The development of the Nintendo Switch 2 began even before 2019, and ‘Super Nintendo Switch’ was considered as the console’s name.
Following the unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2 (and its rather expensive game prices), Nintendo’s website was updated with a lengthy developer interview with the three key figures seen in the Direct presentation: Producer Kouichi Kawamoto from the Entertainment Planning & Development Department; Senior Director Takuhiro Dohta, also from the Entertainment Planning & Development Department; and General Manager Tetsuya Sasaki from the Technology Development Division. From the interview, we learned that R&D for the Nintendo Switch 2 began before 2019.
Kawamoto: The three of us started working together on the new hardware project around 2019. But as far as the core development of the Nintendo Switch 2 goes, I recall that research and development had already started even before the project formally kicked off, right?
Sasaki: That’s right. We knew that we would continue to develop new gaming consoles even after the launch of Switch, so we needed to get ahead of ourselves and start sowing the seeds of ideas for what we could do with the next console. Hardware development takes time, and if we didn’t start early, the software development environment, known as the Software Development Kit, that’s needed afterwards wouldn’t be ready in time.
