The latest Switch 2 leak is here, and it happened, in all places, at CES 2025.
As reported by French language news outlet Numerama, video game peripheral maker Genki has set up a booth to show off their Switch 2 accessories at the trade show. And Genki grabbed everyone’s attention with this very convincing demo of the Switch 2’s magnetic Joy-Cons.
As you can see in the demo, the Joy-Cons no longer have to be slid from the top going down, but simply connect on the side. They also demonstrated the side button behind the triggers that you can press to release the Joy-Cons.
We should note here that Genki is not a Nintendo partner. This means that they were not given information by the company firsthand about the Switch 2. On the flip side, they aren’t bound by any contract not to break any NDA. And Genki has an explanation for how they know what they know.
Genki claims that Switch 2 consoles are available to buy in the black market. This is a credible explanation for why multiple accessory makers claim to have Switch 2 consoles, or mockups, or have knowledge of their dimensions. And, it is also a credible explanation for why they don’t know what the C button does. Because even if they received a device with a real motherboard inside it, if it wasn’t given to them by Nintendo, they won’t have information on the device that, for example, developers making games for it would already know.
For that matter, Genki’s models and demos show the optical lens that we recently saw in the leaked images of the Switch 2 Joy-Cons. Notably, other companies that claimed to have the Switch 2, such as Dbrand, haven’t featured or confirmed it at all. So you may not have noticed this or thought about it, but it’s worth pointing out that some of these leaks and rumors actually contradict each other. They don’t all point to the same final Switch 2 console that we expect to see release this year.
Genki’s alleged Switch 2 leaks do match up with the leaked Joy-Con with the optical lens from last Monday, and with NextHandheld’s leaked Switch 2 images, which a lot of people decided was fake. So there’s a lot of room, even if you generally believe in these rumors, to cast doubts on some of these sources and leaks.
Genki also claims that the console will be released in April, which is also when they will be releasing their accessories. So Genki is now challenging earlier rumors that the Switch 2 is coming out in March.
In any case, it seems highly unlikely that Genki would have been able to sneak in that optical sensor on their Switch 2 mockup just days before they got this presentation ready. It’s not 100 % impossible, but we probably don’t have to stretch our skepticism that far.
As fans keep talking about why Nintendo won’t reveal the console at this point, we would point to our argument, that Nintendo will ignore all these leaks to ensure they have sufficient stock for the console ready. Because the company will still have to time that announcement in such a way that they can sell the Switch 2 around the world shortly after. And there will still be a lot of casual gamers who haven’t been following the rumor mill who will get all this information for the first time from them.
And so, in the end, we are all still waiting for Nintendo.
