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Unless you've been living under a very sad and lonely video game-deprived rock, you'll no doubt be aware that the Switch is selling like the very best hot cakes the world has ever seen. In a rather enticing statement, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has hinted at the possibility that the console may be able to take things one step further, potentially breaking the typical trend for console life cycles that we've seen for a number of years.

Dating all the way back to the release of the SNES in 1990, Nintendo's home systems have always released in five or six year increments; the Nintendo 64 arrived in 1996, the GameCube came five years later in 2001, the Wii was another five years down the road in 2006, with the Wii U launching six years later in November 2012. Of course, the Switch released last year in March 2017, just shy of the usual five year mark since its predecessor, but this was only caused due to the Wii U's disappointing sales. A very similar pattern can be found for the home consoles of Sony and Microsoft, too.

Miyamoto-san's statement came from a recent investor Q&A. When asked where he would place the Switch in terms of its life cycle, he responded with the following:

"When you think about what can be done with the Nintendo Switch as a device that can be taken on the go and that every person has in their hands to play, you realise it has many features not available on any other hardware to date," Miyamoto said. "Nintendo also has a system in place whereby the software developers focus on these hardware features in their development efforts for the continuation of the Nintendo Switch business. Up until now, the hardware lifecycle has trended at around five or six years, but it would be very interesting if we could prolong that life cycle, and I think you should be looking forward to that."

There is no doubt that we are currently witnessing a very exciting time for the industry as a whole; the Switch is breaking records left, right, and centre, and this new surge of popularity will only spur on Nintendo's competitors, too, hopefully resulting in bigger and bolder releases across the board. 

How long do you think we'll be seeing the Switch on game store shelves? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

[source nintendo.co.jp]