At Nintendo they seem to have tired of the incessant rumors of the Switch 2. To the point that Shuntaro Furukawa, the company’s president, denied some of the strongest rumors about its next console. Among them, the device was shown to developers during Gamescom 2023.
During a private call with investors, the executive described that information – and others related to the Switch 2 – as “inaccurate.” According to the Japanese media MainichiFurukawa complained that rumors are circulating on the web “as if they were public information,” but that they are not true.
The president of Nintendo not only denied having given a first look at the Switch 2 to the developers. He also denied having given information about the device to Activision Blizzard.. Which is curious, since the second was not known through a rumor, but through the trial between Microsoft and the US FTC for the purchase of the aforementioned company.
According to documents that were used as evidence, Bobby Kotick’s team had a meeting with Furukawa himself at the end of 2022. In it, they would have received details of the performance of the call. Switch NG, or new generation Switch. Thanks to this, it was learned that the next Nintendo console would have a performance similar to that of the PS4 or the Xbox One. However, the leader of the Japanese maintains that the story was not like that.
Nintendo is getting tired of Switch 2 rumors
Returning to Gamescom, the Nintendo president’s denial is very striking. The event took place in Germany in late August, while reports that the Switch 2 had supposedly been shown to developers appeared in early September.
According to what was said at the time, some studio representatives were able to see the device in action. Yes indeed, At no time was there any talk that they had observed a final version of the Switch 2, but they had the opportunity to appreciate the capabilities of their hardware. If it was even said that they accessed a special version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildas well as the demo of The Matrix Awakens.
Likewise, the executive denied that the recent patent for a console with three screens was related to the Switch 2. “We submitted the application understanding that [la información de la patente] will be made public, but that does not mean that [la tecnología] will be applied to future products as it is,” said the Nintendo leader.
Having said all this, Shuntaro Furukawa’s comments should not be set in stone. It is quite common for companies to vehemently deny rumors about a launch that is generating a lot of expectation, only to confirm them shortly afterwards. Many times it is to save appearances in the face of the continuous leak of internal information. In others, to try to save some of the surprise factor for the official presentation.
Whatever the scenario, Nintendo has experience with it. It happened in 2006 when the press anticipated the launch of the DS Liteand also in 2012 with the 3DS XL. Therefore, it is logical that the company’s highest figure tries to keep comments about the Switch 2 at bay. From there to its success, it is another story.
For now, Everything indicates that the Switch 2 will arrive in the second half of 2024. Beyond the rumors, the original version seems to be saying goodbye in a big way. Today, the Japanese reported that they have already sold more than 132.46 million Switches since its launch in 2017. This places it only 21.5 million units behind all DS models, the best-selling platform in its history.