Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima has intentions to support the Switch beyond the usual Nintendo home console lifespan.

Speaking to Japanese financial paper Nikkei, Kimishima said he wants to continue selling Nintendo Switch in more than just 5 to 6 years. In other words, he wants to continue to support the Switch beyond 2023, thus granting it a longer lifespan than past Nintendo home consoles. It could be supported for 7 to 10 years.

Most Nintendo home consoles have had lifespans between 5 to 6 years. Examples include GameCube (2001 – 2006), Wii (2006 – 2012), and Wii U (2012 – 2017).

https://gonintendo.com/stories/301108-nintendo-looking-to-support-the-switch-for-more-than-the-traditio

https://nintendosoup.com/nintendo-wants-extend-switchs-lifespan-6-years/

This somehow was expected because Switch is Nintendo's unified platform.

That was exactly my and some others point aswell that has just been proven, thank god. It would make no sense to drop a healthy eco system like this after, some said, 4-5 years, since its selling so many games because of merged market. If they supported a 3DS for 6 years while it never was as hyped and healthy as the Switch (needed a price cut etc etc), no way Switch will die before 7 years. I think we can expec an upgrade similar to the PS4 pro in 3 years with the arrival of the other next gens. Would give them a way to rivalise in terms of sales. With peaks higher than 20 millions and legs it will definetly pass the Wii.

Well, thats pretty obvious.As long as the hardware keeps selling at an acceptable rate, and software sales dont drop, there is no reason to replace it.

I don't know, I don't think they'll have enough ports to do that ...

I think this is good especially if the PS4 ends up lasting say 7 years.

Im expecting it to last a long time too as a brand.  With new form factors as well as increased power versions ect.

The sales of the Wii were already starting to declined in year three if Im not mistaken.And if thats not the case, at the start of year four.Sales for software were not that great either as far as I remember in those later years.And what this talk about 3rd party games?nintendo cant compel the companies to make games for its systems.It can incentivize, but if the companies dont want, they wont make.The Wii was in a different situation compared to the Switch, and thats a completely different discussion.

If a system is continually selling great and its not a money sink(to achieve that), like the PS4 for example, any company will keep extending that.So yeah, its pretty obvious.

I'd rather it be 5-6 years to be honest. But I think what is going to actually happen is that the Switch will end up in the 3DS/Switch situation. Where the Switch will be the cheap affordable option that still gets B tier support until all consumers, 1st part and 3rd party support all eventually migrate over to the Switch 2 in full.

For the Switch to compete and sell as a home console in 2022 it'll need a second generation power boost in order to do that. And while it does that the original Switch will continue to sell and get lower tier games as a cheap and more handheld focused short term alternative to the Switch 2 like the 3DS is right now to the Switch.

That't awesome! It always amazes me how fast Nintendo dropped the DS and Wii. I remember being kind of mad about it at the time. This would also mean that the Switch will have a long tail in hardware sales just like the 3DS or even better. A sales curve of the Gameboy. 12 years of Switch here we come!

They can keep supporting it past 5 to 6 years ala 3DS, but I hope the successor doesn't take any longer than that to release. Otherwise the system is going to just be way too dated in terms of horsepower. You have to figure by 2023 it will be a full decade since the PS4/XBONE release, systems Switch isn't even on par with. I'm certainly no graphics nut, but there's only so long they can get away with something that behind in power.

Proof that they always considered it a handheld from the beginning.