More from Switch 2: all the rumors about Nintendo’s next console
The clearest pictures of the rumored Switch 2’s magnetically-attaching Joy-Con controllers yet could be these images, which apparently made their way from Chinese forum Baidu Tieba to a Reddit post spotted by deals and leaks poster Wario64.
They seem to line up with previous leaks. Nintendo is expected to announce its “Switch successor” by March 31st, possibly as soon as this month.
A Reddit user posted images of what they claim is the Switch 2’s motherboard. We’re taking this with a big grain of salt, but some users believe it lines up with previous leaks.
The 3D platformer Yooka-Replaylee — a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series — has been announced for consoles whenever it does launch. What’s more interesting, though, is that it’s coming to the PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and, instead of the Switch, “Nintendo platforms.” That Switch 2 reveal can’t come soon enough.
With no big movies or The Legend of Zelda games this quarter, Nintendo’s gross profits have fallen by 45 percent compared to the same period last year.
Sales of Nintendo Switch hardware, now in its eighth year since launch, have also “decreased significantly year-on-year” — and we may not see a notable improvement until the company announces its highly anticipated next-gen console sometime in 2025.
Specifically, the rails that keep Joy-Cons firmly connected to the Switch? Because Spanish pub Vandal (which correctly reported minor details of the Switch OLED before launch) says a larger Switch 2 will replace those rails with magnets.
That’s according to accessory vendors who apparently didn’t even see the Switch 2, mind, just touched it in a box. Still: magnets alone? I could see magnets and rails, but...
Nintendo has confirmed to both Eurogamer and German site Games Wirtschaft that it won’t be attending this summer’s Gamescom event. The Nintendo Switch 2 was reportedly demonstrated to developers at Gamescom last year, so it’s very unlikely we’re going to get a repeat of that leak again. Recent reports suggest Nintendo is now targeting March 2025 for the Switch 2 launch.
[Eurogamer.net]
Current rumors have the Switch’s successor pegged for a 2025 release. Meanwhile The Pokémon Company has announced that Pokémon Legends: Z-A is due “simultaneously worldwide on Nintendo Switch in 2025.”
Combine that with the fact that Nintendo likes to make its launch titles cross-gen and that the possible scope of Z-A seems limited to one big mega city which might reduce technological constraints if the game is working across two systems, and we’ve got a tinfoil-solid theory going on.
So... whadaya think?
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa made the comments during today’s third-quarter earnings call, Bloomberg reports, and declined to comment about rumors for a successor to Nintendo’s second best-selling console of all time. But we should hear more about Nintendo’s next fiscal year, and hopefully the Switch 2, during the company’s next earnings briefing in early May.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Nintendo’s just quietly waiting to pull a Twilight Princess, like Mike McWhertor suggests at Polygon?
Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on both its ailing GameCube and the brand-new Wii. A little over a decade later, it did something similar, releasing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on both Wii U and Nintendo Switch.
Because it’s been five years since Nintendo rebooted development on Metroid, let alone announced the game — and those Switch 2 rumors are heating up.
[Polygon]
Supply chain analysis from Omdia’s Hiroshi Hayase suggests Nintendo’s next console, widely expected to launch later this year, will have a bigger screen than both the original Switch (6.2-inches) and the OLED model (7-inches), Bloomberg reports. That lines up with VGC’s previous reporting about the LCD display. Developers reportedly saw demos of the new Switch last year, and Activision was briefed on it as early as 2022.
