Why is Nintendo still so secretive with announcements? Switch 2 feels oddly empty for the future

Midway-AGNC-

Midway-AGNC-

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One thing that has been bothering me lately is how little Nintendo is willing to show about its future, especially now that we're heading into the Switch 2 era. Right now, this is basically what we know is coming:
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Jan 15, 2026)
  • Mario Tennis Fever (Feb 12, 2026)
  • Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (2026)
  • Splatoon Raiders (TBA)
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park (2026)
  • Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (2026)
And that's… kind of it.

A part of this lineup is made up of re-releases or enhanced versions. That's fine as supporting content, but even if you count Splatoon as a system seller, which it arguably is for a large portion of Nintendo's audience, where is the big, forward-looking hit that generates long-term hype for 2026 and beyond? There's still no clear flagship reveal on the horizon, no major new IP, and no ambitious sequel that signals what the platform's future really looks like.

What makes this feel worse is the contrast with what we just saw at the Video Game Awards. Other publishers weren't shy about revealing games planned not only for 2026, but even further out. Whether those games slip or not is beside the point. Those announcements give players a sense of direction, a roadmap, and confidence that something substantial is being built.

Nintendo's philosophy, on the other hand, still revolves around announcing games at the last possible moment. One of the most common defenses of this strategy is the idea that announcing games early is inherently bad, because some titles end up being revealed five years before launch. But that's an extremely binary and exaggerated way of framing the issue. The alternative to announcing a game five years early isn't to announce everything two months before release and keep the future completely opaque. There is a wide middle ground between those extremes.

Even vague reveals, early teasers, or project confirmations help establish momentum and long-term confidence. Right now, Nintendo's silence doesn't feel disciplined, it feels unnecessarily closed off. Instead of building anticipation, it creates uncertainty and invites speculation about whether the next few years are actually planned out or just being drip-fed year by year. Another argument that often comes up is that Nintendo is in a position of comfort, "swimming in money," and therefore doesn't need to worry about hype cycles, communication, or public perception. But financial success doesn't invalidate criticism. If anything, it raises expectations.

At this point, the question isn't whether Nintendo can afford to stay quiet, it's whether this continued secrecy is actually beneficial for the Switch 2 ecosystem in the long run. Wouldn't it make more sense to show what's coming, set expectations, and give players confidence in the platform's future instead of keeping everything hidden until the last minute?

Curious to hear what everyone thinks.

Edit: Pokopiia, Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven are also coming.
 
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I keep telling myself it's because the next 3D Mario is juuuust around the corner.

I'm almost out of clown makeup.
 
I was mostly just hoping given the long wait for the Switch 2, Nintendo would've had more saved in the chamber vs the Switch 1.

This is roughly about the same, just sans a big Zelda game to start.

Either way, I'm gonna wait on the OLED model, and they'll have more games by then.
 
They just dropped some huge ip lol Metroid prime 4 , DK, and a new Mario kart. It's literally been less than a year. And they have a lot of new games being ported over.
 
I don't know. That's seems stacked for my tastes? Especially when compared to the competition. We all know they're sitting on more announcements. It's only a matter of time.

Don't sleep on Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven in early 2026 btw. Not Switch 2 exclusive, but compelling games nonetheless.
 
leo-j said:
They just dropped some huge ip lol Metroid prime 4 , DK, and a new Mario kart. It's literally been less than a year. And they have a lot of new games being ported over.
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Right?

Its almost like some here need an exclusive every month
 
This honestly doesn't feel much different than their previous console releases IMO. Feels more of the same if anything. Nothing worse, nothing better. I think that people that have a Switch 2 and are actively playing it are pretty happy, and that's what matters most. I mean, some pretty big games have come out since launch.

Plus it's the holiday season and the stock is actually easy to get to now. So, after releasing some pretty big games recently, they probably want to observe how things go through the holiday. Can't be releasing too much at once cause then they'd just be competing with one another.
 
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Futaleufu said:
Its likely many projects never get pass prototype phase. Why announce something you are not sure it will release?
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Do you really think what we know right now is literally everything Nintendo plans to release in 2026? Sure, a lot of projects die in prototype. That happens to every publisher. But using that as a reason to barely show anything at all makes no sense.

We just had the VGAs and tons of games were announced for 2026 and even 2027. That didn't stop people from getting excited. If anything, it did the opposite. People know plans change, delays happen, and projects evolve. Nintendo obviously has more stuff in development than what's been revealed so far. Keeping it all under wraps until the last minute doesn't make the lineup look stronger, it just makes the future feel weirdly empty.
 
Nintendo doesn't usually like to talk about upcoming games during the holiday season. They prefer to talk about their currently available products.

Further plans will probably be revealed early next year in a Direct.
 
