Genki, the accessories manufacturer at the heart of the Switch 2 mockup furore coming out of CES 2025, was reportedly visited by Nintendo’s lawyers.
Genki told the press it did not sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Nintendo, however, and so “has nothing to worry about.”
Last week, Nintendo broke its silence on the various Switch 2 mockups and photos that have leaked, insisting they are not official but failing to comment on their accuracy. The Japanese arm of CNET published a Nintendo statement in response to Genki’s high-profile Switch 2 mockup, which it brought to CES 2025 in Las Vegas and showed off to the press. According to Automaton, Nintendo told CNET that “the gaming hardware that Genki presented as Nintendo hardware at CES is unofficial and was not provided to the company by us.”
Genki also published a video showing a render of the Switch 2, which followed numerous leaked images of the next-gen console. Automaton said that Nintendo told Japan’s Sankei Shimbun these images and videos “are not official.”
IGN met up with Genki at CES 2025 to find out more about its Switch 2 mockup. At the time, Genki insisted that the mockup was based on a real Switch 2 system it had seen and used as the basis for its accessories. A Genki representative expressed surprise at the fervor over the company’s mockup, saying they felt all the information about the Switch 2 had already leaked and Genki wasn’t saying anything new. “I didn’t expect this much media attention, to be honest,” they told IGN at CES.
Genki subsequently backtracked. Automaton reported that a Genki representative admitted to Japanese publication Game*Spark that its Switch 2 mockup was based on leaked information that had already been circulating in the industry, and that it had not actually seen Nintendo’s next-gen console, despite insisting it had just days before.
Now, according to The Game Post, it has emerged that Nintendo lawyers visited Genki’s CES booth after its Switch 2 mockup took off online. Speaking in a video published to YouTube, French journalist Julien Tellouck said: “I spoke with the guy from Genki, just behind me. He told me that Nintendo had already sent lawyers their way. But Genki has nothing to worry about because they’ve never signed any papers with Nintendo, no confidentiality agreement, no NDA.”
NDAs are often signed by accessories manufacturers so they can prepare their products for upcoming unannounced releases. But, based on this latest comment, Genki was not involved in any Switch NDA with Nintendo. The question now is whether Nintendo will take any action against Genki, which, it’s worth noting again, changed its tune about having seen an actual Switch 2 just days after CES.
While Genki’s mockup did appear to add significant weight to a growing pool of past leaks on what the Switch 2 will be, 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.
Other reports suggested the Joy-Con’s alleged sensor may be used to turn the controller into a mouse. Meanwhile, alleged retail listings for Switch 2 MicroSD Express cards have suggested that the console supports the newer standard of SD cards in 256GB and 512GB form.
So, what was Genki’s Switch 2 mockup based on if it wasn’t real Nintendo hardware? Following the appearance of alleged images of the Nintendo Switch 2’s internals, fresh images allegedly showing the next-generation console’s Joy-Con appeared online earlier this month. The images, which show a left Joy-Con, were reportedly first posted to a Chinese social media website before they made their way to the Nintendo Switch 2 subreddit and western social media.
They include larger SL and SR buttons than on the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, which you’d expect given the Nintendo Switch 2 is reportedly a bigger console than the original. These new Joy-Con allegedly ditch the railed lock method used by the current Switch in favor of electromagnetic suction controllers.
In September, unverified images — a mix of Computer-aided design (CAD) images and printed circuit board (PCB) photos — that were said to have originated from a Chinese website before making their way onto Reddit, depicted a device similar to the existing Switch console but with a larger screen and magnetic Joy-Con. There is reportedly a USB-C port on the top and bottom of the console, too.
Accompanying the images was an alleged specifications list that mentioned 12GB of RAM (the original Switch has 4GB), and 256GB of internal storage (the original Switch has 32GB). There’s a new “C” button on the right Joy-Con, allegedly, but no-one seems to know what this is for.
We also have a patent, filed July 2023 but published for the first time last week, that describes AI image upscaling technology that would help keep video game download sizes small enough to fit on a physical game cartridge while offering up to 4K textures.
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. Nintendo has also said it will announce the Switch 2 by the end of March 2025, which means the reveal is fast approaching. 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.
We even have developers outright saying they plan to release their upcoming games on the console, with others teasing a Switch 2 release for their games. When Switch 2 does eventually come out, Nintendo expects to have plenty of stock available, which in turn will hopefully combat scalping.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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