Nintendo Switch 2 detailed to Activision last year

Nintendo has been briefing “key partner studios” on its next-generation Nintendo Switch hardware ahead of the console’s reported 2024 release, according to multiple reports. Activision is one of the companies that Nintendo has briefed, according to multiple reports.

Email chain and attached document from December 2022 are heavily redacted but show that Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick and Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Fuukawa met on Dec. 15, 2018. Chris Schnakenberg sent the document to Rana Brahma, platform strategy director and Activision’s chief financial officer Armin Zeraz, who then passed it on to Kotick.

Almost nine entire pages are redacted, with only a small note on the next-generation Switch’s performance expectations left visible:

We can make a compelling product for the NG Switch based on our past offerings and the performance alignment with Gen8. We would like to have early access and test the development hardware early.

The majority of the page is redacted with a large black box, but some text remains: “Given the closer alignment to Gen8 platforms in terms of performance and our previous offerings on PS4 / Xbox One, it is reasonable to assume we could make something compelling for the NG Switch as well. It would be helpful to secure early access to development hardware prototypes and prove that out nice and early.” — A heavily redacted document regarding Nintendo’s next-generation console filed as part of the FTC v. Microsoft case.

The document purports that Nintendo’s upcoming new console performs more closely to Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 than the Switch. Other than that new tidbit, there’s not much else known about the system; it’s reported to use an LCD screen rather than an OLED display, and to be playable as a portable console just like the existing Switch. Nintendo showed the console with a more powerful version of The Legend of Zelda Breath of the WildYou can also find out more about the following: The Matrix: Awakening’ Unreal Engine 5 demo, VGC reported.

There are no details on when Nintendo’s new console could be released, aside from a launch window reportedly set for the second half of 2024.

As for the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger case with the FTC, a judge ruled in Microsoft’s favor in July, before the FTC appealed the decision later that week. What is the connection between Nintendo’s products and this case? That’s because of Call of Duty exclusivity — or, rather, a lack thereof. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have pledged to make the game accessible on every platform, including Switch. It was whether the game would continue to be released on Sony’s platforms, however, that was a big sticking point for the FTC. Sony and Microsoft signed an agreement on July 17th, just days after the court ruled that the merger was approved. Call of Duty will remain available for PlayStation users over the next 10 year period.

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