Nintendo Switch 2: Gaming expert explains why so many leaks have surfaced online

Nintendo Switch 2 has been hit with some of the biggest leaks the gaming industry has ever seen.

The latest in an ever-growing list came from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 where videos and photos posted online appeared to show accessories manufacturer Genki reveal more details about the Switch 2, including a release date of April.

The content shared appeared to show exact replicas of the Switch 2 and a lot of key details, including the Joy-Cons and how they attach to the side of the console, its size compared to the existing Switch and the connections it will have.

To be clear, none of this has been conformed by Nintendo.

A video games expert explained why Switch 2 has been hit with so many leaks.

George Osborn is the creator of Video Games Industry Memo and the managing director of Half-Space Consulting with 15 years' experience in the industry, having also studied at the University of Cambridge.

Speaking to indy100, he said: "I think it's a sign Nintendo has been rolling the pitch to games businesses for quite a long period of time.

"The first leaks I was really hearing about were from GamesCom 2023 so I think because it's been talked about behind closed doors for so long, there's just presumably a bit more information circling around.

"With people hungry to hear more and Nintendo saying they're going to announce more before March 2025, I think there are a lot of people ready to jump the gun and push things out there into the world."

The successor to the Nintendo Switch has been hit with a mountain of leaks / Getty Images

Osborn explained why there is such an appetite.

"It's been eight years since the Switch launched, it's been 10 years since people started talking about it and I think you saw across the course of last year, Nintendo's [games] lineup suggested in terms of major game releases that it was on course to get ready for a new console generation," he said.

"Sales of the Switch basically flatlined much faster than Nintendo expected."

As always, with leaks, until anything is officially announced, Osborn reiterated to "take things with a pinch of salt".

He said: "When it comes to leaks, I always have an element of skepticism because you look at a lot of the leaks and over the course of time, a reasonably large number of them may be smudging truths or, in some cases, creating truths.

"In our current information era, where it's easier than ever to generate things, I think I saw one leak which looked very much like generative AI was used to create an image of what a Switch 2 might look like.

"I think there's an element of we need to take things with a pinch of salt but I think overall it really shows there's a huge amount of appetite as to what comes next from Nintendo."

Osborn'sVideo Games Industry Memo is sent out every Thursday and he's writing his debut non-fiction book called Power Play, a look at how video games are changing the world.

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