The situation isnât entirely the same with Switch as other HD consoles. Other companies youâre mentioning release their systems when the tech feels very modern, and in the case of the PS4/XBO they still refreshed interest on year 3 of the lifespan.
Switch was a great, novel machine at launch, but itâs become increasingly apparent that itâs giving TV experiences not substantially better than tech from 18 years ago (please donât argue this point - the device Iâm sure is above 360 and but well below XBO), and many games are releasing to criticism around performance. If they wait until 2024 they will continue to ride out a major part of the core audienceâs good will. Maybe it wonât matter in the end, but given a revision was deemed necessary at some point not long ago, that tells me Nintendo also thought was important to refresh the core audiences interest.
We donât know if they cancelled it because they felt it was now unnecessary, or something else, but Iâd lean towards the latter. Iâd like to believe they pivoted to it being a successor with a long cross generational period a while ago, and we still have 2023 to look forward to it, but my optimism is fleeting