Switch successor won't say goodbye to Nintendo Accounts, says Doug Bowser

Nintendo seems to be aiming to make the transition between the Switch and Switch 2 an easy one, as it plans to keep going with Nintendo Accounts.

The thing about Nintendo, is that it is simultaneously a company that is so thoughtful about what play actually means as a concept, and how it can push that concept further, while at the same time being absolutely useless when it comes to common sense about online services. Ever since the PS3 and Xbox 360, both PlayStation and Microsoft have let you retain the same account that all of your purchases are attached to, but for some reason Nintendo never did the same. According to a recent interview with Doug Bowser from Inverse, the Mario and Zelda developer looks to be changing its ways.

While Bowser denied commenting on current rumours doing the rounds about the Switch 2, or whatever it might be called, he did say, "one thing we've done with the Switch to help with that communication and transition 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."

That's good news then for those hoping that they won't once again lose everything that they bought when the new console rocks up. After all, according to previous reports about the impending follow-up to the immensely successful Switch, it should have backwards compatibility. Other rumours are also suggesting an unsurprising 2024 release window, and that it should still be usable in portable mode like the current Switch. The successor console was reportedly demoed to developers at Gamescom earlier this year, supposedly showing off Epic Games' The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo from 2021.