Although Nintendo stated that yesterday’s Switch Direct would not contain any information about the Switch 2, the company actually referenced the console a number of times during the stream. Nintendo confirmed that its Nintendo Today! news app, which sadly isn’t launching in South Africa, will be the best place to catch up on Switch 2 news, and that Switch 2 Edition games are on the way too.
The Switch 2 Edition games were mentioned as part of the Virtual Game Card announcement. The feature lets users manage and share their digital games in a new, convenient way. You can eject digital games from one console and load them into another. In addition, you can also lend games to family members for two weeks at a time.
However, the interesting part of this new feature is the mention of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games. It is too early to make the call on whether or not these are “enhanced” editions of current Switch games upgraded for the new console, but it sounds likely.
On the Nintendo press release where the Virtual Game Card was detailed, Nintendo clearly separates the two versions of games on the Switch 2. They say that both “Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives games” and “ Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games” can only be loaded on a Nintendo Switch 2 system.
This gives us a hint that these Switch 2 Edition games are likely newer versions of existing games which have been upgraded for the new console. Of course, this could mean anything right now, but if you think about it, a Switch OG game would just be called a Switch game, whereas the Switch 2 Edition sounds like games which have been ported specifically for the new console and won’t be simply leveraging backwards compatibility.
We don’t have long to wait to see what Nintendo is going on about with this news. The company is expected to showcase the Switch 2 in full next week during a special Direct stream. Reports claim we’ll get the release date and pricing for the console during the stream. In addition, hands-on experience events are expected to kick off next week too. The first location is New York, which has leaked online in a quick video showing off the exterior.
