As the gaming populace awaits the 2025 reveal of Nintendo's next piece of gaming hardware, any confirmed details about the follow-up to the Switch have been lean. When it comes to backwards compatibility, it had been strongly speculated that the soon-to-be revealed device will sport the feature of playing previous generation software.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa took to social media to officially confirm that Switch software will be accessible on the new machine, along with carrying over your data from your Switch Online account.

Hello, this is Furukawa. At today's business direction briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will be playable on the successor to the Nintendo Switch. In addition, Nintendo Switch Online will also be available on the successor to the Nintendo Switch. We will provide more information on the successor to the Nintendo Switch, including compatibility with the Nintendo Switch, at a later date.

古川です。本日の経営方針説明会で、Nintendo Switchの後継機種ではNintendo Switch向けソフトも遊べることを公表しました。また、Nintendo Switch Onlineも後継機種で引き続きご利用いただけるようにします。これらNintendo Switchとの互換性を含む後継機種の詳しい情報は、後日改めてご案内します。

— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) November 6, 2024

Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser hinted this was a direction in October 2023. So far, the catch seems to be that there's no verification that the Switch successor will play or access the physical cards. Perhaps more details on that in the future. As the original line of Switch hardware winds down, as Nintendo sees the 8 year old hybrid device projected to sell less than expected for this holiday season, the plan seems to be anticipating a Switch successor reveal in March of 2025. The Nintendo Switch launched March 17th, 2017, and has sold over 146 million units worldwide, as of August 2024.