Two former Nintendo of America staff have discussed the ongoing Switch 2 leaks, saying they will have caused significant disruption inside the company and affected Nintendo’s ability to surprise its fans.
Recent Switch 2 leaks have included the company’s alleged reveal release date, games reportedly set to hit the next-gen console, and even mockups of the device. Meanwhile, images of the Switch 2’s motherboard and Joy-Con have hit the internet, giving fans an idea of what to expect while also sparking further speculation. Nintendo has described mockups and leaked images as “unofficial.”
In a video published to their YouTube channel, former Nintendo PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang discussed the likely impact the Switch 2 leaks will be having inside Nintendo itself, based on their over decade-long experience at the company and having had to deal with a number of leaks in that time.
“I am 100% sure that they are really mad, to the most severe level,” Yang said. “We joke around about the hot exclamation mark emails. They are hot hot hot. How many exclamation marks could be at the end of this? They are very, very, very upset by this.”
The pair went on to talk about the disruptive impact leaks have on staff at Nintendo, and suggested being dragged into an investigation this close to the Switch 2’s alleged reveal will have negatively affected the staff’s ability to focus on the launch of the console itself.
Yang described a “high stress situation” internally when staff are forced to deal with leak investigations on top of their normal work. “It’s a highly chaotic situation in there right now and a real pressure cooker.”
“They do have very good people who investigate these things,” Ellis said. “They will eventually get to the bottom of it.”
As a result of the leaks Nintendo may find it harder to surprise its fans, Yang said. “It’s impacting the way we are all going to view this official announcement,” Ellis added.
One thing both Ellis and Yang were keen to address is speculation that Nintendo itself might be behind the leaks. That’s highly unlikely, they said. “Nintendo did not do this on purpose,” Ellis said, before describing lectures staff would have to sit through on the “value of surprise.” “Nothing we do is more important than surprising, and we would sit there and say, ‘we get it,’ “ Ellis continued. “There is absolutely nobody trying to do this on purpose.
“This really does have a very disruptive impact on what the company is trying to do now, which is announce and launch a new console, which is hard enough as it is.”
As a result of the extensive Switch 2 leaks, Nintendo will likely reevaluate its product security, Ellis suggested. The pair pointed to the fact Nintendo hasn’t launched hardware of this magnitude in eight years, since the original Switch’s March 2017 release. As a result, Nintendo’s processes for hardware reveals may need some work.
Of course, Nintendo has yet to officially reveal anything about the system, and all these claims are subject to change or total debunking. A formal announcement is expected in the first quarter of this year, Nintendo has said.
Here’s what we know for sure: Nintendo has confirmed that the yet-to-be-announced Switch 2 will be backward-compatible with original Switch games and will feature Nintendo Switch Online. As for a release date, the console is not expected to launch during Nintendo’s current financial year, so it will arrive April 2025 at the earliest.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
