Nintendo Switch 2 Development Kit Arrives in Spain, Tipping Off an Early Announcement

The next generation of the Nintendo Switch has been the hot-topic in recent months, with fans chiming in with their own opinions, and sometimes rumors of what the company has in store. However, today, a new leak may have just confirmed that some studios may have access to the console’s development kits.

According to insider NWeedle, a game studio in Spain has received a development kit for the next-gen Switch console. Looking at the past, NWeedle has had a track record of accurate leaks, and his claim is certainly credible, but this one doesn’t seem to have any evidence to back it up.

The development kit is said to be based on Nvidia’s Tegra Orin chip, which is also used in the Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX development platform. This may depict that the next-gen Switch will be significantly more powerful than the current one, with rumors citing up to 16GB of RAM and a 1080p display.

It is also rumored that the next-gen Switch will have a more traditional design, with a clamshell form factor similar to the original DS. Personally, I’d rather have Nintendo stuck with the design they have for the Switch. Like they say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Of course, nothing is confirmed until Nintendo makes an official announcement. But the leak from NWeedle suggests that the next-gen Switch is real and that it could be released as early as next year. This is also in line with that Nintendo’s president said earlier this year.

Nintendo’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, confirmed in the company’s annual financial report in March that there are no plans to release any new hardware during the next fiscal year. This means that we should not expect the Switch 2 until sometime after March 2024.

Well, there is a rumored Nintendo Direct scheduled for late June, but we should not expect to see any Switch 2 announcements there. The Direct is likely to focus on upcoming games for the existing Switch console.

As for what we already know, the rumors about the next-gen Switch suggest that it will be a significant upgrade over the current model.

In a recent testimony in the upcoming Microsoft vs. FTC trial, Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick revealed that he has had “active discussions” with Nintendo about it’s next-generation console. He said that the console will likely be around the same level as previous-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft, the PS4 and Xbox One respectively, in terms of hardware capabilities.

This is also consistent with the rumors about the next-gen Switch, which suggest that it will be a significant upgrade over the current model, but not as powerful as the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.

For a lot of people, this may be annoying, but for a hybrid console, it’s pretty nice, considering the upgrade over the last-gen model. But, as for now, this is all we know. We will make sure to keep you updated on all developments, as new information becomes available.