Nintendo reportedly launching upgraded Switch in 2021

Nintendo is reportedly releasing an upgraded version of the Switch in 2021, as well as several high-profile games to help bolster the sales of the new console.

Bloomberg reports that Nintendo has “looked into including more computing power and 4K high-definition graphics” with the upgraded Switch. Game releases that are supposed to coincide with the release of the new Switch are in development at Nintendo and “related outside studios.”

Sources stated that Nintendo’s focus on next year’s game launches are why 2020 has been relatively light, save for the massive success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

So far, the Switch and Switch Lite have combined to move 61 million units since the standard Switch’s release in March 2017, and that’s with a consistent lack of supply to keep up with demand due to production issues. By comparison, the Wii sold 102 million units and the Nintendo DS sold 154 million units.

As for what games will launch alongside the new Switch, there’s a good chance that Nintendo has been saving its two aces in the hole to help move the upgrade console. We’d expect to at least see the Breath of the Wild sequel that was teased during E3 2019, as well as Metroid Prime 4, which was announced way back in 2017.

In early 2019, Nintendo announced that Metroid Prime 4‘s development had to be started over, with longtime Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios taking over where Bandai Namco had left off. If the new Switch is planned for a holiday 2021 release, that might give Retro enough time to finish and polish the long-awaited return of Samus Aran.

It’s also possible that Nintendo is saving the long-rumored remastered collection of the 3D Super Mario games for the upgraded Switch. What’s more impressive than playing Super Mario 64 in 720p? Playing it in 4K.

Besides its indie releases, the rest of the Switch’s 2020 lineup is looking pretty slim, with the re-release of Pikmin 3 in October the only high-profile game on the current slate. New Horizons probably sold so well that Nintendo isn’t sweating getting another big game out in 2020, especially knowing that it’s going to be competing with the launches of Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen consoles, as well as big software releases like Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. If these reports of an upgraded Switch in 2021 are true, then Nintendo will have plenty of opportunity to make up for a slower 2020.