curl-6 on 21 June 2023
Yeah it seems like past Nintendo systems have trained people to expect a long drought at the tail end of the lifecycle, so when people see games still coming to Switch the assumption is that it has years left before replacement.
But Nintendo are in a very different place now. They're restructured the company around providing a consistent software stream. Mario Wonder this year doesn't rule out Switch 2 next year any more than Yoshi's Island on SNES in 1995 ruled out the N64 in 1996, The Last of Us on PS3 in 2013 ruled out PS4 the same year, or Pokemon Black and White on DS in 2010 ruled out 3DS in 2011.
We're used to Nintendo dropping major support like a year before a system is replaced, but it doesn't need to be that way now.
