While we typically see a bigger Nintendo Direct in September, the gamemaker is squeezing in two smaller showcases this week to highlight upcoming indie and third-party games. But if you were hoping for news on the Switch 2, or whatever Nintendo ends up calling its long-rumored Switch successor, you’re out of luck.
Nintendo has announced a back-to-back Indie World Showcase and Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase on Tuesday, August 27, which you can catch on Nintendo’s YouTube channel. The roughly 40-minute-long event kicks off at 7 a.m. PT / 10 a.m. ET, but the company included an important caveat in a follow-up post on X (formerly Twitter): “Please note, there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during either of these presentations.”
While disappointing, the news comes as little surprise given recent insider reports suggesting the earliest we could see a Switch 2 launch is April 2025. We do finally have a window for the handheld device’s official reveal though. In May, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that a next-generation Switch will be announced “this fiscal year,” meaning the company has set itself a March 31, 2025 deadline to reveal a Switch successor.
Join us tomorrow, August 27 at 7am PT, for an #IndieWorld Showcase followed by a #NintendoDirect Partner Showcase! The livestream, featuring both presentations back-to-back, will be roughly 40 minutes in total.Watch here: https://t.co/SyxftK1vRR pic.twitter.com/tIs15ggQaMAugust 26, 2024
The Big N’s remained tight-lipped on any details about the Switch 2. The latest rumors suggest that Switch 2 will get a major power boost that could rival handheld PCs like the Steam Deck. Unconfirmed spec leaks from earlier this year claim the Switch 2 could upgrade to 12GB of RAM, offer a larger 8-inch display, and add built-in microphones to its controllers. But with no official word yet from Nintendo, this should all be taken with a grain of salt.
What to expect from Tuesday’s Nintendo showcase
Instead of a Switch successor, you can expect Tuesday’s back-to-back showcases to highlight upcoming games headed for the Switch. In the past, Partner Directs have focused on third-party Switch titles, though Nintendo has occasionally snuck in trailers for its smaller-scale first-party series, as we saw earlier this year with the announcement of Endless Ocean Luminous.
Rumor has it Nintendo will announce a remaster of MySims, a cult classic Wii and Nintendo DS series spun off from EA’s main life simulation game The Sims. Last week, fans of the franchise on ResetEra first spotted several European retailers list a Nintendo Switch version of the game. It remains unclear whether this version, if legit, will be a full remake or remaster or fall somewhere in between. The MySims series saw its last new release in 2010 and was ported to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, but has yet to come to the Nintendo Switch.
And of course, there’s the potential announcement that’s haunted every Nintendo Direct for years now— Hollow Knight: Silksong, the long-awaited sequel to Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight. Odds are fans will be met with silence yet again, but with the Switch 2 finally getting confirmed after years of radio silence, who knows? Maybe lightning will strike twice.
