In context: Nintendo followers have gotten more and more anxious as the corporate stays silent on plans for a successor to the Swap because the console approaches its sixth birthday. Just a few phrases buried in a UK regulatory doc about Microsoft’s Activision acquisition are virtually the one official data acknowledging Nintendo’s gaming plans past the Swap.
A single line in an appendix from the UK’s Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened hypothesis concerning the way forward for Nintendo’s sport subscription service. Many will possible interpret it as a reference to future Nintendo {hardware}.
The CMA spoke towards Microsoft’s proposed buy of Activision Blizzard earlier this month. One of many fundamental considerations is that Microsoft’s Sport Cross subscription service may acquire unique rights to Activision Blizzard titles like Name of Obligation, harming competitors. The regulator’s information briefly point out the Nintendo Swap On-line (NSO) subscription, which provides retro video games (and not too long ago added Sport Boy titles).
The fascinating half is the place the appendix explains why NSO is not a part of the Microsoft acquisition dialogue – the restricted vary of units it helps. Sport Cross is on the market on Xbox and PC whereas Xbox Cloud Gaming contains these platforms and internet browsers. The CMA notes that NSO, nonetheless, “is barely accessible on the Nintendo Swap system and [redacted].”
The redacted half may consult with a future console Nintendo is making ready, as the corporate at present solely provides NSO on the Swap (it is within the identify). In that case, it could verify that NSO will help that new {hardware}. It is easy to guess that Nintendo would deliver its subscription service to a Swap successor, however the firm’s previous efforts to switch its Digital Console retro assortment from the Wii to the Wii U and 3DS have been unnecessarily difficult.
The CMA doc is probably the closest factor to an official acknowledgment of Nintendo platforms past the Swap since a 2020 Nintendo investor relations presentation. That fall, the corporate revealed an infographic (above) confirming plans to take care of clients’ Nintendo accounts and “Worth-Added Providers” (in all probability referring to NSO) between the Swap and an “Built-in {Hardware}-Software program Subsequent gaming system” coming in an unspecified 12 months.
If Nintendo releases a Swap successor in 2024, it could finish an uncommon seven-year hole between Nintendo residence consoles. The final time Nintendo waited seven years to observe up a console was when it launched the Tremendous Famicom in Japan seven years after the Famicom. Nevertheless, the corporate could be extraordinarily cautious going into one other {hardware} transition after the Wii U’s failure.
In December, Digital Foundry revealed that third-party builders knew about an upgraded Nintendo Swap that by no means launched. Digital Foundry speculated that Nintendo wished to keep away from a repeat of the Wii U, however the firm may have additionally run into manufacturing issues because of the international provide chain disruptions over the past couple of years.