While the Nintendo Switch 2 has been out since June, it looks like development kits haven’t yet gone out to a lot of game developers yet. According to Digital Foundry, several developers at Gamescom 2025 noted that they are yet to get development kits that would allow them to develop their games for the Switch 2.
In a recent video, which you can check out below, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman noted that developers have been told by Nintendo to ship their games on the original Switch instead, relying on the Switch 2’s backwards compatibility to get their games on the new console.
“Nintendo seems to be almost discouraging Switch 2 development to some degree, where I’ve spoken with plenty of developers where they were either told that their game.. they should just ship it on Switch 1 and rely on backwards compatibility,” said Linneman. “There’s a lot of developers that are unable to get Switch 2 dev kits. We talked to a lot of devs at Gamescom this year and so many of them said the same things. They want to ship on Switch 2. They would love to do Switch 2 versions. They can’t get the hardware. It’s really difficult right now.”
In response, Oliver Mackenzie noted that this is a strange strategy by Nintendo, with even some bigger developers not having had much luck in getting their hands on Switch 2 development kits. He also pointed out that Nintendo has seemingly been inconsistent with its decisions about who gets Switch 2 development kits, since some indie developers have gotten their hands on them.
“I don’t really understand the strategy because like you said, even now developers are struggling to get systems,” said Mackenzie. “And I know that some months ago when we’re, you know, hearing things through the grapevine and talking to people, there were some weird exclusions with some big developers struggling to get kits for games, from what we’ve heard.”
“And there were some weird inclusions as well, like some indies were included which is nice to see but like there’s that campfire game you know the kind of camera campfire game and they’re getting kits and some big developers on the other hand who developed like AAA stuff aren’t necessarily in the pipeline there for kits.”
Interestingly, rumours about some developers not getting their hands on development kits for the Switch 2 first popped up before the console was even out. Back in April, a report by The Game Business indicated that a wide range of studios, from indie to AA developers had still been waiting. It is worth noting that this was after the Switch 2 was officially showcased to the world.
“New console audiences are often willing to try new things at the start, so we were desperate to get our hands on dev kits early,” said a AA development studio co-founder in the report. “Nintendo has finally responded to us, but we still don’t think we’ll get anything for a few months.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 has so far seen a combination of first-party and third-party releases, ranging from Mario Kart World to Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. The console is also slated to get the upcoming Hollow Knight: Silksong when it’s out on September 4. For more details, check out our review of the Switch 2 console.