Nintendo’s announcement of the Switch’s successor is imminent. How close it is is anyone’s guess with the company saying it will disclose console information before the end of its fiscal year in March. Rumors about the new Switch have been circulating for over a year, but with less than two months until the promised deadline, and in the absence of any real information from Nintendo itself, speculation about the console, its specifications , physical profile, and others have reached a high temperature. So, ahead of the official reveal, here’s everything we think we know about Nintendo’s next console.
The only concrete and confirmed information from Nintendo that we know about the new console is that it will be compatible with the Switch. Everything else has come via leaks and information provided by third-party manufacturers. Late last year, one such manufacturer, Dbrand, debuted its Killswitch carrying case designed for the Switch 2. According to Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz, the Killswitch is based on the new console’s “actual dimensions” taken from a ” true hardware 3D scanning.” But in an interview with thresholdhe declined to say exactly how and where Dbrand obtained such information.
If the Killswitch’s design is indeed derived from the real thing, the new console will be larger than the Switch OLED with an 8-inch screen and will have a stand that will extend the length of the console similar to the OLED model. That the new Switch will be larger than previous iterations is supported by leaks and information from other accessory makers, as well as the idea that the Joy-Con controllers will stick with magnets instead of sliding in and out in place. The new controller design will also incorporate magnets into the joystick to combat the dreaded “Joy-Con drift” that plagues the Switch even now.
CES 2025 provided even more fodder for the rumor mill, with accessory maker Genki showing off a 3D printed model of the console on the show floor. In an interview with thresholdGenki CEO Eddie Tsai went into detail about what he knows about the new Switch, reconfirming rumors about its larger size, magnetic Joy-Con and more.
While there’s plenty of speculation and potential evidence of what the new console will look like, there’s less circulating about what it might actually do. Beyond an alleged picture of the console’s motherboard, there hasn’t been much about the console’s hardware specifications. Because Nintendo has never made consoles at the highest end (or, frankly, even the very latest) of graphics or processing power, it’s hard to guess how well the console will perform or what additional features, like the microphone, there will be.
Although the console’s internals remain a mystery, we do know that it will be compatible with Switch games. We can also reasonably guess at least one game that will be a launch title: Metroid Prime 4. Announced in 2017 and undergoing a studio shakeup and development reboot two years later, Nintendo first debuted gameplay footage last year and shared a soft launch window of 2025. When Twilight Princess launched in 2006, it debuted on both the GameCube and served as a launch title for the Wii. Wild spirit it was also cross-gen, debuting on the Wii U while launching on the Switch in 2017.
Knowing that the new Switch and Metroid Prime 4 both launch in 2025 and beyond Twilight Princess AND BotW as examples, it is speculated that the reason for Metroid 4The long period of development hell was, at least in part, because the game was being prepared for both the Switch and its successor. Also, you just can’t have a new Nintendo console without one Mario game. Super Mario Odyssey was a Switch launch title, and although there have been other new releases like Super Mario Wonderthere was no new independent (put down your forks Bowser’s Fury fans) 3D Mario game since then. It’s all but certain that one will be announced with the new Switch. Recently announced Pokemon Legends: ZA it’s also a good candidate for the launch title as Nintendo curiously worded the game’s debut trailer with “simultaneous worldwide release on Nintendo Switch in 2025.”
For all the rumors and reasonable guesses backed by increasingly compelling evidence, it’s helpful to remember that at the end of the day, we’re still talking about Nintendo. The company has always taken a separate and unpredictable path from the other two big console manufacturers, and this strange strategy has mostly worked very well. Though the company isn’t immune to the same layoffs and delays (Switch 2 was originally slated for a 2024 release) plaguing its peers, it does indeed have its own multiple problems with how it treats and pays employees. and its contractors, the major publishers, seems to be the one that is best weathering the current crisis that is destroying the industry.
It’s silly to try to predict what Nintendo will do, and that goes for its new console. All we can count on is that it will come soon, and when it does, it will be big.
