Nintendo doubles down: the Switch 2 is only getting started and the plan goes beyond games

Just over a year after its launch, Nintendo wants to make it clear that the Switch 2 is nowhere near its peak. As reported by GameSpot, Nintendo of America's President and Chief Operating Officer, Devon Pritchard, discussed a multi-year plan for the console in an interview with Variety, and went a step further: the company's future isn't just about selling cartridges, but about taking its franchises into other forms of entertainment.

Why does this matter to those of us who play competitively or make a living creating content? Because that message shapes the board for the coming years. If Nintendo commits to a long cycle, with outside partnerships and its brands expanding beyond video games, the Switch 2 is going to be a stable platform for competing, streaming and building an audience for quite some time. And in an industry that changes hardware and rules every other day, that's a signal worth reading carefully.

What you need to know

• Pritchard says the Switch 2 is at the beginning of its story and describes a multi-year plan for Nintendo.
• The strategy isn't limited to video games: the company wants to expand its intellectual property into other entertainment formats.
• She explicitly mentions collaborations with Sony and Sony Pictures as one of the ways to reach both current players and new audiences.
• The executive highlights that both first-party and third-party experiences have already arrived on the console, and that she expects much more from its developers.
• GameSpot points out that the classic five-year console cycle is a thing of the past: the original Switch launched in 2017 and wasn't replaced until mid-2025.

A long cycle by design, not by chance

The most revealing detail in GameSpot's piece isn't Pritchard's quote, but the context: the original Switch held on from 2017 well into the 2020s before its successor arrived in mid-2025. That run breaks with the old rule of replacing hardware every five years, and Nintendo seems to be embracing it as a model rather than an accident. When the executive talks about the coming years, she isn't tossing out a stock phrase; she's describing how the company understands the lifespan of a platform.

For players, this translates into something very concrete: the console you buy today will still be supported once you've spent several seasons competing on it. For outside studios, the incentive is just as clear. Pritchard stresses that third-party titles have already arrived, and a long cycle with a stable install base is exactly what a publisher needs to justify a Switch 2 version of its games.

Nintendo beyond the console

The second pillar of the message is brand expansion. The mention of Sony and Sony Pictures is no small thing: Nintendo is talking about bringing its characters and universes to audiences who may never have picked up a controller. In the interview, the executive frames those partnerships as one of the things she's most excited about for the coming years, presenting them as a way to bring those experiences to both longtime fans and newcomers. It's a funnel strategy: film, television or any other format brings the person in, and the console keeps them.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz newsroom, we see this news with a mix of reassurance and skepticism. Reassurance because a long cycle is the best possible news for anyone who competes or creates content: nobody wants to invest months mastering a game or building a community around a platform that could be obsolete in a couple of years. If Nintendo delivers on that multi-year plan, the Switch 2 could become a reliable environment for tournaments, streams and community building, something we can't always say about the rest of the industry.

The skepticism comes from the priorities. Hearing a video game company talk so enthusiastically about film and other formats makes us wonder where it will put its focus when it has to choose. Competitive players have spent years asking Nintendo for far more down-to-earth things: online infrastructure that's up to standard, decent tournament tools, better support for streamers and a less rigid relationship with the competitive scene. None of those issues show up in the message, and a movie, no matter how well it performs, won't fix a match plagued by connection problems.

Even so, there's a positive angle for creators: if Nintendo manages to draw in new audiences from other media, those audiences will eventually go looking for content about its games, and that's where we come in. The opportunity is there; what's missing is for the company to match that audience growth with an ecosystem that doesn't put obstacles in the way of those of us who feed it every day.

What do you think?

Nintendo says this has only just begun and that its plan goes far beyond the console. We'd rather see some of that energy go toward what those of us who compete and create content have been asking for. Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord: does a long cycle with expansion into other media win you over, or do you think Nintendo should focus on its online experience and the competitive scene first?