Nintendo is a slow-moving beast. Just ask its diehard fans, who have been waiting nearly a decade for the Switch successor to stop being a faraway dream and start being something they can use to play Xenoblade Chronicles. But Nintendo says being antiquated is a good thing and, more than that, it's a strategy.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, on Wednesday, confirmed in a social-media post that Switch software will be playable on the successor to the game system.

You don't have to take great pains to preserve your Switch to ensure that you can still play your favorite games on it years and years from now. Nintendo has revealed in its earnings report that the upcoming successor to the Switch will have backwards compatibility and will be able to run games made for the current console.