Nintendo's not committing to backwards compatibility for its next round of consoles, though Shigeru Miyamoto acknowledges that it's easier than ever to implement.
Nintendo was asked about backwards compatibility on future hardware during a recent financial Q&A session. As translated by VGC, Miyamoto acknowledged that in past hardware generations, backwards compatibility had been difficult because the development environment - the software tools devs use to make games - changed dramatically with each new console release.
"Recently, however, the development environment has increasingly become more standardized," Miyamoto explained, "and we now have an environment that allows players to enjoy older video games on newer consoles more easily than ever before."
However, Nintendo is not putting its emphasis on backwards compatibility, and won't commit to it being available on whatever its next console looks like. "Nintendo’s strength is in creating new video game experiences, so when we release new hardware in the future, we would like to showcase unique video games that could not be created with pre-existing hardware," Miyamoto said.
The Switch is coming up on its sixth birthday, and it's pretty unusual for a console to last so long without even an announcement for its successor. A more powerful version of the Switch hardware has been rumored for years, and given the platform's underpowered hardware - at least compared against consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X - fans have been eager for any news on what Nintendo's got planned next. The official line from the Nintendo remains a general 'no comment' on new hardware, however.
The recent financial report also indicated that Switch sales are finally slowing after hitting 114 million units. The company also said it's monitoring the idea of raising Switch hardware prices, given the current state of the global economy.
For now, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the big Nintendo project of note.
