The wait is nearly over. After years of rumours and speculation, Nintendo is finally set to lift the lid on the Nintendo Switch 2 at its upcoming Nintendo Direct event on 2 April.
While the console was first teased back in January via a brief first-look trailer, details were scarce. The video appeared to back up several long-standing rumours, including magnetically attached Joy-Cons, a larger display, a refreshed design and a glimpse at a new Mario Kart game, but Nintendo stopped short of confirming anything outright. However, more information is starting to trickle out as the full reveal draws closer.
On 27 March, Best Buy Canada accidentally published (then quickly deleted) a blog post revealing that pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 will open on 2 April. This matches the original Switch’s launch strategy, which opened pre-orders immediately after the reveal. That same day, Nintendo shared new promo images of the console, finally solving the mystery of the square button on the right Joy-Con.
With the big event just days away, we won’t have to wait long for the official breakdown. In the meantime, here’s everything we know so far about the Switch 2’s price, release date, specs and more.
Nintendo Switch 2 release date: When is the console coming out, and when can you pre-order?
While Nintendo hasn’t announced an exact release date for the Nintendo Switch 2, the company has confirmed it will arrive in 2025. It also announced that it will reveal all at a Nintendo Direct event on Wednesday 2 April at 2pm GMT in the UK.
Based on current leaks and a bit more speculation, we can narrow down when we might see it hit store shelves. On 13 January 2025, games insider Nate the Hate was the first to correctly announce Nintendo’s plans to unveil the Switch 2 on 16 January 2025. In his podcast, he speculated that the Switch 2 could launch in May or June this year, a claim supported by the games industry publication VGC.
To celebrate the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo is hosting hands-on experience days around the globe. They’ll take place in April, May and June, which makes us think the console could be released after the experience days. With the final experience day set for 1 June in Seoul, we’re leaning towards a release in the first week of June.
Fans interested in getting up close with the Nintendo Switch 2 were able to register for Nintendo’s free draw, but it closed on 26 January. If you didn’t get picked, you can join the waiting list. The UK experience day will take place at the Excel in London on 11-13 April.
In early February, a former Nintendo employee known only as Sean – who was reportedly a sales lead in Nintendo’s sales and retail department – speculated about the release date in the Kit and Krysta podcast. “I think we’ll see a June launch, I’m thinking probably mid-June, maybe a little bit later than that. But definitely before the end of the summer that thing’s coming out,” he said. “They’re going to want the system to be out before the end of the summer. I would say at the start of the summer – end of school year, so you’ve got the kids in school talking about what they’re excited for.”
Sean also stated that retailers don’t know the release date of the Nintendo Switch 2 – they’re just speculating. “When we know the launch date, that’s probably when retailers will know the launch date, or maybe a week or two in advance of that,” he said.
As for pre-orders, a recent leak may have just revealed the exact date. On 27 March, Best Buy Canada briefly published (and quickly deleted) a blog post claiming that pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 would open on 2 April, the same day as Nintendo’s Direct event. That timing would make sense: when the original Switch was announced in January 2017, pre-orders went live immediately after the presentation. If history repeats itself, we could see a similar rollout here, with pre-orders opening straight after the Direct.
The lack of a release date hasn’t stopped retailers from getting the Mario Party started early, however. You can already register your interest at Currys, so you’ll be the first in line when you’re finally able to pre-order the console. ShopTo is going one step further and letting customers reserve their console now for 1p, and paying the full price once the console has been dispatched.
Nintendo Switch 2 price: How much will the console cost?
While Nintendo remained tight-lipped about the console’s price in its first-look trailer (and is unlikely to reveal more details until closer to the release date), Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa has given us some positive clues. In a recent earnings call, he hinted the console could be more affordable than some had first thought.
In early February, Nintendo announced its third-quarter financial results; in a Q&A afterwards, Furukawa said the company was prioritising “the affordability that our customers expect from Nintendo products”, though he admitted high inflation and Donald Trump’s export tariffs could have an impact. Still, his comments on a less-than-predicted price hike are promising.
It seems likely the Nintendo Switch 2 will cost the same as or more than the Nintendo Switch OLED, which is currently priced at £309.99. Analysts who spoke to IGN predict a price of around $400 (£330), $50 more than the Switch OLED in the US.
In early February, an Italian retailer listed the Nintendo Switch 2 on its website, letting customers pre-order the console before it has even been fully unveiled. The system is priced at €389.99 (£325), making it only slightly more expensive than the Nintendo Switch OLED.
