Nintendo Holding Up Switch 2 Reviews Over Day-One Patch

The Switch 2 is likely to be one of the biggest console launches ever, but it might be hard to find actual hands-on reviews of the device when it first comes out. That’s because Nintendo isn’t sending out early units to press and content creators, according to a new report by The Game Business. It’s a highly unusual headscratcher that has some third-party publishers flummoxed.

“The games press will not be receiving Nintendo Switch 2 consoles until just before it comes out,” writes The Game Business’ Chris Dring (it’s a great newsletter you should subscribe to). He reports that some in the media won’t get their review units until launch day on June 5, with Nintendo blaming the delay on the need for a major day-one patch. The Switch 2 launches right before Summer Game Fest, a busy period for big game announcements and new trailers that could delay in-depth coverage of the new console even further.

It’s a major departure from how Nintendo handled the rollout of the original Switch back in 2017, when the company was still licking its wounds from the disastrous Wii U console generation. With the long-awaited The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild being available at launch, the Mario maker made sure outlets had access to the Switch more than a week in advance in order to both test the new hardware and complete the sprawling open-world RPG.

Delaying hands-on access to the Switch 2 until the same time as the general public suggests the hardware is either coming in hot—a possibility bolstered by the apparent urgency of a day-one software patch—or Nintendo simply doesn’t care about building pre-release hype with early Switch 2 reviews and all of the hands-on videos and social media buzz that flows from them.

The console is already expected to sell over 15 million units in its first year, with shortages seemingly likely at launch and into the summer. Everyone knows what the Switch can do, and for the most part the Switch 2 is just a bigger, better version of that existing product. Most fans have probably already made up their minds one way or the other.

Delaying Switch 2 reviews seems of a piece with Nintendo’s evolving direct-to-consumer approach, beginning years ago with Nintendo Directs and culminating recently in a dedicated standalone news app for the new hardware. Though it also seems of a piece with a lot of ambient weirdness around the release of the Switch 2 that’s detracted from otherwise positive assessments of the hardware at preview events.

But that doesn’t mean the review delays are good for everyone else. Insight into any major shortcomings or bugs that need to be ironed out ahead of launch could be the difference between someone paying hundreds of dollars over the $450 price tag to a scalper on eBay, or just waiting until more inventory is available closer to the 2025 holiday season.

One PR rep at a third-party developer with a launch game for the Switch 2 told The Game Business that the “lack of independent critical validation” now makes them wonder if they should have waited to release their game until a few weeks after the dust had settled around the new hardware. We’ll know how it all shakes out in just a few weeks when Nintendo’s next console generation kicks off in June.

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