Nintendo Switch successor possibly confirmed by Chinese chip manufacturer for “early 2024”

Our very scientific and accurate render of what a future Nintendo console's packaging might look like.

Making a video game console takes a lot of spinning plates across several companies. The people that need to know important details know those details.

Generally, unless you’re Microsoft trying to buy Activision Blizzard and possibly outing your biggest rival’s entire unannounced lineup unceremoniously, things remain top secret.

Enter: PixArt. This SoC (or “System on a chip”, for those that don’t know) manufacturer has been involved in several previous Nintendo consoles. Their “CMOS image sensor SoC” chips and tech help power the motion sensors in JoyCon controllers. They’ve also made parts for both the Wii and the Wii U.

Their catalog, when it comes to video games, has been primarily Nintendo as a client. Their latest financial report, unexpectedly but not surprisingly, had a very interesting tidbit mentioned.

As reported this week by both Notebook Check and Chinese financial news site MoneyDJ, PixArt is helping a video game company with hardware. The manufacturer was super sneaky by not giving the name of the company. But, it might rhyme with "Bintendo".

According to the financial report presented, PixArt is working with a “Japanese Game Console” that “will launch a new console that has not been seen for many years early next year”. Seeing their track record, it’d be really easy to connect those dots.

However, as mentioned by Notebook Check, one could easily argue that it could be related to Sony’s “Project Q” and not Nintendo for the first time. Sony’s new upcoming portable hardware takes a page out of Nintendo’s playbook after all.

Working against this theory is that Project Q is expected to possibly come out late this year as part of the holiday lineup. This would throw off the entire theory’s timeline.

Coming out back in 2017, the Nintendo Switch has spent its geriatric years pretty well. Pikmin 4, for instance, just came out and is getting rave reviews across the board.

So, are we expecting a Switch successor like the Switch 2 in early 2024? Is it Project Q that they’re helping build? Or could it be something else entirely?

Only time will tell. Until then, take it all with a grain of salt. I hope the next Nintendo console comes with a Funky mode though.