Analyst predicts Nintendo will skip ‘Switch Pro’ for 2024 successor
“I’m not convinced a ‘Pro’ model is going to appear at all”
A senior industry analyst has forecast Nintendo’s next console to launch in 2024, with no ‘Switch Pro’ model arriving before that date.
Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis provided his predictions for the year in a new GamesIndustry.biz story, and despite recent reports that Nintendo could be planning another upgraded Switch, Harding-Rolls does not expect Switch Pro to happen at all, he said.
“I’m currently expecting the console market year-on-year performance to be quite flat in 2022 as Switch sales decline and we come off what has been an amazing couple of years for console gaming,” he wrote.
“Even so, Nintendo Switch family of devices will once again be the best-selling consoles in 2022 at around 21 million sold to consumers, aided by the release of Switch OLED.
“I’m not expecting a Switch Pro in 2022. We have a next-gen Nintendo console in our forecasts for late 2024, so I’m not convinced a ‘Pro’ model is going to appear at all.”
Nintendo announced and released the new Nintendo Switch OLED model last year, with a larger 7-inch OLED screen and other smaller additions such as a wide adjustable stand, a new dock and enhanced audio.
However, there was no sign of 4K resolution support or increased hardware power, as had been heavily reported before the system’s announcement.
In September Nintendo swiftly denied claims that at least 11 studios have 4K Switch development kits.
Bloomberg claimed that at least 11 companies, including Zynga, have software toolkits provided by Nintendo that feature support for 4K graphics.
further reading
Switch Pro: Nintendo swiftly denies claims 11 studios are working on 4K games
The article claimed that by the time Nintendo had officially revealed the Switch OLED in July, it had already handed out 4K development kits to third-party studios and asked them to start making 4K-supported games.
It was also claimed that Nintendo still plans to release an enhanced 4K-supported ‘Switch Pro’, planned for late 2022 at the earliest.
