Nintendo has officially announced that games from the current Nintendo Switch library will be compatible with its upcoming successor console. The news came during Nintendo’s recent second quarter financial results and corporate management policy briefing for the fiscal year ending March 2025, as revealed by Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa.

The compatibility announcement marks a significant shift in Nintendo’s approach to platform transitions. According to Furukawa, previous console generations offered no straightforward method for preserving users’ purchase and gameplay histories across platforms, effectively resetting customer relationships with each new system launch.

The introduction of Nintendo Account has been key to enabling this backward compatibility. The system now connects consumers’ gaming history to their personal accounts, allowing for a continuous relationship between Nintendo and its userbase across different console generations. Nintendo Switch Online service will also carry forward to the new system, leveraging the Nintendo Account infrastructure. This continuation of service aims to maintain connections with the Switch’s substantial user base of over 100 million annual players.

For consumers, this means they will not only be able to play their existing Nintendo Switch games on the new console but will also have access to the Switch’s extensive game catalog for future purchases. The company emphasizes this as part of their strategy to preserve the relationship with their current customer base.

While specific details about the next console remain under wraps, Nintendo has confirmed they plan to make an announcement about the Switch successor during the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2025. Additional information about the system’s compatibility features and other specifications will be revealed at a later date.