Nintendo Switch 2 consoles have leaked – but this time, Nintendo is still in control.
As we reported earlier this week, pictures have started spreading clearly showing us that Switch 2 consoles have started being distributed to stores in the US. As Doug Bowser claimed shortly after the Switch 2 Direct last April, Nintendo “had some time to build inventory” and they took advantage of the opportunity to do so. And so we know that there are millions of Switch 2 consoles in warehouses, waiting for the launch next week. But it seems that some of those managed to break free.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, we know of at least two people who claim to have a Switch 2 in their hands. One of these gamers is based in United Arab Emirates, and took a video of themselves unboxing the console. But interestingly enough, they found that they couldn’t play the console because it’s looking for an update.
Wario64 then shared this tidbit on Bluesky:
Another person shared with me that they have a Nintendo Switch 2 as well. I have no permission to post pics but can share that when they try to boot a Switch 1 game, a message prompts “Please connect to the internet and update your system.” Needs update to boot a game.
Now, it certainly seems that there are a lot of gamers who don’t fully understand, or perhaps remember, why day one updates for consoles were such an issue.
The issue originally blew over on the Xbox One, as former Xbox CEO Don Mattrick threatened gamers with an always online DRM console. But that’s not where Xbox, and other game companies, ended up going.
Nowadays, day one updates have become a necessary evil for both video game software and hardware. The Xbox Series X|S didn’t have a day one update, but the PlayStation 5 did. These updates do add features that weren’t available on the console before, but it also seems implicit that these games and hardware are deliberately timed to unlock on a specific date.
While these leaked Switch 2 units indicate the need to update, we don’t know if they’ll be allowed to play the console without updating on launch day. But it’s likely most gamers will find that these updates are small and quick, and they won’t have to wait that long after getting the console online that they can start playing. We’ll see how it works soon enough.
