With the Switch 2, Nintendo’s Goal Is a Console for Every Member of the Family

It used to be that you’d buy a new video game console for yourself or your kids, set the box under the TV, plug it in and leave it there for a half-decade or more, secure that it wouldn’t be obsolete in a year or two. On the spectrum of gadgets that last—versus those you feel pressured to replace—the game console was more toaster than smartphone. An upgrade every seven years or so would do. That’s about when they’d make a PlayStation 4 to displace a PlayStation 3, or a Nintendo Wii to top a GameCube. And right on schedule, the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming in June.

It’s been eight years since the revolutionary Switch was released, introducing the novelty of a TV-ready home console that you could also use as a portable via its 6-inch screen. “At the time, it was groundbreaking,” says Jack Cunningham, 32, who bought the original Switch on launch night. He worked at a restaurant in New Orleans at the time and loved to play high-end games in the middle of the workday, including the system’s vast new Legend of Zelda adventure. “Being able to play Breath of the Wild in my fancy work uniform between shifts was huge,” he says.