Unlikely Nintendo Switch 2 rumors claim September 2024 release date
It’s becoming more and more clear that Nintendo will release a new console in 2024 – after the closed-door presentations at gamescom 2023, which were preceded by reports from Chinese manufacturers indicating that Nintendo was shipping something big soon, there are now more rumors around the Nintendo Switch successor. These stem from a leaker with a somewhat checkered track record, so do take them with a large grain of salt.
According to the leaker's Discord post (via ResetEra), the next Nintendo console is targeting a September 24, 2024, release date, though there supposedly are alternative plans for an early November 2024 release as well. The leaker doesn’t know the console’s final name, but says that it’s called NG internally.
Documents published in the context of the legal action around Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition referred to Nintendo’s new console as NG as well, probably simply meaning "next generation". Other insiders have been fairly adamant about NG not being the actual codename, though, so again: grain of salt.
The Nintendo Switch has served us faithfully for many years, but its era is coming to an end.
Nintendo
Furthermore, the leaker claims that the console will come out in two different configurations: One Standard Edition for a price of $449 USD and one Digital Edition for $400 USD – they did not provide any details as to the exact differences between the two potential models.
The fact that the leaker claims to know both an exact release date and prices a year out from the supposed launch is making it a bit suspicious as well. Unless an announcement is imminent, that’s one hell of a detail to have access to.
It’s noteworthy that most reports so far have indicated an earlier launch date for the new console based on the fact that dev kits for the hardware have already been sent out earlier this year. For the Switch, dev kits were sent out around a year prior to launch. Investigations of some clever fans on Famiboard, who checked export data of companies related to the console’s production, hinted at an earlier launch date in 2024 as well.
It’s questionable whether a digital-only Nintendo console would make much sense – while the amount of physical game sales is going down across the board, Nintendo is still strong in this segment. Plus, those little card readers Nintendo is using probably wouldn’t save that much space or money if left out.
While it’s credible that there will be two different editions of the console, at least going by word on the street, it seems more likely that one of them might simply be a dock-less version. This is just speculation on our part, though, so don’t take it as gospel.
Our verdict on this leak: not impossible, but unlikely.
