is considering reviving the sensationally well-liked 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 publish that it realized that the Change 2 could have magnetically-attached Pleasure-Con controllers, fairly 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 swap to connect or take away them from the gadget.
How highly effective will the Nintendo Change 2 be?
Persevering with the above thread, stories recommend that Nintendo will certainly not attempt to compete with the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Collection 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 sport writer Activision confirmed that the corporate had evaluated the {hardware} in late 2022, in the end 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 could 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 gadget with top-end internals at an affordable worth. 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 illustration 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 (real looking lighting results) and AI-driven visible upscaling methods enabled. One other rumor factors to the usage of “ray reconstruction,” a much less hardware-intensive means of delivering ray tracing results with the assistance of AI, by way of Nvidia’s DLSS 3.5 tech.
All instructed, this will 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 Collection X. It may very well be comparatively effectively outfitted by way of RAM, nonetheless, with famous leaker Felipe Lima suggesting that the gadget with have 12GB onboard—that is greater than the Xbox Collection 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 like the unique Change {hardware} did.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furakawa suggests you should not imagine all the things that is been reported in regards to the Change successor, nonetheless, saying in November 2023 that stories 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 stories have beforehand famous. Nintendo declined remark. The present Change OLED mannequin has a 7-inch display, so this is able to be bigger than any authentic Change gadget.
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 wager that we’ll see Nintendo’s tried-and-true franchises like Tremendous Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, and lots of others within the combine earlier than lengthy. And there are already rumors circulating about different huge video games headed to Change 2.
A leaker known as Zippo, who Tom’s Information describes as having a “affordable observe file” with earlier scoops, says that Nintendo is getting ready a giant new 3D Tremendous Mario sport 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 sport in 2025 that can reportedly be known as Mario Kart X. Wait, “X” as in 10? Whereas Mario Kart 8 was the final huge mainline entry on Wii U after which ported to Change, the cellular sport Mario Kart Tour may successfully be known as the ninth entry. Zippo describes the brand new Mario Kart as “one of the vital 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 sport 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 well-liked open-world shooter collection—will launch on the Change successor concurrently different platforms. Insider Gaming pegs the Far Cry 7 launch for fall 2025, so it might be after the Change 2 is already launched.
After Rockstar Video games’ current official reveal of Grand Theft Auto 6, which is at the moment introduced for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Collection 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 no official phrase for now, after all, 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 huge sport—at the very least primarily based on the leaks to this point.
“I’d like to say it will occur. I don’t assume it is going to, realistically,” stated Digital Foundry founder Richard Leadbetter in a YouTube video (by way of IGN). “It’s a cellular chipset. We’ve seen a whole 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 most important writer will embrace the Change 2 after a half-hearted launch technique on the unique Change.
When requested in January 2024 how it will 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 means.” However broadly, Eurogamer stories, he stated the corporate is worked up for “new platforms” as a strategy to deliver 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.
But it surely begs the query of whether or not the Change 2 might be backward-compatible with authentic Change video games, and in that case, whether or not they’ll profit from the elevated energy of the brand new {hardware}. Think about when you may pop in your Breath of the Wild cartridge and see a way more lavish rendition, much like how PC video games can scale to match their {hardware}.
Current stories shared by Eurogamer in February 2024 recommend that Nintendo will provide simply that, letting customers play their authentic 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 sport will essentially make the most of the Change 2’s improved energy. Mobapad’s report additionally suggests backwards compatibility with each bodily and digital video games.
It’s a whole 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 stories proved to be true—and in the end coalesced into Nintendo’s triumphant return after the Wii U flop.
We’ll comply with the Change 2 story within the coming months as an increasing number of particulars emerge, so watch this area.
Editor’s word: This story was initially revealed on September 19, 2023 and final up to date on April 29, 2024.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa
