A Nintendo job listing appears to hint at the existence of the long-rumored Nintendo Switch 2 and suggests that the console will be a “high-performance” machine.
The job listing is for a position within the Nintendo European Research and Development (NERD) team based in Paris, France, and calls for an engineer with experience in game development. As you might expect much of the listing is fairly boilerplate, but the “responsibilities” section may have given a few tidbits of information in regards to a next-gen Switch.
The listing notes that the position will require the ability “to explore, define and implement software solutions” and makes specific reference to “high-performance implementation” perhaps suggesting that the Switch 2 will be significantly more powerful than its predecessor. This would line up with previous reports that claim the next Nintendo console will pack Nvidia power.
The more juicy details come further down the listing where direct reference is made to “targeting current and next generation Nintendo platforms.” This is a pretty clear indication that Nintendo is at the very least considering what its next gaming platform will look like. Factoring in that the Switch turned six years old last month, it seems fairly likely that whatever comes next is in a reasonably advanced stage of development.
Are these the first Nintendo Switch 2 details?
The listing also explains that the position will involve working on “cross-platform development” which is another very strong hint that a Nintendo Switch 2 is indeed on its way. Of course, the phrase “cross-platform” could instead be a reference to the current Switch and mobile devices. But when you also take into account the text above, the existence of a Switch 2, or some other form of Nintendo hardware, is the most logical conclusion.
It’s also been theorized online that the use of the term “cross-platform” could mean that Nintendo plans to launch a Switch 2 while continuing to support the current model. Similar to how Sony has opted to release major games on both PS5 and PS4 over the last two years. Perhaps the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 will both receive the same first-party software for a period. Although, we hope this isn’t the case, as the first Switch is really starting to show its age at this point and could hold more ambitious game developers back.
It should also be noted that NERD has a history of working on emulation. Perhaps this job listing actually tells us that the current Nintendo Switch Online classic games catalog is being prepared to move across to whatever “next generation” platform Nintendo is cooking up. This would make sense as it seems unlikely that Nintendo will want to start the service from scratch on a hypothetical Nintendo Switch 2 after spending years slowly adding classic games to its library.
In any case, it definitely seems like something is brewing over at Nintendo, and this job listing is just the latest in a string of hints that the Switch 2 could well be real. This listing comes in the wake of a leaker claiming the next Switch and the PS5 Pro will share a similar launch window. With so many rumors and predictions swirling online, let's hope it's just a matter of time before we hear something official from Nintendo.
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