Devkits are slowly starting to appear for developers, and rightfully so, given that the platform that comes after Nintendo Switch will most likely hit store shelves in 2024.
The Nintendo Switch is slowly reaching the end of its life, as the hybrid platform, which has since outsold the PlayStation 4, was launched in March 2017. For this reason, the big N has to slowly work on the successor, and the implication is that developers can get to know each other. Platform performance is by dev groups, so there’s not much chance their game will basically not run (slideshow, 8-10fps, something like that).
Nash Weedle has proven to be reliable in regards to Nintendo on several occasions. He previously talked about Metroid Dread before the Japanese company announced it. This time, he wrote on Twitter that the platform development device intended for the Nintendo Switch successor can already be found in Spain in an unnamed studio. So Nintendo isn’t really far from revealing its next-gen hardware. And it’s not hard to guess who has the device there: it could be MercurySteam. Since they developed the last few 2D Metroids (including Metroid Dread), it makes sense that they already had the technology to develop them.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa previously said that Nintendo’s account system would make it easier to switch from Switch to devices with an as-yet-unknown name, which could mean that Switch games will be retroactively supported by next-generation hardware, which Nintendo says will be close to the performance of the PlayStation 4. and Xbox One. This approach is understandable, because approx. Since the GameCube, Nintendo has not relied on the most powerful hardware (in fact, it has really limited the technology with cartridges in the case of the Nintendo 64).
New Nintendo hardware has yet to be announced. There will probably be some mention of this at Gamescom, because the big N will be there at the event.
source: WCCFTech