I think it's fine. There are several first party games already announced for next year (Mario Tennis, Fire Emblem, Yoshi). Some exclusives like that Pokémon ditto animal crossing whatever-the-fuck game it is will help carry it. Third party support is pouring in (next month we get Final Fantasy 7, followed by Dragon Quest 7, Yakuza 3, RE9, 007, Pragmata, etc.) to the point that a lot of the things announced at the Game Awards last night are actually also coming to Switch 2 (LEGO Batman, Out of Words, Mega Man, Orbitalis).

And that's not counting the pretty solid release schedule they've had this year with stuff like Mario Kart, DK, Pokémon Z-A, and Hyrule Warriors.

We'll probably get a Nintendo direct in the spring (or earlier) and see what Monolithsoft is cooking. Even if it's a Xenoblade remaster or something, I'm totally down. We're 100% getting something Zelda related announced closer to the movie to hype it up. Probably also reveal several more big first party titles then.

Personally, I'm sick of the "Star Wars Fate of the Old Republic is a 2030 game" and "Elder Scrolls VI hasn't even started production" bullshit. Keep the loop tight. A few months is fine, announcing a game six months before release should be the maximum in my opinion.
 
My Hope is that they start giving dev kits to everyone cause third party support feels weak atm, aside from Ubisoft and Capcom a can name at least 40 major releases from these least couple years that have no annoucment for the SW2.
 
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leo-j said:
They just dropped some huge ip lol Metroid prime 4 , DK, and a new Mario kart. It's literally been less than a year. And they have a lot of new games being ported over.
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To be fair all these games were SW1 projects, they moved two of them to SW2 otherwise the console would be release without any exclusive games.

And you forgot about pokémon ZA
 
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jshackles said:
A few months is fine, announcing a game six months before release should be the maximum in my opinion.
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That's exactly the problem and the core of the criticism. Why does Nintendo need to operate like this? If a game is still in early development and there's real uncertainty about whether it will even ship, fine, don't announce it. No issue there.

But when a project is clearly in an advanced stage, close to completion, and especially when it's a major title, waiting until just a few months before release to say anything starts to feel extreme and unnecessary. At that point, the risk is minimal and the upside of communicating is huge.

I actually agree with you that announcing a game around six months before release should be the maximum in most cases. The problem is that Nintendo often pushes even that logic to an extreme, turning "reasonable caution" into near-total silence. That's where it stops being smart strategy and starts hurting long-term excitement and confidence in what's coming next.

SpokkX said:
This is the Nintendo way

And it seems to work - 15 million sold

Also in 6 months you have more true exclusives than the other consoles already
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Fine, then announce it already.
 
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I think Nintendo feels like they got burned by the protracted hype cycles for Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, and Tears of the Kingdom during the Switch era. Every Direct, speculation focused heavily on whether we would get more information about one of those three titles, which they might feel negatively impacted their ability to promote smaller titles and really focus attention on their key annual tentpole games.

I'm not sure if there's any truth to this, given how well many of Nintendo's first party Switch titles sold, but it seems like they really want the hype time horizon for any given title to be about six months now, for better or worse.

Personally, I guess I can see why they don't want people fixating on Holiday 2026 titles right now, but I hope they announce their major year end titles for next year in, like, January or February and not June.
 
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Nintendo is just annoyingly secretive ever since covid, possibly cos they got burned by announcing games like Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, TOTK, etc early in the Switch 1 gen, only for them to end up taking forever to make it to shelves.

Nowadays, they usually sit on their games until they're a few months away, so that the release date is set in stone and they don't have to worry about having to delay it.

It stinks, but it's just how things are now. There are almost certainly multiple first party releases for 2026 we know nothing about yet.

EDIT: Ah, just saw this was already explained a post above, my bad
 
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Midway-AGNC- said:
One thing that has been bothering me lately is how little Nintendo is willing to show about its future, especially now that we're heading into the Switch 2 era. Right now, this is basically what we know is coming:
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Jan 15, 2026)
  • Mario Tennis Fever (Feb 12, 2026)
  • Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (2026)
  • Splatoon Raiders (TBA)
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park (2026)
  • Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (2026)
And that's… kind of it.

A part of this lineup is made up of re-releases or enhanced versions. That's fine as supporting content, but even if you count Splatoon as a system seller, which it arguably is for a large portion of Nintendo's audience, where is the big, forward-looking hit that generates long-term hype for 2026 and beyond? There's still no clear flagship reveal on the horizon, no major new IP, and no ambitious sequel that signals what the platform's future really looks like.

What makes this feel worse is the contrast with what we just saw at the Video Game Awards. Other publishers weren't shy about revealing games planned not only for 2026, but even further out. Whether those games slip or not is beside the point. Those announcements give players a sense of direction, a roadmap, and confidence that something substantial is being built.

