The rumors are triangulating on what is the possible release date of the Switch 2.
As reported by Insider Gaming, a major retailer revealed in their documentation that they expect the console to release in June. These documents also reveal that pre-orders will go live April 9, one week after the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct this week.
Dr. Serkan Toto, who runs a consultancy for video game companies in Japan, shared his two cents regarding this rumor on Twitter:
“June release for Switch 2? Probably.
July or August would be hard because of summer holidays.
They cannot wait until September – 5 months into Nintendo’s next fiscal year (which starts April 1).
What hits could they even offer until then, while hardware sales implode, too?”
To be clear, Dr. Toto does not cite any insider information of his own. And we would point out that he may have already learned what the actual pre-order and release dates of the console are. But if that’s the case, Dr. Toto will then not be able to talk about it, either because he might be betraying Nintendo’s confidence, or he may unwittingly out his source.
Instead, Dr. Toto argues that this is the logical choice. Within the timeframe from June to September, the only good choice would be the start of June.
But then, this argument passes on another possibility. While it may be difficult for Nintendo to pull off, we can’t discount that they could plan the release sometime between April 2 to May, before it even hits June.
For Nintendo to pull of such an audacious plan, they would have had to have manufactured a far larger number of Switch consoles and gotten them shipped worldwide, at a larger scale than we assume based on datamining.
The reason Dr. Toto isn’t discussing this possibility is obvious though. While it’s not impossible, rushing that launch close to reveal would have been logistically complicated. Of course, it would be far more expensive than giving consumers a clear two months for pre-orders.
Consumers who don’t want to be wiped out by resellers will want a full two months for pre-orders too, because resellers would be able to swamp those pre-orders at the onset. But we are also thinking of the rumors and speculation that Nintendo has been holding off on launching the Switch 2 for various reasons.
So, whether you believe this rumor or not doesn’t just depend on how credible the rumor or its source is. It would also be based on if you believe this release was delayed, and if that delay was ultimately the right choice in relation to the Nintendo Switch’s performance, Nintendo’s capacity for executing the launch, market conditions, and other factors.
As we have pointed out so many times before, the industry is hopeful on the Switch 2’s launch being a success. So ultimately, that’s the speculation we hope turns out to be true.
