Nintendo Switch 2 leaks continue as insiders insist reveal is today

Nintendo Switch 2 replica from Genki — Anyone else refreshing Nintendo’s X account over and over again? (Reddit)

Despite complete silence from Nintendo, multiple sources remain confident the Switch 2 reveal is just hours away.

Video game fans are going to be on tenterhooks today, while waiting for Nintendo to say anything about the new Nintendo Switch 2 console.

Multiple, reliable sources have pointed to January 16 as the date for a formal reveal but the expected annoucement of an announcement has not happened, so if it is going to be unveiled today it’s going to be a shadow drop.

Even after near constant leaks since December, Nintendo’s only response has been to say a Switch 2 replica by accessory company Genki wasn’t ‘official.’ But as scepticism and impatience increases amongst fans, insiders are sticking to their prediction.

In the meantime, new leaks continue to happen, include new images of the console’s redesigned Joy-Con controllers. This comes from NextHandheld, the same individual who claimed to have a final unit for the Switch 2 and shared images of its dock and controllers around Christmas time.

The last Joy-Con pictures they shared only showed one controller on its side, but now they’veposted a look at both controllers from the front, albeit in the hands of grotesque looking AI-generated Donkey Kong.

Although the AI image makes it look fake, the Joy-Cons appear to be legitimate. At the very least, they match with NextHandheld’s previous claims that they’ll come in matte black, with each controller having blue or orange colouring along the rails and around the control sticks.

They also line up with how the controllers on the Genki replica look, complete with the new mystery button, which was included based on previously leaked information.

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The button’s functionality is one of the few things Nintendo has managed to keep under wraps in terms of hardware, sparking theories that the Switch 2 will have at least one new gimmick to differentiate itself from the original.

The Joy-Cons are also believed to have sensors that allow them to be used like a computer mouse. More recently, Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki has suggested the Switch 2 will have ‘unique aspects’ besides the sensors, but that third party developers are unlikely to make use of them.

‘I often hear from third parties that they don’t want to deal with the unique aspects of the console, especially the sensors, because the benefits are small compared to the labour and cost involved,’ said Mochizuki.

‘I think that it’s not the platform’s role to differentiate itself by creating original parts, but I also think that it’s only going to be a topic of conversation for a while after the launch.’

There was also speculation floating around that Amazon Italy had accidentally leaked the Switch 2’s release date, with people spotting a listing of March 6 when searching ‘Nintendo Switch 2 Amazon’ on Google.

However, it appears to be an error on either Google or Amazon’s part since not only has the search result been removed, but people soon noticed March 6 is the same date Konami’s Suikoden remasters launch, so the date could have been drawn from that by accident.

Or both could be happening on the same day.

Will the Nintendo Switch 2 be revealed today?

Ultimately, the only one who truly knows if a Switch 2 reveal is happening today is Nintendo itself. While the company has developed a habit of shadow dropping announcements with no warning, that’s usually only for new videos of games that have already been announced.

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A brand new console is significantly more important and you would’ve expected them to give a heads-up if a reveal video is coming.

They certainly did for the original Switch’s reveal. On October 20, 2016, Nintendo’s social media accounts alerted everyone that said reveal trailer would drop in 10 hours time.

Nintendo’s silence does make it seem like plans have changed and it’s opted to delay the reveal. However, most of the sources who were pushing January 16 as the big day have insisted that today is still the day.

Insider Nate the Hate, who was the first to allege a specific date, is standing by his initial claim and acknowledged a shadow drop is possible, with Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb supporting him.

Leakers PH Brazil and Pyoro are similarly confident something will happen by the end of the day. The former has even set up a reaction livestream in preparation for a reveal.