Nintendo confirms its next console will be backwards compatible with Switch titles

Nintendo has confirmed its next console will be backwards compatible with Nintendo Switch software.

The news was tweeted out by Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, who explained that Nintendo Switch Online will also be available on the mystery device.

"This is Furukawa. At today's Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch," reads a statement shared on X.

"Nintendo Switch Online will be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well. Further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date."

Nintendo intends to unveil its Switch successor before the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2025. Recent rumblings indicate the console will subsequently launch in 2025 and take the form of a handheld-hybrid device. 

The Nintendo Switch launched in 2017 and has sold over 146 million units worldwide. It will become the best-selling Nintendo console in history (overtaking the Nintendo DS) if it eventually surpasses 154.02 million lifetime sales. Lifetime Switch software sales, meanwhile, currently stand at over 1.3 billion units.

The Switch has delivered the goods for Nintendo but launched at a time when some were questioning the company's hardware future. Its predecessor, the Wii U, sold just 13.56 million units worldwide and failed to capitalize on the success of the Wii despite being positioned as a direct successor.

With that in mind, it'll be fascinating to see what form factor and branding Nintendo opts for when its next console emerges from the shadows in the not-to-distant future.