When the Switch was unveiled in October 2016, it was immediately apparent that Nintendo was getting ready to take its biggest swing yet. Nearly seven years later, it’s abundantly clear that the company’s bet paid off, as the Nintendo Switch is now the third best-selling video game console of all time. Given the system’s sustained success, you might be surprised that Nintendo is ready to move on, but the company has never waited more than seven years between home console launches. That might change this generation, but the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming.
With that in mind, we have gathered all of the rumored and confirmed information we could find about the Nintendo Switch 2 ahead of its likely unveiling in the coming months. Every leak and rumor and announcement we can find will be added below.
Nintendo Switch 2 release date
Elephant Mario in Super Mario Bros. Wonder for the Switch. Image source: Nintendo
For months, it was seemingly safe to assume that the new Switch would arrive at some point in 2024, given Nintendo’s history of console launches. That assumption was backed up by reports, including one from Video Games Chronicle citing sources who claimed the company is likely to launch its next console in the second half of 2024.
“I would generally say that looking at Nintendo’s financials, it seems clear that it’s time for a new piece of hardware in 2024,” gaming industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto told VGC. “Hardware is already projected to fall 16.5% year-on-year in the current fiscal, while the minus for software is expected to hit 15.9%. The only way to stop these losses from totally ballooning next fiscal is a new device, and the second half of 2024 sounds like a realistic release window to me.”
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Previously, Nikkei Asia shared a similar (but less detailed) report about the Switch 2.
“Development seems to be progressing well,” a source close to Nintendo told Nikkei Asia in May. “But a product launch won’t happen before next spring at the earliest.”
While all signs were once pointing to fall 2024 — from the lack of Switch releases set for the fall to a leak claiming September 24 would be the day the Switch 2 hit store shelves — new reports suggest that Nintendo hit a snag somewhere along the way. Now, multiple reliable sources say that the Switch 2 won’t arrive until early 2025.
On February 16, 2024, Brazilian games journalist Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe said on a podcast that Nintendo was delaying the launch of its newest console to Q1 2025. VGC, Eurogamer, and Bloomberg all eventually corroborated his reporting. Eurogamer explained that the move was to ensure the Switch 2 had a strong launch lineup of games, while Bloomberg noted that Nintendo was telling publishers “not to expect the console until March 2025 at the earliest.”
As for the reveal timing, Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe shared a rough estimate of Nintendo’s plans for the coming months on the Famiboards forums on February 19:
Indie World Showcase – March 2024
Nintendo Direct – April 2024
Switch 2 reveal – June 2024
He warns that plans are in flux but also notes that he’s “feeling good” about these predictions.
Nintendo Switch 2 price
Nintendo Switch family of consoles. Image source: Nintendo
In all likelihood, Nintendo has yet to land on a final price as of fall 2023, but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from churning. The controversial leaker Zippo shared the following quote from a source who supposedly has knowledge of Nintendo’s plans:
$399. That’s the ‘golden number’ that they have in mind. It’s the price that works in terms of the power of their new system, it’s the price that works for them making a decent profit, and it’s the price that they think works for the audience that they’re trying to maintain. No more. No less.
If the Switch 2 is as much of a leap forward as some of the rumors suggest, $399 seems like it could be in the realm of possibility. The Switch launched at $299 in 2017, and the OLED model retails for $349. $399 for a hybrid console with an LCD display does seem pretty pricey, but it’s what’s under the hood that will determine the price tag.
That $399 price tag was backed up by the same Discord user mentioned above, who claims Nintendo will launch a digital-only Switch 2 for $399 and a Switch 2 that can play physical game cartridges for $449. While every Switch model has a cartridge slot, Sony and Microsoft each launched digital-only versions of their consoles this generation at lower price points. If this rumor is true, it seems like Nintendo will follow suit in 2024.
Nintendo Switch 2 design
Nintendo patent for a dual-screen, detachable device. Image source: Nintendo/WIPO
There’s little doubt that Nintendo’s next console will have a similar design to that of the Switch. All three variants of the Switch have found an audience, from the very affordable, portable-only Switch Lite to the more premium and pricey Switch OLED model. It might not look identical, but we certainly expect another hybrid device from Nintendo in 2024.
As for the design of the Switch 2, the only hints we have so far come from patents filed by Nintendo. The patents might not have anything to do with the next Switch, and the devices therein might never see the light of day, but we’re working with what we’ve got.
The first of two patents uncovered by Game Rant was filed in late 2022 and published in October 2023. The drawings in the patent filing are fairly rudimentary, but they show a console with a similar layout to that of the Switch. The major difference is that the controls seem to be built into the console. This could be a sign that Nintendo is moving on from the detachable Joy-Con controllers. The patent also mentions a pressure-sensitive touchscreen.
Nintendo patent showing off an unreleased device. Image source: Nintendo
We see an entirely different device in the second patent, which was also published in October 2023. This concept is actually two devices that can detach from one another. While attached, they look similar to the 3DS, but there’s also a third display on the outer shell of one device.
As we noted at the time, Nintendo has a huge library of DS and 3DS games that are unplayable on modern hardware. This might be a sign that the company won’t abandon those games.
The most notable design leak to date came in January 2024, when Bloomberg reported that the Switch 2 would feature an 8-inch LCD display. The report cited Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayase, who claimed that Nintendo would be responsible for shipments of “amusement displays” doubling in 2024 as it ramps up production of its next hybrid console.
Nintendo Switch 2 specs and performance
A screenshot from iFixit’s Nintendo Switch teardown. Image source: iFixit
In the VGC article cited above, the publication also cited two sources who claimed the Switch 2 will launch with an LCD display instead of OLED to bring down costs. Those same sources also believe that the new console will have a cartridge slot for physical Switch games.
In recent weeks, YouTuber RedGamingTech has also been posting videos purported detailing the specifications of the Switch 2. In his latest video, published on September 15, he claims the console will feature an 8-core Cortex-A78 CPU, a GPU with 12 streaming multiprocessors (SM), 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB of flash storage, and DLSS support. With these specs, the new console should target performance within about 10-20% of the Xbox Series S.
Furthermore, VGC and Eurogamer reported that Nintendo demoed the Switch 2 to developers at this year’s Gamescom, which took place in late August. Sources say that Nintendo showed off “a souped up version of Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” and Epic Games’ The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo.
When pondering whether or not The Matrix Awakens could run on Switch 2, Digital Foundry said that “The Matrix Awakens on Switch 2 is plausible, but perhaps in the same way that Doom 2016 and The Witcher 3 are plausible when viewed through the lens of what expert programmers can realistically achieve with more resource-constrained hardware.”
While many of the leaks and rumors on this page may not pan out, Digital Foundry is convinced about the identity of the chip that will power the Switch 2. Based on “overwhelming evidence” the site believes that Nvidia’s T239 chip will replace the Tegra X1 on the Switch 2. It’s said to feature 8x ARM A78C CPU cores, a 128-bit interface with LPDDR5 RAM, and a max memory bandwidth of 102GB/s. Plus, its File Decompression Engine should speed up load times.
Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatibility
Link on a horse in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Image source: Nintendo
We don’t know if the Switch 2 will be backward compatible with all your old Switch games. With that said, the company has offered some subtle hints that you will not have to leave your library behind when you upgrade to the next-generation console.
Here’s what Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told shareholders in June:
Regarding the transition to the next generation, in the past, hardware was the only means for us to connect with our customers, and every time we released a new console, we had to rebuild our relationship with our customers.
However, with the Nintendo Switch, we have been able to directly connect with various customers through the Nintendo Account system. The Nintendo Account is not only usable for those with game consoles, but also for customers on mobile devices, and the current number of accounts exceeds 290 million.
In the transition from the Nintendo Switch to the next generation console, we would like to make sure that customers can smoothly transition while still utilising their Nintendo Accounts.
We also heard from Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe — first to report that the Switch 2 was being pushed to 2025 — that the upcoming console will have “complete backward compatibility” with the original Switch. All of your physical and digital Switch games should be playable on Switch 2, and developers will also reportedly have the ability to patch their games to take advantage of the console’s enhanced processing power.
Nintendo Switch 2 games
Final Fantasy 7 Remake might come to Nintendo Switch. Image source: Square Enix
Nintendo often does a better job keeping its games secret than any other developer or publisher in the industry, so take all of these rumors with a grain of salt.
With that caveat out of the way, Zippo suggested in August that “a brand new major Mario title in the works for Nintendo’s next system will be using Unreal Engine 4.” This would presumably be the follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey, which launched a few months after the Switch.
In September, TheRealImAHeroToo dumped a load of leaks on Reddit, but one in particular that we feel obligated to cover. Apparently, Final Fantasy 7 Remake “looks and runs like a PS5 game on Switch 2 devkit” and could be ready at launch.
A few weeks later, Universo Nintendo editor-in-chief Felipe Lima said on X that Ubisoft’s Far Cry 7 will launch on the next-generation Switch on day one when it arrives in 2025. This is notable because none of the mainline Far Cry games have ever been available on Nintendo’s consoles, so not only is a popular franchise coming to Switch 2, but the Switch 2 is also seemingly powerful enough to play a game that will also arrive on PS5 and Xbox Series X.
In fact, Insider Gaming owner Tom Henderson suggested that most big releases will come to the Switch 2 in addition to the other current-gen consoles in the coming months:
Really excited for the Nintendo Switch 2 and its tech.
We’ll see “Launching on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC” a heck of a lot in 12-18 months.
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) September 30, 2023
In October, Discord user SoldierDelta claimed that Team Ninja’s Rise of the Rōnin will come to the next-gen Switch as well. The game is scheduled to launch in 2024, but Team Ninja has only confirmed that it will be available on PlayStation 5 so far.
Zippo returned in November with word that Mario Kart X will launch on the Switch 2 in 2025. This might not be the most trustworthy leak to date, but it will have been 11 years since the launch of Mario Kart 8 on Wii U and eight years since Mario Kart 8 Deluxe hit the Switch by then. There will be another Mario Kart eventually, so why not in 2025?
In February, Nintendo fans were disappointed to see that while Xbox exclusives Pentiment and Grounded were coming to Switch, they’d be missing out on the 2023 rhythm-based action game Hi-Fi Rush. According to Insider Gaming, the reason that the game is not coming to the original Switch is that it will be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 instead.
We will continue to update this page as more about the Switch 2 is revealed.
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