Nintendo delivers official response to Switch 2 leaks

Nintendo has finally given an official response to the mountain of leaks there have been for its successor to the Switch, believed to be the Switch 2.

Videos and photos captured at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 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.

Genki, an accessories manufacturer that arrived at CES with the Switch 2 replicas, reportedly claimed the console will launch in April and that its mockup was based on the real Switch 2, adding the optical Joy-Con sensor is indeed a new feature but is unsure exactly what the new C button stands for.

But responding to this, Nintendo told Japanese newspaper The Sankei Shimbum: "Images and videos are not official."

Nintendo has told a Japanese newspaper the leaks from CES 2025 are "not official / Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Elsewhere, there are claims the console is already available to pre-order at two different European stores and Switch 2 accessories have been added to GameStop's internal system which have also led to speculation a reveal could be "imminent".

Video game critic Laura Kate Dale was sent an image from a "trusted source" of the dock, adding: "[It contains] visible input and output voltage information. In addition, I have learned that Switch 2 ships with a 60W charger for use with the dock."

A look at the Switch 2 also appeared on a Japanese Amazon listing.

This came soon after tech experts said leaked images of the Nintendo Switch 2 motherboard are "almost certainly genuine"and drew some interesting conclusions based on the recent pile of leaks.

That particular leak revealed a detailed look at what the motherboard, a circuit board containing its main components, will look like.

Further leaks have shown a new patent that was shared online describing technology for the Switch 2 to upscale images using AI so that games that have storage sapping 4K assets can be decreased in size.

None of this has been confirmed by Nintendo.

Speculation continues to swirl as to what games the Switch 2 will launch with.

The Japanese company confirmed an announcement on the Switch 2 will still be made before the end of the current financial year, in other words before the end of March 2025, but fans have been venting frustration at the wait.

Shuntaro Furukawa, president at Nintendo, confirmed the Switch 2 console will have backwards compatibility with Nintendo Switch games although it's not currently known if that means physical games will be playable on Switch 2 or it's just downloadable software that will work.

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