Nintendo officially responds to Switch 2 leaks, confirms Genki doesn't have Switch 2 console

Nintendo has delivered a predictable response to the recent Switch 2 leaks that have taken over the internet.

The Switch 2 might be the worst kept secret in gaming. Renders of what are believed to be the next-gen device have been making the rounds, and some peripheral makers have been brazen enough to 3D print the mockups and outright exhibit their products over recreations of the unofficial, technically non-existent hardware.

Genki, who makes add-ons like controllers and chargers for the Switch, did just that. The company had created a shell mock-up that it said was based on a real retail version of the Switch 2. This pressured Nintendo to come out and clarify that no, Genki did not in fact have access to a Switch 2 console, and that what everyone is seeing isn't actually official Nintendo designs.

"The gaming hardware that Genki is claiming to be Nintendo hardware at CES is unofficial and was not provided to the company by Nintendo," a company spokesperson told CNET Japan.

Nintendo also gave a similar statement to Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, telling the publication that nothing about Genki's depictions of the Switch 2 were genuine:

"The images and videos are not official," a rep said.

This is a typical response for Nintendo, who has denied the existence of the Switch successor for quite some time. Some clues have trickled in and it's believed the Switch 2 will use a new 8nm Tegra Orin-based chip with built-in Tensor cores capable of facilitating DLSS upscaling for a measure of AI-assisted 4K gaming.

There's also evidence the Switch 2 could support higher-end micro SD Express cards to deliver SSD-like speeds in a small form factor.