Even though the Nintendo Switch is continuing to sell at an impressive rate, and even though it still has a a handful of major upcoming releases for users to look forward to, in the seventh year of its life, it’s no secret to anyone that by this point, Nintendo must be well underway with preparations for its next console.
To that end, it seems a studio in Spain has received a development kit for the Switch successor. That’s as per @NWeedle on Twitter, who has had a track record of accurate leaks in the past, most notably with information on Metroid Dread leaked more than year before its official announcement.
As per the leaker, a Switch 2 (or whatever Nintendo’s next console ends up being called) development kit has been received by a studio in Spain. Though the studio hasn’t been named, considering the studio’s relationship with Nintendo (not to mention NWeedle’s leaking track record), the developer in question could be MercurySteam, the studio behind Metroid Dread and Metroid: Samus Returns.
Interestingly enough, as spotted by users on Reddit, the leaker has also liked a Spanish video on YouTube that claims that studios with the dev kit are using the original Switch’s Pro Controller for now, with Nintendo wishing to keep the new console’s secret a secret and hoping to avoid any sort of leaks. That could suggest that the company will yet again be experimenting with the controllers.
It was claimed in reports earlier this year that development on the next Nintendo console was progressing well, but that it wouldn’t be out until spring 2024 at the earliest.
More recently, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick also said that he had had active discussions with Nintendo about its next-gen console, which Kotick presumes will be roughly as powerful as the PS4 and Xbox One.