A source who leaked the existence of Metroid Dread says a Spanish studio has already received a Switch 2 dev kit, and many assume it’s MercurySteam.
Although Nintendo itself refuses to comment on new hardware, everyone knows that its next console is in the works and that at the very least it’s likely to be announced next year, if not released then.
If this is the case, it’s safe to assume that many studios already have dev kits (the modified consoles used to make games), so they can start producing titles for the Nintendo Switch 2 – or whatever Nintendo ends up calling it.
According to one source, an unnamed Spanish studio already has a dev kit and given there’s only really one famous Spanish developer that has a history with Nintendo that seems very likely to be Metroid Dread maker MercurySteam.
The rumour comes courtesy of Spanish Twitter user NWeedle, who in 2020 accurately claimed Metroid Dread would be the next 2D Metroid game and would launch for the Switch. This was more than a year before any formal announcement.
In their latest tweet, they don’t explicitly name MercurySteam, only saying the Spanish studio received a Switch 2 dev kit as part of a ‘boost in their relations’ and that they think this ‘indicates that we are in the last phases prior to the presentation of the console.’
Earlier this year, NWeedle claimed that MercurySteam had been tapped to make another 2D Metroid, which is aiming for a 2025 launch. Assuming they’re right about that, there’s even more reason for them to already have a dev kit.
While a Switch 2 release is probably happening sooner rather than later, it’s likely that Nintendo began sending out dev kits earlier this year or even 2022. After all, some studios were receiving PlayStation 5 dev kits as early as 2019, a year before the console itself launched.
There was also chatter of Switch 2 dev kits being sent out back in 2021, although there was uncertainty over whether that was literally the Switch 2 or the mid-gen Switch Pro upgrade – which is believed to have been cancelled due to the pandemic.
At the very least, Bloomberg reported that the kits were for hardware that could support 4K resolution.
Surprisingly, Nintendo publicly denied any such dev kits existed, which it doesn’t usually bother to do, but with the current Switch now over six years old it’s hard to believe the company would have no plans for its next console at this point.
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