Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser has reiterated in the same interview with Inverse how Nintendo Accounts would carry over to a new generation of hardware.
While he “can’t comment” and “won’t comment” on rumours about a “Switch successor”, Bowser did essentially reconfirm Nintendo Accounts will be utilised going forward to ease the transition process, mentioning how the goal is to “minimize the dip you typically see in the last year of one cycle and the beginning of another”. Here’s exactly what he had to say:
Doug Bowser: “Well, first I can’t comment — or I won’t comment, I should say — on the rumors that are out there. But one thing we’ve done with the Switch to help with that communication and transition is the formation of the Nintendo Account. In the past, every device we transitioned to had a whole new account system. Creating the Nintendo Account will allow us to communicate with our players if and when we make a transition to a new platform, to help ease that process or transition.
“Our goal is to minimize the dip you typically see in the last year of one cycle and the beginning of another. I can’t speak to the possible features of a new platform, but the Nintendo Account is a strong basis for having that communication as we make the transition.”
Back in June, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa spoke about how the company wanted to make the jump to the next generation as smooth as possible for customers by utilising the existing account system:
Shuntaro Furukawa: “As for the transition from Nintendo Switch to the next generation machine, we want to do as much as possible in order to smoothly transition our customers, while utilizing the Nintendo Account.”
Although there’s seemingly confirmation that Nintendo Accounts will carry over to the next generation system, keep in mind there’s no official statement just yet about whether or not users’ existing libraries of digital titles will carry over.
