Hypothesis over Nintendo’s new console, a successor to the wildly common Change, reached a fever pitch on Thursday (Jan 16) with specialist media predicting an imminent announcement from the Japanese gaming big.
The Eurogamer web site stated it had heard “business whispers” that the brand new gadget could be unveiled Thursday, the identical date leaked by an influential podcaster.
A reporter from tech outlet The Verge stated Tuesday on X: “I’ve heard it ought to be the Change 2 reveal this week”, additional fuelling buzz amongst followers.
Gamers have lengthy been hungry for information on a follow-up to Nintendo’s hybrid Change console, which might be handheld or related to a TV display screen.
Because it hit cabinets in 2017, greater than 146 million items have been offered worldwide, making the Change the third-best-selling console ever after Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s DS.
Nintendo estimates it has offered 1.3 billion copies of Change titles, together with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which turned a must-play amongst all age teams throughout COVID-19 lockdowns.
However because the blockbuster Change ages and gross sales decline, the Kyoto-based firm stated final yr it might reveal its subsequent console by the top of March 2025.
A Nintendo spokesman instructed AFP on Thursday that there was “nothing we will share” concerning the announcement.
In November, Nintendo promised customers that video games made for the unique Change could be playable on the brand new one.
Whereas the agency has stored tight-lipped on particulars of the brand new {hardware}, that hasn’t stopped a gentle stream of leaks.
Some purport to indicate the gadget in manufacturing, or equipment designed to suit the following console.
A producer known as Genki even confirmed off a life-sized duplicate mannequin of the console, that includes an even bigger display screen than its predecessor, on the CES tech present in Las Vegas this month.
However the brand new Change is probably going already being made at factories “to make sure there may be sufficient inventory, as demand for the brand new console will definitely be very excessive”, stated Darang Candra from sport business analysis agency Niko Companions.
Gaming rival Sony confronted a provide bottleneck that led to empty cabinets when it launched the PlayStation 5 in 2020, one thing Nintendo might be eager to keep away from.
One fan, 29-year-old Animal Crossing streamer LottieRoseGames, instructed AFP her viewers is “significantly excited” given the newest rumours.
“Persons are simply wanting ahead to the prospects of what a brand new console will convey when it comes to new options – and naturally principally new video games,” she stated.
