Nintendo reportedly canceled the Switch Pro

The rumored Switch Pro did exist at one point, John Linneman from tech analysis group Digital Foundry says, but Nintendo canceled it and channeled resources into a Switch 2, or whatever the Switch successor will be called. 

“So I think at one point, internally from what I can understand from talking to different developers, is that there was some sort of mid-generation Switch update planned at one point and that seems to be no longer happening,” Linneman said in a recent podcast episode.

Analysts had predicted an upgraded Nintendo Switch and even speculated about its planned features based on information from developers and other sources reportedly familiar with the console. However, what we got instead was the Switch OLED model, the same console with a slightly bigger and better screen.

Linneman says Nintendo is worried about the Switch 2 and transitioning the Switch’s substantial customer base to a new console, fears born in part from the Wii U’s retail failure following the Wii’s massive success.

Whatever Nintendo has in store for a Switch successor, we likely won’t hear about it anytime soon. Linneman believes Nintendo has no plans to announce the new system in 2023, so while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set to launch in May 2023, don’t expect a Breath of the Wild situation with the open-world game launching on old and new hardware.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF