We have a new rumor about the Switch 2, which feels partly good and bad, but mostly good.
Nate The Hate had John Linneman over on his latest podcast to talk about rumors, speculation, and just some general discussion about the Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2.
Nate The Hate confirmed yesterday that he had heard that there would be a Nintendo Direct coming next week. However, in this podcast, he now revealed that he believes this will be a Partner Direct. What that means is this Direct event will focus on third party games, instead of games from Nintendo themselves.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Nate reminded us that about the Gamescom event last year. We had heard rumors that Nintendo previewed the device behind closed doors at the event, and later, that they showed two blockbuster demos to industry insiders at the event. One of those demos was an upscaled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the other was the same Matrix demo used to preview the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.
Nate now says that he heard a rumor around the same time that Gamescom was happening, that there was going to be a March event. He wasn’t sure at the time what this March event was going to be, but apparently he had heard about it from industry insiders who saw or knew about Nintendo’s previews.
Nate now believes that that March event will be the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2. This timing lines up with Games Developer Conference, AKA the GDC. The event will be held this year between March 18 to 22. Nate believes Nintendo will use the event to network with publishers and other industry insiders to pitch their platform.
Nate and John then went into a little speculation of their own based on this rumor. With the expectation that Nintendo will reveal the device at this time frame, they believe that the Switch 2 will be released this year as well, sometime in the fall. They then pinpointed the release to sometime between September to November, as it would not make sense to have a new console release in 2024 on the December holiday period.
Now a lot of unfounded rumors have been sprouting up around Nintendo lately, with recently debunked predictions about the Nintendo Direct. So several of these people sharing rumors are held up on suspicion, but for now, Nate is still considered a reliable and honest leaker.
It can certainly be said that following all these rumors and speculation is a game in itself, but you can be sure all the Nintendo fans will be happy to end all of these parlor games when Nintendo finally makes it all official.