Nintendo showed off the Switch 2 to developers at Gamescom

In Cologne last month, Nintendo’s Gamescom public showroom lets you play Pikmin 4 and Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. But behind the scenes, the company was hiding more things.

Developer presentations for Switch 2 took place behind closed doors, Eurogamer learned, with partners showing technical demos of how well the system was designed to run.

The One Switch 2 demo is an upgraded version of the Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and is designed to hit the Switch 2’s larger target specs. (To be clear, this is just a technical demo. There’s no indication of a re-release of the game.) .)

Nintendo hasn’t publicly discussed its plans for the inevitable Switch successor, though its new hardware is widely expected to launch sometime in 2024. Word that it’s now being shown to outside developers comes as details begin to emerge about when it will be released. We might be able to do that. Watch the launch of the system.

A recent report speculated that the Switch 2 would arrive in the latter part of next year, with the development kits now in the hands of some major partners. This lines up with what Eurogamer has heard previously as well, though I understand Nintendo is keen to launch the system as soon as possible.

Nintendo has publicly announced a solid lineup of games to see the current Switch through the rest of 2023 and into the beginning of next year, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a remake of Super Mario RPG and the new WarioWare. It all comes this side of Christmas.

2024 will bring a new Princess Peach game and a port of Luigi’s Mansion 2. Meanwhile, the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 still has a “TBA” release date.

Nintendo did not comment when reached for a response.