Nintendo Swap house owners have been ready for upgraded {hardware} for years. They may lastly get a glimpse of that later this month, as rumors proceed pouring in about an imminent reveal of a Swap 2 console in September, together with that it’s going to boast backwards compatibility in order that followers’ huge sport collections can come alongside for the journey.
There’s been hypothesis about Nintendo teasing at the very least a glimpse of the upcoming console this month for some time. That’s as a result of the corporate adopted the same timeline with the rollout of the unique Swap, and not too long ago jumbled round its regular Nintendo Direct schedule to seemingly make room for displaying one thing off in September. Now followers more and more really feel like “The Switchening” may lastly be underway.
Yesterday, GamesIndustry.biz head Christopher Dring teased “business whispers” that one thing Swap 2-related” could be occurring this month, describing the vibe in a follow-up tweet as “simply chatter from of us.” Editor-in-chief of VGC, Andy Robinson, poured each cold and hot water on the report. “Appears a bunch of press have heard this,” he posted. “However I nonetheless wouldn’t guess my home on it.”
That very same day, senior analyst at MST Monetary, Dave Gibson, highlighted a spike in manufacturing tools spending by Nintendo assembler Hosiden. “Hosiden is spending ¥2bn on manufacturing tools and ¥1bn on automation in FY3/25 for its main buyer in amusement (Nintendo),” he tweeted. “I nonetheless count on Sept information and March 2025 launch for subsequent machine.”
Then, in a repost of Gibson’s touch upon the GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit, business insider and podcaster NateTheHate claimed that the Swap 2 could be backwards suitable. “It has backwards compatibility help,” he wrote. When requested if it might have coloured buttons, he wrote again, “‘I’m colorblind, so I wouldn’t be capable to inform come what may.” This solely fueled hypothesis additional.
Prior leaks have additionally steered the Swap 2 could be backwards suitable, together with help for each bodily cartridges and digital video games. And Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser seemingly teased such a characteristic when he stated in an interview final yr that the corporate was aiming for a smoother transition with Nintendo accounts this time round when going from one console technology to a different.
“Creating the Nintendo Account will enable us to speak with our gamers if and after we make a transition to a brand new platform, to assist ease that course of or transition,” he stated on the time. “Our purpose is to attenuate the dip you usually see within the final yr of 1 cycle and the start of one other. I can’t converse to the attainable options of a brand new platform, however the Nintendo Account is a robust foundation for having that communication as we make the transition.”
Anticipation for a Swap 2 reveal has been heating up ever since Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa wrote again in Could {that a} Swap successor wouldn’t be talked about throughout the firm’s June Nintendo Direct. Naturally, followers took this to imply {that a} point out would be coming someday later within the yr. Time is beginning to run out, however understanding the Mario maker, the primary information of a Swap 2 may very well be shadow-dropped any day now in one thing so simple as a single press launch or a trailer all of a sudden shared to social media.
And as manufacturing of the units will get underway, the stress shall be on for Nintendo to disclose the console itself earlier than grainy cellphone footage from a Chinese language warehouse that appears prefer it’s from 2007 reveals it as a substitute.