It’s unclear whether the retailer has inside knowledge of the pricing or if this is just a placeholder, with pre-orders potentially being amended once Nintendo officially announces the price. Still, the listing aligns with comments from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, suggesting the console may not be as expensive as some had feared.
Another Nintendo Switch 2 price leak surfaced over the weekend. In a post (only shown to registered members) on Famiboards, a Costco Canada employee showed what was supposedly a placeholder listing for a new Switch model in Costco Canada’s internal system, priced at $499.99 CAD.
The post includes images of a backend product listing and a printed sign misspelt as “NINTENDO SWITCH PALCE HOLDER”. The poster isn’t claiming this is definitely for the Switch 2, but they did mention that in “five years of working there”, they’ve never seen a placeholder like this before. That’s a $50 CAD (£30) increase over the Switch OLED, which currently retails for $449.99 CAD in Canada, giving us more hope that the Switch 2 won’t be exceedingly expensive.
Again, Sean – the former Nintendo sales lead – says that we shouldn’t believe prices and release dates listed by retailers, stating that they don’t know anything at this point, but he speculated about the price when asked. “I can’t imagine it being too much more than $400… maybe $450 is the highest I can imagine,” he explained in the podcast.
Nintendo Switch 2 design
Nintendo gave us a quick first look at the Nintendo Switch 2 on 16 January with a flashy first-look trailer. While visually impressive, the trailer left many details unexplained, including a thorough breakdown of the console’s design and the functions of its new buttons. But here’s what we’ve gleaned from the trailer.
Just from the design alone, the Nintendo Switch 2 feels like a more grown-up console compared with the original’s playful, brightly coloured look. While the blue and red accents are still there, they’re more subtle – limited to the edges of the Joy-Cons and thumb sticks – while the rest of the console boasts a sleek black finish. The game cartridge slot is still in the same position, and your Switch 1 cartridges will work on the new model.
The size difference was apparent when Nintendo placed the Switch 2 alongside the OG model during the trailer. The console is noticeably larger, and so are the Joy-Cons and the display. In a previous report, OnLeaks and 91mobiles claimed the Switch 2 features an 8.4in display, larger than the 6.2in display on the original Switch and the 7in display of the Switch OLED.
The biggest upgrades seem to come to the Joy-Cons. Instead of the traditional rail-locking system, the trailer shows the Joy-Cons clicking on, potentially magnetically – a heavily rumoured upgrade. This could mean no more fiddling around to slide them into place, and it also makes them more stable. More importantly, it could finally solve the dreaded Joy-Con drift.
There’s also a new square button on the right Joy-Con, just below the Home button. While its purpose is still unclear, some speculated it might be for a new chat feature, and those speculations might be correct. Thanks to new promo images released on 27 March by Nintendo, we can see the button has a letter “C” on it, adding credence to the theory that Nintendo is introducing a chat or community feature to the platform.
One moment in the trailer showed a Joy-Con sliding across a surface like a mouse, hinting at mouse-like functionality, something that could open up a wealth of possibilities for the system. Few games use the Switch screen’s touch controls, for example, so mouse functionality could add new gameplay. Newly released February 2025 patents also give more information on the Joy-Cons potentially working like a computer mouse.
The dock looks broadly the same but has rounded corners instead of those sharper ones found on the original Switch, just making it look a lot sleeker. Hopefully, we’ll learn more in the coming weeks and months.
In early February, Nintendo filed a new patent that suggests users will be able to attach the Joy-Cons to the Switch 2 upside down. According to the patent, the Nintendo Switch 2 will have gyro-based screen rotation, similar to how a phone adjusts its display when tilted.
Nintendo Switch 2 launch games: What titles will come to the console?
Nintendo only revealed one game for the Switch in the reveal trailer – a new Mario Kart game running on the system. Excited fans have analysed frames in the trailer and spotted that there are up to 24 players on a race course at once. Tracks also appear much wider – Mario Kart titles have always limited gamers to 12 racers at once, and that’s already chaotic enough.
Speeding around the track on everything from bikes, karts and snowmobiles to quadbikes, lowriders, jet skis, and, yes even a cheetah, are some familiar faces, including Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Toad, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, Pauline, Donkey Kong, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Toadette and more (though they can’t all be made out clearly).
Then on 27 March, Nintendo hosted a new Nintendo Direct presentation, where it focused on upcoming titles for the current Switch system. In the presentation, Nintendo announced something called “Virtual Game Cards,” a new feature that lets users share digital games between devices linked to the same Nintendo Account. In the fine print detailing this feature, Nintendo mentioned “Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games”, suggesting that certain existing Switch titles will receive enhanced versions optimised for the upcoming Switch 2 console.
