Nintendo Accounts will 'ease transition' to Switch successor, says Doug Bowser
As Switch 2 rumours continue to swirl.
With reports increasingly pointing to a Switch 2 launch next year, Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser has talked a little about the company's perspective on entering a new console generation, saying he believes its Nintendo Account system will help 'ease the transition'.
While Bowser, unsurprisingly, refused to comment on reports of a Switch successor specifically, he highlighted to Inverse (in the same interview where he discussed unionisation at Nintendo) the work the company has done on its single sign-in Nintendo Accounts.
"One thing we've done with the Switch to help with that communication and transition [to a new console generation]", Bowser explained, "is the formation of the Nintendo Account. In the past, every device we transitioned to had a whole new account system. Creating the Nintendo Account will allow us to communicate with our players if and when we make a transition to a new platform, to help ease that process or transition."
Nintendo Accounts have served as a unified accounts system across all Nintendo's products since their introduction in early 2016, including its mobile apps (starting with Miitomo and continuing with the likes of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Mario Kart Tour), Switch, and services such as My Nintendo.
Bowser's words echo comments Nintendo made back in 2021, when it discussed Nintendo Accounts while referencing its "next gaming system". Exactly how the company plans to use accounts to bridge the gap between Switch and whatever comes next remains a mystery, but Bowser added that Nintendo's goal is to "minimise the dip you typically see in the last year of one cycle and the beginning of another" - whether he was referring to a dip in releases, a dip in customers, a dip in awareness, or something else entirely is unclear.
Nintendo, of course, is yet to comment on recent reports surrounding a Switch successor; in September, Eurogamer broke the news the company had been demoing Switch 2 to developers behind closed door at Gamescom using a souped-up version of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Sources have also told Eurogamer a Switch successor - which will reportedly retain the hybrid configuration of the current model - is expected to launch in the latter half of 2024.