Nintendo gives a brief first look at the Switch 2 console

Nintendo unveiled its hotly anticipated Switch 2 console on Thursday, exciting gamers and offering the video game industry a potential bright spot amid a broader slowdown.

The Switch 2 is set to be released this year with more information expected to come in April when the company hosts Nintendo Direct, one of the company’s press product launches.

The reveal of the console, made on a YouTube videocomes after growing speculation this week from die-hard fans that a release was on the way and has been anticipated by an industry hit by mass layoffs and an ongoing strike by the video game artist community.

A new platform can help spark new games that can put laid-off developers back to work and signal new lines of revenue for publishers big and small.

The first iteration of the Switch was a huge hit for the Japanese company, selling around 146 million units, according to Nintendomaking it the third best-selling console of all time, behind the PS2 and Nintendo DS.

In the video, Nintendo showed off a larger screen and Joy-Cons (the controllers on the side of the screen) that are larger and black rather than the first edition’s blue and red. The Joy-Con now also clicks into place with a magnet. No more pushing the hardware into place.

However, Nintendo has not released any details about the new equipment.