But what other games can we expect to see? In Nate the Hate’s podcast, the games insider speculated a new 3D Mario game will be released in December 2025, and third-party releases could include the Final Fantasy 7 remake, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.
We also know that both Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 will be launching in 2025, making them both likely launch titles. Nintendo has also scheduled a 2025 release for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam and a Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D remake.
In early February, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick hinted that GTA 6 could be coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, though we’re dubious about how well it will run – it might just be a pared-back port of the game.
Third-party developers have also started revealing titles for the Switch 2, though none are major AAA. They’re all essentially small indie offerings – we’re still waiting for the major developers to announce their games.
- Yooka-Replayee – Playtonic Games
- Littlelands – Rafael Martin and Kyle Creamer
- Bestiario – Wiggin Industries
- Synth Beasts – Radhood Advance
- Aurascope – Nick Oztok
- My Time at Evershine – Pathea Games
- Secret Forest – Zelcar Games
On 15 March, games insider eXtas1S, who has been accurate when it come to Xbox games news in the past but has a spotty record when it comes to Nintendo news, claimed that three Bandai Namco games would be coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 in a YouTube video.
According to eXtas1S, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero could be one of the launch titles, and Elden Ring and Tekken 8 could also be released for the system. “I can say that Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is expected to be one of the very first Bandai Namco games to arrive on the Nintendo Switch 2 at launch,” he said. “From what I’ve been told, the console will launch in late June 2025, and this game will be one of the launch titles.”
Nintendo Switch 2 specs
Nintendo has never been all that concerned with technical specs, so even when it hosts its Nintendo Direct event, the gaming giant still might not go into any substantial detail. Prior leaks could give us some idea, however.
The Nintendo Switch currently uses Nvidia’s (now very old) Tegra X1 chip, which features a 256-core Maxwell GPU. The rumours so far suggest that Nintendo will be sticking with Nvidia for the Nintendo Switch 2, despite stiff competition from AMD, which provided the chip for Valve’s powerful Steam Deck.
In September 2022, an Nvidia employee stated that the Nintendo Switch 2 would make use of a new Nvidia Tegra chip, specifically the Tegra T239 – a previously unconfirmed circuit that older rumours suggested the Switch 2 would use.
Nvidia’s sources once again backed up these claims in late February 2024. Games leaker Moore’s Law is Dead stated in a YouTube video that the leak from Digital Foundry about the T239 processor is an “almost entirely correct summary” of the Nintendo Switch 2. The insider claimed that the T239 has an Ampere GPU architecture and uses Samsung’s 8nm process node with 8GB, 12GB or 16GB of 128-bit LPDDR5 memory. That could make it as powerful as the PS4.
While there has been no word on 4K support, a 2021 patent filed by Nintendo suggested it was working on 4K upscaling. VGC added to this rumour in September when its sources were shown the Nintendo Switch 2 at Gamescon. According to the publication, “One Switch 2 demo is understood to have been an improved version of the Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, running at a higher framerate and resolution than the original game.”
VGC’s source saw The Matrix Awakens running on the machine, which was used as an Unreal Engine test demo for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. “The demo is said to have been running using Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology, with advanced ray tracing enabled and visuals comparable to Sony’s and Microsoft’s current-gen consoles,” the report reads.
In September 2024, photos of prototype components leaked on a Chinese website. According to Digital Foundry, the leak “was genuine”. Alongside the alleged photos, another user leaked a reported full spec list of the console. The leak stated it would have 256GB of storage, 12GB of RAM and HDMI 2.1 ports.
Based on the leaked specs, the Switch 2 won’t be as fast as the PS5 or Xbox Series X, but it has more RAM than the Xbox Series S, making it more similar to the Steam Deck.
We’re unlikely to hear official information about the specs until the console is in the hands of the experts, though an FCC filing has given us a little more insight. As spotted by The Verge, there’s an NFC chip in the right Joy-Con, suggesting the Switch 2 will continue to support Amiibos. The filing also suggests the console will be able to charge from both the top and the bottom USB-C ports, and that it will use Wi-Fi 6.
The best Nintendo Switch deals
With the Switch 2 officially on the way, the Switch OLED is starting to come down in price. “Its colourful display, better build quality and bigger storage make buying the Nintendo Switch OLED a no-brainer,” we said in our review of the console. Right now, you can pick it up with a discount on Amazon.
We’ve rounded up the best Nintendo Switch games for every kind of player
