Earlier this week, it looked like we might have been given our first glimpse of what the Nintendo Switch 2 might look like thanks to mock-ups produced by accessory maker Genki that were shown off at CES 2025. Despite it originally being claimed that these mock-ups were molded based on the real thing, however, that may not be the case.
In an interview with Japanese outlet Game*Spark (highlighted and translated by Automaton), a Genki representative reportedly admitted that the Switch 2 cover accessory that the company had on display (not the mock-up) was created based on leaks, and its size isn't final. What's more, the person interviewed apparently said they'd not seen the real console. This seriously brings into question the legitimacy of the viral mock-ups – how would the company be able to mold those after the actual console, but apparently have to create a cover for it based on leaks instead?
Nintendo has also finally stepped in to address the situation, although it's still not revealing the real console. The company issued a comment to Japanese outlet Sankei Shimbun (translated by Automaton) saying that the images and videos that surfaced from CES 2025 are "not official." To be fair, that's not a shock – it was always clear that Genki was presenting mock-ups rather than actual hardware – but in case there was any doubt, Nintendo also reiterated to CNET that the "gaming hardware that Genki presented as Nintendo hardware at CES is unofficial and was not provided to the company by us." (Thanks again, Automaton.)
So, where does that leave us? Obviously, Genki seemingly creating the mock-ups based on other leaks rather than an actual look at the console gives the viral creations less credibility, but it doesn't necessarily debunk the whole thing if the leaks it was looking at end up being accurate. Nintendo weighing in is interesting, but its statements don't outright dismiss the mock-ups as inaccurate – it's seemingly just clarifying that the images and videos weren't of an official Nintendo-manufactured product, which we knew.
Once again, it seems we'll have to be patient. Former Nintendo marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have both expressed that they believe the company won't budge from whatever date it already had in mind to reveal the console, even with all these supposed leaks and rumors circling around.
Accessory maker Genki already expressed that it "didn't expect this much media attention" over its Switch 2 mock-up because it thought all the information had already leaked.
