Nintendo Switch 2: Shuntaro Furukawa efficiently shrugs off Activision, Gamescom, and patent rumors

Recent comments made by Nintendo’s Shuntaro Furukawa about the Switch successor have left certain corners of the Internet ablaze with speculation about the Nintendo Switch 2. Some have read the Japanese-language report from the website for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper and have come to the conclusion that Furukawa has outright denied the Switch 2’s existence and poured scorn on some of the major reports about the rumored device: the Activision CFO’s comments, the Gamescom “appearance”, and the dual-screen patent. What he has actually said is something like this (according to machine translation):

Rumors are circulating mainly on the Internet as if they were public information, but they are inaccurate.

For instance, Furukawa simply said “not true” when asked if Nintendo had talked shop about a next-generation (NG) Switch with “a specific software maker in ‘22”. This clearly alludes to the report that Activision had informed Nintendo that it could make “compelling” games for the NG Switch. So, depending on how this could be interpreted (or misinterpreted), Furukawa may have been discussing general business with Activision and then received that message without making any prior statement about the Nintendo Switch 2 himself.

Another rumor is described as a demonstration of “a new model at an overseas event in the summer of ‘23”, and this obviously points to the well-known Gamescom report about the Nintendo Switch 2. However, it seems Furukawa has been asked if a “new model” was shown, which is something he can easily deny as not true, as the articles from VGC and Eurogamer at the time mention “tech demos”. In fact, the article from VGC explicitly states that demonstrations were made “on hardware targeting the new console’s specs”; there is no claim that actual Switch 2 hardware was shown at the event.

Last but not least, Furukawa made a comment about the patent application that has been floating around the web recently showing a dual-screen device. He made this statement:

We are filing the application with the understanding that (patent information) will be made public, and it does not mean that it will be installed in future products as it is.

Companies file patents continuously with any idea that might become useful in the future, but it is widely known that many patents are not acted upon any further than the initial research to create the application in the first place. The Nintendo Switch 2 might come with a single display or turn up as a dual-screen console, but if it doesn’t exactly match the patent drawings, as it likely won’t, then Furukawa cannot be accused of being disingenuous here. It’s also worth pointing out how unlikely it would be for Nintendo’s chief to offhandedly confirm any Switch 2 details in this manner anyway.

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