More information concerning the rumored new Nintendo Switch has surfaced. A job listing from Nintendo European Research and Development team alludes to Nintendo’s future hardware being built with cross-platform play in mind. If the information is accurate, the next-generation console might also feature backward compatibility and cross-platform play.
This is a feature that has been sorely lacking from the current Switch hardware. It actually bucked a longstanding trend for Nintendo. The WiiU could play Wii games, and the Wii could play GameCube titles. As long as the consoles have been close together, they’ve always been able to be backward compatible for years. The 3DS and the DS shared titles. Even the GameBoy was able to be played easily using a Nintendo DS system.
Given the Switch is one of the best-selling consoles of all time, it makes sense its successor would be backward compatible.
What Do Leaks Say About The New Nintendo Switch Console?
As you can see, the qualifications for the position include understanding game engine architecture, as well as cross-platform development. It seems Nintendo is building for a future that includes “current and next-generation Nintendo consoles.” Given how important cross-generation development for the likes of Sony and Microsoft has been, it isn’t hard to imagine why Nintendo wants to follow suit. Any future Nintendo software will surely have to factor in hardware both new and old, simply because the install base of the 2017 console is astronomical.