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If you’ve spent years building up a library of Switch games, the idea of leaving them behind for a new system was a worrying thought. Thankfully, this does not have to happen, and Nintendo has confirmed that its upcoming console will be fully backward compatible with all current Switch titles, which means that your favorite games and digital purchases won’t be left in the past.

The announcement was made during a corporate briefing this week. Speaking of the Switch, it was first released seven years ago, and marked a transition from the company’s previous hardware – the device shifted from the disc-based media format used by the Wii U and earlier systems to cartridges. Due to this, backward compatibility with older consoles has never been a feature of the Switch. This changes now. The deal is further sweetened by the affirmation that the company’s online services, such as Nintendo Switch Online, will be fully supported on the new console, so gamers will not lose access to the library of classic games available through the subscription service.

“At today’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch Online will be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well. Further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date,” Nintendo announced in a post on X.

This issue is nothing new – backward compatibility has become an increasingly important feature for modern gaming consoles, and gamers expect that their digital libraries, accumulated over years of gaming, will transfer seamlessly to newer hardware. For those who have been awaiting the next chapter in Nintendo’s gaming legacy, this announcement brings much-needed relief. Sony and Microsoft have already been looking into this issue, and their PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles currently support a range of titles from previous generations.

Now, Nintendo is doing something similar, ensuring that the Switch’s successor will support current Switch titles and that users do not need to repurchase their favorite games to enjoy playing them. This mitigates the risk of Nintendo alienating its existing fanbase.

This development comes at a time when the company has enjoyed reasonable success – the company sold over 146 million units globally amidst slowed growth. The company even lowered its full-year sales forecast, expecting to sell just 12.5 million units this fiscal year—down from the previous estimate of 13.5 million, as it generated 276.7 billion Japanese yen ($1.8 billion) in revenue for the quarter ended September 30 (beating the estimated 273.34 billion yen). Still, this marks an annual drop of 17% in its revenue, while its net profit witnessed a steep drop of 69% to 27.7 billion yen (nearly half of the expected 48.06 billion yen).

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