Nintendo hasn’t announced its Switch successor yet, but we do know one thing for sure: it will be able to play current Switch games, with carryover for your Nintendo Switch Online services and account. The news was announced during Nintendo’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing, with further information promised “at a later date.”
All three of the major console manufacturers have had spotty records with backward compatibility. Both the Xbox Series X and the PS5 are mostly backward-compatible. But since the transition from the Wii U involved going from discs to cartridges, the Switch is not. Playing a game from previous Nintendo consoles is a function of optimism, involving the hope that either Nintendo releases a remastered Switch port or brings the game to its Switch Online library.
The conversation about backward compatibility isn’t just about player satisfaction but also video game preservation. A report from the Video Game History Foundation found that over 87 percent of games released before 2010 are “critically endangered” or unavailable for purchase. While Nintendo has brought some of its back catalog to the Switch, there are still a lot of inaccessible games. Nintendo also directly contributed to the increasing scarcity of older games by shutting down the Wii U / 3DS e-shop last year.