Almost ten years after its launch, the original Nintendo Switch will disappear from European stores next year. Blame the new EU battery rule, not the Switch 2.
Nintendo will stop selling all versions of the original Switch in Europe starting in mid-February 2027. The edge reports. This comes weeks before the console’s tenth birthday. The sacrifice covers the Switch, the Switch Lite and the Change OLED model. Sales to retailers and through the Nintendo Store will end.
Blame the battery rules
a new EU regulation drives change. Starting February 18, 2027, wearable devices sold on the block will be required to allow their owners to change their own batteries. Nintendo will phase out current models and release revised, compliant models starting this summer. It promises “there are no differences in functionality” between the old version and the new one.
The Switch 2 gets the biggest overhaul. A version with a user-replaceable battery should hit stores in the fall. Engadget Reports. The compensations are small. the new battery It has 5,172 mAh versus 5,220 mAh, a drop of about 1 percent, and the console gains about 10 g. Revised Joy-Con controllers, the Switch 2 Pro controller, and N64 and GameCube pads follow on an ongoing basis.
What Nintendo releases
Not everything survives change. Nintendo is retiring the original Switch Pro controller, its Sega Mega Drive and SNES pads, and the Pokémon Go Plus+ accessory. None of them have a successor with a replaceable battery. The rules apply in all 35 markets Nintendo serves in Europe, from the United Kingdom and Germany to Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
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A quiet ending, for now.
Nintendo has not said whether the sacrifice will extend beyond Europe. Stopping production of obsolete hardware everywhere may be tempting, given the increase manufacturing costs and the switch to the Switch 2. Still, the old machine still has life. There are still new first-party games on the way, including Rhythm Heaven Groove and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.
He battery rules First they went to the phones. Now they will quietly close the book on one of the best-selling game consoles in its home region.
