In the leak-filled weeks leading up to the Switch 2 reveal, we've seen growing disbelief from die-hard Nintendo fans on social media. We won't link specific examples, but you don't have to scroll far before you see the following:
All these leaks are ruining the discovery! Why isn't Nintendo getting ahead of this?!
How did Nintendo screw this up so badly?!?11
We will be studying this confusing discovery for years to come!
Others place the blame squarely on the leakers for spoiling things. Developer Hideki Kamiya vented after the announcement, hoping that leakers “always have poop on the soles of their shoes.” There was a lot of frustration from Nintendo fans everywhere.
And we totally understand. As a fan following the development of 'Switch 2' for years (hey, we can put quotes now!) it was irritating to see influence-seeking leakers and burying sources 'forget' to point out that, in fact, the reveal announcement in their first tweet was made from a fan, not a real “Switch 2 trailer!” And then shutting down people who complain in the answers. A legitimate leak is one thing, but mixed with everything else, it becomes exhausting.
Being obligated to look and evaluate every little thing and judge what's worth covering makes things a little more raucous for us than the average fan, maybe, but anyone who's scrolled through video game feeds has probably been anxious for Nintendo to just announce the damn thing. Deploy the trailer, dammit!
But it's a mistake to confuse frustration and impatience with the idea that the official reveal of Nintendo and the Switch 2 has somehow been 'damaged' by this carnival of leaks.
First, as we already wrote, the basic parameters of the next Nintendo console have been known for a long time. Long before we saw renders of the slightly larger Joy-Con or received reliable information that magnets were used to attach them, we knew that this would be a hybrid console – the 'Switch 2', whatever you end up calling it.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa himself said that “Switch next model” would be the most appropriate way to describe the sequel. It's never going to be some radical Wii-like reinvention for the company; it will never be a big surprise.
Anyone keeping an eye on things could have sketched a Switch sequel on a napkin and produced something very similar to the end product. It's… another Switch! Of course, it has some fun new features – the optical sensors and Joy-Con in general look pretty great. But brass nails, it's the same thing, upgraded.
The feeling that the accessory makers botched the big reveal ignores news from the past decade about the nature of the Switch's successor. The beautiful official render may have been better than the grainy screenshot of the CAD model, but if the idea of 'just another Switch' left you cold, you'd react exactly the same to the real McCoy, however polished the trailer. The 'damage' has long since been done for fans tired of the hybrid concept.
Second, and most importantly: the Switch 2 reveal announcement is not for your. A dedicated gaming fan reading these words has probably been up to date with industry rumors for years. In the same way the first Switch intro (ha ha, ha ha, yes) made for a larger audience, this trailer is primarily designed to inform casual gamers — and potential fans — what exactly it is.
The trailer does this extremely well. The original Switch we know and love is transformed, piece by piece, into a brand new model. Put a huge '2' on the end and there will be no confusion this time. A huge, wider audience of people to get their gaming news from BBC and other non-gaming outlets know exactly what it is.
But the original Switch wasn't leaked like this! No, not quite like this, but Nintendo was in a completely different place. Coming off the back of the Wii U, the platform holder needed to change the conversation and make a splash and was rather chatty about the 'NX' in comparison.
To recap, Nintendo first mentioned the NX in early 2015 during a joint press briefing with mobile company DeNA to reassure everyone that the company was still in the hardware business. The console was mentioned several times between then and the announcement in October 2016, as the message sought to distance the new system from the old (“we are not building the next version of Wii or Wii U“) and confirmed its March 2017 launch almost a year ahead of schedule. NOA tweeted about it and everything.
And let's not forget that the basic Switch concept did leakage. In July 2016, articles appeared explaining what the Switch turned out to be, with mock-up illustrations showing the shape of the hybrid handheld fairly accurately. And then we also had very similar conversations about Nintendo's stingy approach.
So what's the difference? Eight years ago, Nintendo absolutely needed to take control of the story after the miscommunication that introduced the previous system. Is the Wii U a new console? Is it just a Wii controller? Can you use two GamePads at once? These were all legitimate questions that Nintendo failed to answer in the Wii U announcement trailer in 2011. From the beginning, the concept was unclear to both core and casual fans.
But everyone already understands the concept of Switch. After proving there was a market for hybrid handhelds and struggling to meet demand with the original system, Nintendo's priority no. 1 is the production of enough units to launch. Messaging? This time it's easy – it's a new Switch, like the one you've been using for years! But even better with the new Mario Kart!
This time there is no conversation for a change; the goal was to clearly communicate that this is an entirely new system, and the slick trailer (and conventional name) achieves that. Are the people behind the scenes at Nintendo irritated? Who wouldn't be?! But ultimately, it doesn't hurt them if the case companies start revealing the thing to people who already know it exists.
It's also worth mentioning the explosion of 'leaking' culture on social media over the last decade, blurring more than ever the lines between journalists, self-styled 'insiders' and intrepid internet detectives analyzing shipping manifests. Mobile phone lovers are used to these kinds of leaks; if there is interest in a product that everyone knows is in production, the chances of making a discovery without leaking factory images are practically zero. That doesn't stop millions of people from buying the iPhone 47.
As exciting as it is, even the Mario Kart tease is accidental in the context of an announcement aimed at people who haven't followed the nitty-gritty of downloading motherboards from Chinese factories, the people for whom this want be the first look at the new Switch.
If anything, it's the unusual lack of 'surprise' with the reveal that has confused some fans; we thought there might be another game or two. Rest assured, there will be plenty of software for the now commonplace looking console – something on the software and peripheral side to bring the patented WTF surprise and delight. That USB-C slot on the top and the optical sensor in the Joy-Con are crying out for some weird Nintendo-like experimentation.
But anyone who thinks that the platform owner's inaction has allowed leaks to 'spoil' the Switch 2 reveal, or that the console's prospects have been damaged in some way, ironically haven't been paying attention. The leaks didn't do the Switch any harm. The real question is whether Nintendo can capture lightning in a very similar bottle a second time.
