With the PS5 and Xbox Series machines now being almost three years old, It’s probably safe to say that everyone’s been wondering when Nintendo plans on releasing some new hardware. The tech powering the Switch was already a bit dated back when it launched in 2017, and the system’s age has been showing more and more with each passing year. I mean, as good as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may be, it’s still kind of crazy to charge $70 for a game on such dated hardware. While there’s still no official announcement of anything yet, Nintendo has at least commented on some plans regarding future hardware.

As reported by IGN, Nintend president Shuntaro Furukawa made mention of it during a Q&A session with investors. The quote is as follows:

“As for the transition from Nintendo Switch to the next generation machine, we want to do as much as possible in order to smoothly transition our customers while utilising the Nintendo Account.”

IGN speculated that such a transition wouldn’t go smoothly given Nintendo’s track record with online functionality, but hopefully the company has learned some lessons. The outlet also reiterated some other quotes from company representatives, including one stating that a successor system wouldn’t be released until April 2024 at the earliest. So we likely still got a while to wait.

While I’m glad to see some news of a new system and seeming determination from Nintendo to make the transition as smooth as possible, I have my doubts. We certainly do need new hardware and online functionality certainly is critical to modern systems, but I still wonder if it’s all for the best.

Does everything really need to be tied to a user account these days? Is the convenience really all that good and necessary. I dunno. I just can’t help but worry that a lot of our games will one day become inaccessible due to the need for online confirmation with systems that will, one day, go offline. We won’t be able to enjoy stuff indefinitely like we can games from all the generations before this one, and even a lot of the PS4-era stuff will one day be inaccessible too.

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As much as Nintendo struggles with online stuff, I can’t help but think that that’s kind of been a good thing in a way. Like, it’s kept them from going all-in on digital until now. What do you think though? Would you like to see the next console become even more digital focused? What about the system itself? Would you want to see a Switch 2 or something more stationary?