Despite reports from the Wall Street Journal back in October 2018 and just a month ago, Nintendo has released a statement during its sales and earnings report that they are not planning to introduce any new hardware at E3.
“As a general rule, we’re always working on new hardware and we will announce it when we are able to sell it,” Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa said to reporters in Osaka, Japan. “But we have no plans to announce that at this year’s E3 in June.”
This statement also seems to indicate that Nintendo doesn’t plan to announce new hardware more than a month or two before putting it for sale. The original Switch was unveiled in October 2016, with its initial launch in early March 2017, truncated by a presentation in January giving all the details about the new console.
It seems to be on everyone’s mind that the Switch will be getting a revision of some sort in the near future, as the company looks to invigorate its handheld architecture. Nintendo 3DS has not received many games in the past year, and having a lower-cost Switch might be enough to capitalize on that market properly.
Not long after the Switch’s original debut, we postulated that Nintendo could already shave about $100 off the price of the console by not including the dock, handheld grip, Joy-Con straps, or HDMI cable. This would better align the hybrid console with the portable market, and given other cost-cutting measures and the general ability to produce things more cheaply over time (the Switch has been on the market for over two years now), a $199 USD price point is a very real possibility.
For reference, the Nintendo 3DS launched at $249 USD upon the handheld’s arrival in 2011.
The lack of new Nintendo hardware at E3 doesn’t mean that the company isn’t planning on releasing something soon, however. The Kyoto-based company is very much used to announcing and releasing products on their own schedule, and the next generation of Switch is likely to be no different.
While there are only about six weeks left before E3 2019, Nintendo could still announce a Nintendo Direct presentation to show off some new hardware that will eventually end up on the show floor in Los Angeles.
This is not the most likely scenario, but it would bode well for the company to have a stronger presence at the show compared with last year’s almost complete reliance on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A lower cost base-model Switch would also be a great way to show off the new Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games launching later this year.
Whatever big-N decides to do at before, during, or after E3 2019, we’ll have all the information you need to know as it happens, right here on Eggplante.com.
And yes, we’ll be at E3 2019! Join us as we touch down in Los Angeles from June 8th through the 14th!