While the Nintendo Switch 2 was not formally present at CES 2025 last week, the next-gen handheld console was one of the stars of the show. Third-party accessory makers unaffiliated with Nintendo came to the show with Switch 2 dummy units on hand, as well as a variety of accessories and various claims about the console.
Reports from the show claimed the Nintendo Switch 2 release date is set for April, when all these accessories will also be available in stores. While that release schedule makes sense for the next-gen handheld, there was a crazier Switch 2 claim at CES. The console is supposedly selling on the black market if you have the cash for it.
The claim came from accessory makers, with some suggesting their accessories might have been designed based on the actual console rather than a 3D-printed accessory.
What’s unusual about the claim is that we didn’t have other details. If the console is selling on the black market, why didn’t it leak? And why isn’t anyone talking about the software changes Nintendo might have made to the Switch successor?
The simplest conclusion might be that accessory makers are just making things up to drive interest in their products. But it looks like others are making similar claims online. The Nintendo Switch 2 might be selling on the black market, though you shouldn’t get too excited.
Intrepid Redditors spotted a post on the Famiboards forum from a user who found a well-known leaker’s Switch 2 claim online.
The Famiboards user referred to an Apple leaker known as Kang on Chinese social media. This person is supposedly an executive at an accessory maker. Kang apparently posted mysterious messages about the Switch 2 last November. Since then, he just posted an even stranger message. Here’s a machine translation of it:
In recent days the real console is available for trying on accessories. I dare not try.
The implication is clear here. The Switch 2 might be available for purchase on the black market to some people.
If that’s the case, it’s unclear where the Switch 2 is selling or how much it would cost. Another option is for someone with official access to Switch 2 prototypes to offer (or sell) access to the unit.
All of this is speculation based on what people say online, so we can’t get very far. I could not find Kang’s post myself.
I will remind you that we started seeing Switch 2 dummy units that matched rumors several weeks before CES 2025. That’s what usually happens with unreleased devices, especially highly coveted ones.
We see dummy units for next-gen iPhone models leak every spring, several months before production starts. That doesn’t mean iPhone prototypes leak every spring, but the dummy units accessory makers create to test their cases and screen protectors often do.
At the same time, some products do start selling on the black market before their official release. We have seen this happen with Google’s Pixel phones. More recently, Apple’s base M4 MacBook Pro model started selling on the black market in Russia weeks before the official launch.
It wouldn’t be surprising if some Switch 2 prototypes or even finished products suffered the same fate.
On the other hand, the same issues remain with such a claim. We don’t have real-life photos of the Switch 2 sold on the black market. Similarly, we don’t have images or videos showing the console’s operating system.
Either (or both) would indicate that someone obtained access to the console when they shouldn’t have. Game developers aren’t likely to leak such information, as they wouldn’t risk their relationship with Nintendo ahead of the Switch 2 launch.
Then again, if the Switch 2 is being sold on the black market, Nintendo would surely be aware of the problem. They might try to locate the lost or stolen units and maybe even brick the units in the wild to prevent further leaks.
