Nintendo finally addresses those Switch 2 leaks and rumours
It's a fake, a fraud, a phoney, I tells ya
The internet snaps up Switch 2 leaks like a flock of seagulls around a bag of discarded chips.Now, Nintendo has finally commented on the biggest leak of them all.
Earlier this month, a big tech show called CES was held in Las Vegas. And on the show floor was an accessory-maker showing what it claimed was a 3D printed replica of the Switch 2 console’s design.
That company was Genki, which makes gamepads, cases, cables and adapters. Typical stuff.
Nintendo has now spoken out, saying whatever Genki showed off, it certainly wasn’t official.
“The gaming hardware that Genki is claiming to be Nintendo hardware at CES is unofficial and was not provided to the company by Nintendo,” it said in a statement sent to CNET Japan.
Since then we’ve also heard Nintendo’s lawyers have approached Genki for a stern word. And that Genki has admitted it has never seen the console, and its mock-up was based on the same leaks every Nintendo news fanatic has seen.
The Verge papped a photo of Genki’s 3D printed Switch 2 impersonator and, as the leaks suggest, it looks a lot like the currently Switch, only bigger.
This might be Nintendo’s most conservative generational console upgrade to date, the aim no doubt being not to pull a Wii U (e.g, follow immense success with catastrophic failure). The Wii sold 101 million units, the Wii U just 13.5 million.
The one glint of that old Nintendo creativity among the Switch 2 rumours is the suggestion the Joy-Cons could be used like a mouse. You’d put the connector side on a surface, then use the trigger as a mouse button.
Who’s ready for a hardcore Civilization VII session on Nintendo Switch 2?
The next step is for Nintendo to announce a Direct event, where we will at least have some Switch 2 details confirmed by Nintendo.
All it has said so far is it plans to announce the successor to the Nintendo Switch within this financial year, which ends on March 31.
What this does not mean is you’ll necessarily be able to buy a Switch 2 any time soon, or that all its specifics will be announced then.
To date the Nintendo Switch has sold 146 million units, making it the third best-selling console of all time, after the PlayStation 2 (160 million) and Nintendo DS (154 million).
