Nintendo Switch 2 reportedly shown to developers at Gamescom
Reports coming out of the tradeshow seemingly indicated that Nintendo showed off the Switch 2 to developers behind closed doors at Gamescom.
According to Eurogamer, Nintendo demoed the as-of-yet-unannounced successor to the Switch to developers, showing off tech demos demonstrating its enhanced capabilities, such as support for Nvidia’s DLSS algorithm-based upscaling technology. These tech demos reportedly included an enhanced version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild—a Switch launch game.
In addition to Breath of the Wild, VGC reports that Nintendo also showed off a build of Epic Games’ The Matrix Awakens—a tech demo for Unreal Engine 5 that it originally released to showcase the engine’s capabilities on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. This is arguably one of the most interesting pieces of news regarding the Nintendo Switch 2’s behind-closed-doors showing at Gamescom.
It indicates that the new system will likely be at least on par with Sony and Microsoft’s current-generation consoles. (Read: Switch Pro apparently canceled even before it was officially revealed)
The timing of Nintendo’s demo of the Switch 2 at Gamescom lines up with what’s currently known about the console. Recent reports indicate that the company is targeting a late 2024 release for the system, with key development partners already having access to development kits for it. That said, the date may yet move up as Eurogamer reports that “Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible.”
Officially, however, Nintendo has said little about the Switch 2, even before Gamescom. When asked about it by IGN, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser stated that there was “nothing to talk about there” in regards to the current Switch’s life cycle. Bowser later added that he’s “stopped counting years” when reminded about the system’s age.
That said, despite the company’s traditional tight-lipped nature, it seems that work on the Switch 2—or whatever the system is eventually called—is continuing at a steady pace. It’s very likely that Nintendo will finally pull the covers off of it sooner, rather than later.
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