Nintendo Switch 2 launch plans leave gamers baffled

According to a report from one outlet, Nintendo has concocted a rather odd “three-phase strategy” for the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch… and fans are already concerned that it will massively impact the system’s library of games at launch.

As revealed in a report from Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, “various sources” have stated that the Nintendo Switch 2 “will launch its games in a three-phase strategy”, the first of which will “primarily” focus on first-party launch titles.

“According to sources, the second-stage will arrive in October-November for third-party studios, most of which are expecting the dev kits for the Switch 2 to be sent in June,” Henderson states.

“Finally, it was said that the third phase for games will be in the holiday period.”

That little tidbit about the development kits being sent out in June is the bit that’s worrying fans, however. When taken at face value, it implies that developers outside of Nintendo won’t be able to start porting or developing games for the system until, presumably, close to its release date.

Over in a thread on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit detailing the news, the commenters find this part of the leak alarming.

“Wait.... dev kits haven't been sent out?” commented user Ok-Confusion-202.

“Don't they usually get sent out like 1-2 years before the console launches?”

“Um… what were they doing all this time if they can’t get third party games out until the end of 2025… And Dev Kits being sent in June? Like after the console launches?” replied user MrPrickyy.

“Wtf lmao almost as if Nintendo is expecting Square Enix and FromSoftware to go pick up their switch 2 from Walmart.”

Personally, I think there’s something not quite right about this leak.

Insider Gaming is pretty spot on with their reporting however, so I have a feeling that it’s perhaps partially true and that their sources have misconstrued things.

The dev kits in question might be the final dev kit models, and the third-party developers have already had their hands on prototype dev kits for some time.

Alternatively, perhaps this final wave of dev kits is only being sent out to smaller, indie third-party developers.

The likes of Ubisoft, Rockstar Games and Electronic Arts would fall under the category of a third-party developer in this case, and I can’t imagine they haven’t already been sent dev kits to tinker with.

Thankfully, we probably won’t have long to wait until this one is confirmed or not, as the next Nintendo Direct that drops on April 2 is solely focused on the Nintendo Switch 2.