Nintendo has assured fans that they won’t be seeing a Nintendo Switch Pro, or upgraded Switch hardware, in the immediate future.
During a private Q&A that followed on from the company’s financial results briefing earlier today, Nintendo has formally stated that we won’t be seeing any sort of upgraded Nintendo Switch hardware in the coming 12 months.
As per Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki, who was present at the briefing, the company is “not planning to make an announcement anytime soon” when it comes to new devices.
This was echoed by industry analyst David Gibson who said that Nintendo noted there is “no new model plan” beyond the red and blue Mario Switch and the Monster Hunter Rise Switch we’ve already heard about.
Gibson goes on to note that Nintendo appears to be destocking inventory of its hardware to ‘record low levels’, and notes that it’s suspicious of the company to do that if there’s no upgrade plan in the works.
We’ve heard before that Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America president, believes the Nintendo Switch is at the “midpoint” of its lifecycle whilst downplaying reports of new hardware arriving to revitalize the Switch ecosystem.
A previous report from Bloomberg suggests that Nintendo had asked devs to make their games 4K-ready for an upcoming Switch hardware refresh, though, contradicting the company’s official comments.
For now, Nintendo appears to be reticent to announce anything formally. We’re just going to have to wait a bit longer to see what the company is planning.