The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to be announced on Thursday, according to rumors across the industry. And on the eve of that announcement, the game industry is watching closely because there is so much at stake.

We don’t have insider info on this rumor, but the implications are interesting.

In terms of console sales, Matthew Ball, CEO of Epyllion and industry seer, noted in a 220-page slide deck that Nintendo provided most of the growth in the previous two generations of game console sales, as the eight-year-old Switch has sold more than 146 million units and 1.3 billion games to date.

Those sales have started to taper off and that’s why Nintendo is launching the new system. The whole industry has been in a funk, with 34,000 jobs cut in the last 2.5 years in the game industry. Venture investment is down, mobile gaming growth has stalled, the pandemic boom has fizzled, and the industry has shrunk at a time when some other industries are still growing. For this year, it may be up to the Switch 2 and Grand Theft Auto VI to rescue game sales.

In short, the game industry needs Nintendo’s Switch 2 to be a success for more than Nintendo.

Ball said that the Switch benefits Nintendo mostly. Switch users buy 25% to 33% fewer games than PlayStation/Xbox owners, and over half of sales are Nintendo’s games versus 10% on PS/Xbox.