Nintendo: General Discussion

Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Is High Likely Pre-GDC Next Month; Next Direct May Be a Partner Direct

[Nate the Hate] Nintendo 2024 Predictions: Switch 2 Reveal & Launch Timing, Back-Compat & More (ft. Digital Foundry)

Nate and John's Predictions/Comments Summary:

• He thinks it'll be a slower year for Nintendo Switch 1 releases as Nintendo prepares to release the next hardware. There will still be stuff to announce through Nintendo Directs or however Nintendo plans to release this info.
• He thinks there will be a cross-gen period in 2025 as he doesn't think Luigi's Mansion 2 HD or Paper Mario TTYD Remake will be the last games on the Switch
• No, the Switch 2 won't be at the next Direct. Nintendo would've announced it already
• About the Partner Direct stuff: His exact comment/statement was "I'm going into this year's first Direct with the expectation of it being a Partner Direct. I think they will focus on 3rd party stuff more than 1st party". He did NOT definitively say that it IS a partner direct.
• John from DF expects the same thing they did last time with the Switch 2 which is just a random teaser video popping up like they did with the Switch
• Last Summer, Nate reported that there were whispers about something March 2024. As time has gone on, he's of the belief that this is the reveal of the Switch 2. He thinks it's happening in March because of Nintendo meeting with other developers or partners in GDC.
• He thinks Nintendo will go heavy on June's Direct as they'll focus everything on Switch 2 because it'll allow them to give people (news outlets) previews and get a feel for the Switch 2. And with them possibly releasing it in Fall, it'll give Nintendo the opportunity to show off the Switch 2 tech in other future events that'll round out the year like TGS
• Nate thinks if they launch in November, they'll possibly experience sellouts between November and March thanks to the Holiday Rush
• John thinks there was too much smoke around the Switch Pro for it to not have been real. He thinks that they shifted gears due to getting cold feet and not wanting to botch the hardware or launch as they have to get the next Switch's launch right
• He thinks as long as the Switch 2 is a competent system and delivers on the games and performance, it'll sell a ton and find the same success as the Switch.
• John thinks Switch 2 will be much bigger than the Switch, which lines up with the rumors we saw about the screen size and the size implies a big chip. Nate comments on folks who might comment about the PS portal, mentions it not having much in it as it's mostly a screen. He said if Nintendo as an LCD that matches the PS Portal he'll be more than okay with it. John thinks if they chose the 8 inch screen, Nintendo did it to be able to house all the internals.
• John also thinks battery life is a huge concern for Nintendo, he reminds folks that regardless of the demo tech they use, the battery life might not be the same for the retail units so he's curious to see what that battery runtime is. Nate agrees in regards to it being bigger.
• Nate thinks the Switch 2 might just not have the JoyCons and that it'll be more similar to the likes of a ROG Ally. John agrees, says they weren't that big of a success and they were uncomfortable. He (John) mentions that he pretty much exclusively used a Pro Controller even when he was using the Switch portably. Nate mentions experiencing disconnects with his JoyCons as years have gone, even while housed on the Switch itself.
• Nate asks John whether or not he thinks the lack of JoyCons would ruin the excitement of Switch 2, John says if you look into the numbers he thinks that people might've not used that tabletop feature that was shown off in the Switch reveal trailer. He, personally, thinks the wireless Joycon features wasn't used by people as much as Nintendo might've thought.
• However, Nate does mention the success of Nintendo selling JoyCons, he thinks if they gave a controller in the Switch 2 box it'd dissuade people from buying accessories, which could be why we might still see JoyCons 2
• Nate says Backwards Compatibility is going to be a feature on the Switch 2. His only fear is how they'll incorporate the eShop considering how terrible it is. His concern is them needing to overhaul the eShop because if they have BC, they'll need to support every game or almost every game and that's gonna be a lot to take on for the Switch 2. John thinks the same thing about the eShop (it being dire) as he feels like the eShop was only designed to be used in the first year of the Switch, lmao. Nate's hoping that Nintendo has a good approach to the eShop 2 but he's going in with the expectation that BC will be basic as in you can play your Switch 1 games on your Switch 2. He does not expect to see enhancements or performance boosts like we've seen with Xbox's backwards compatibility program. The only thing Nate foresees is "if a game had unlocked frame rate, it would go to a higher frame rate by default". John was expecting for the Switch 2's power to fix performance problems, dynamic resolution scaling, in cases of unlocked frame rates it makes games 60fps and developers being able to patch games if they want. John thinks Nintendo is gonna be incredibly cautious with how they handle all of this, but expect to see some natural improvements.
• Nate thinks there will be a ton of developers that, rather than doing a patch, will want to re-release their games with all the bells and whistles (Nintendo included, he uses Bayonetta 3 as an example) to recuperate the cost of fixing games rather than just dropping patches

Nintendo 2024 Predictions: Switch 2 Reveal & Launch Timing, Back-Compat & More (ft. Digital Foundry)

I can see the logic in what is said here.

We got rumours out of GDC last year. It will be way harder to keep everything under wraps this year, all for the sake of Nintendo officially revealing Switch 2 a month or 2 later. They won't want their thunder stolen.

And Nintendo don't have a lot of big games left on Switch, most of what are coming besides Princess Peach: Showtime! are remasters of old games like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door or Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. A partner showcase could let 3rd parties announce what's left for Switch, while Nintendo keep the new Switch 2 games for a later Direct. I can see the initial reveal possibly just talking about the hardware.

There's been the rumours of HI-FI Rush and Sea of Thieves coming to Switch. And Microsoft are making some announcement next week about their games going to other platforms. It could tie in with a Partner Direct.

No, I think you've misunderstood, the point was being made to include a PS5 Digital instead of a Switch because it can make the most of the 4K TV.