Nintendo's philosophy, on the other hand, still revolves around announcing games at the last possible moment. One of the most common defenses of this strategy is the idea that announcing games early is inherently bad, because some titles end up being revealed five years before launch. But that's an extremely binary and exaggerated way of framing the issue. The alternative to announcing a game five years early isn't to announce everything two months before release and keep the future completely opaque. There is a wide middle ground between those extremes.

Even vague reveals, early teasers, or project confirmations help establish momentum and long-term confidence. Right now, Nintendo's silence doesn't feel disciplined, it feels unnecessarily closed off. Instead of building anticipation, it creates uncertainty and invites speculation about whether the next few years are actually planned out or just being drip-fed year by year. Another argument that often comes up is that Nintendo is in a position of comfort, "swimming in money," and therefore doesn't need to worry about hype cycles, communication, or public perception. But financial success doesn't invalidate criticism. If anything, it raises expectations.

At this point, the question isn't whether Nintendo can afford to stay quiet, it's whether this continued secrecy is actually beneficial for the Switch 2 ecosystem in the long run. Wouldn't it make more sense to show what's coming, set expectations, and give players confidence in the platform's future instead of keeping everything hidden until the last minute?

Curious to hear what everyone thinks.
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I mean this is the way to do it to be honest. I'd much rather have them announce games and then get to play them 6 months later vs what Sony & Microsoft do (announcing games several years in advance, oftentimes with a year+ between updates).
 
Because look at what happened with MP4, they announced it way too early with just the logo, then changed development and took forever to release. BotW took too long to come out after officially announcing it. Just show and release a game within a one or two year window.
 
analog_future said:
I mean this is the way to do it to be honest. I'd much rather have them announce games and then get to play them 6 months later vs what Sony & Microsoft do (announcing games several years in advance, oftentimes with a year+ between updates).
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This is exactly what I'm talking about though. This sounds less like a reasonable argument and more like an alarmist take mixed with damage control. Why is everything framed as extremes? It's always either "announce everything years in advance like Sony and Microsoft" or "say absolutely nothing until six months or less." That's a false choice. There's a very obvious middle ground that keeps getting ignored.

Using the exception as the rule doesn't make the strategy any more convincing. Yes, some publishers announce games too early and go silent for years. That doesn't mean revealing anything beyond a short window is automatically bad or unworkable. The aversion to even acknowledging that a middle-ground strategy exists is what feels strange here. A bit more transparency doesn't suddenly turn Nintendo into Sony or Microsoft, and it wouldn't magically create five-year hype gaps either. It would just make the future feel planned instead of hidden.

ShadyAcshuns said:
Because look at what happened with MP4, they announced it way too early with just the logo, then changed development and took forever to release. BotW took too long to come out after officially announcing it. Just show and release a game within a one or two year window.
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Right, so we're going to use one or two high-profile examples as the rule for everything now. By that logic, the entire industry should just stop announcing anything beyond a very short window. Imagine if that mindset was applied across the board. We wouldn't have had half of the announcements at the VGAs, including games coming in 2026 or 2027 that people are already excited about.

MP4 is an exception, not some universal law of game development. Every publisher has projects that get rebooted or take longer than expected. Using those cases to justify permanent near-silence just feels like overcorrecting. A one to two year window is perfectly reasonable. That's literally the middle ground people keep refusing to acknowledge. Treating a few outliers as proof that anything beyond that is a mistake doesn't really hold up.
 
Midway-AGNC- said:
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Jan 15, 2026)
  • Mario Tennis Fever (Feb 12, 2026)
  • Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (2026)
  • Splatoon Raiders (TBA)
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park (2026)
  • Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (2026)
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As far as announced games go, that seems pretty solid to me. On par with Sony and MS.
 
In the vast majority of cases, Nintendo likes to announce games with gameplay. They use Directs announce games for the coming months and that seems to work.

We'll see the next round of annoucements in Febuary.

Edit: Also we know Nintendo has Pokopiia in March. Plus a new Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven for Switch.
 
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Midway-AGNC- said:
This is exactly what I'm talking about though. This sounds less like a reasonable argument and more like an alarmist take mixed with damage control. Why is everything framed as extremes? It's always either "announce everything years in advance like Sony and Microsoft" or "say absolutely nothing until six months or less." That's a false choice. There's a very obvious middle ground that keeps getting ignored.

Using the exception as the rule doesn't make the strategy any more convincing. Yes, some publishers announce games too early and go silent for years. That doesn't mean revealing anything beyond a short window is automatically bad or unworkable. The aversion to even acknowledging that a middle-ground strategy exists is what feels strange here. A bit more transparency doesn't suddenly turn Nintendo into Sony or Microsoft, and it wouldn't magically create five-year hype gaps either. It would just make the future feel planned instead of hidden.


Right, so we're going to use one or two high-profile examples as the rule for everything now. By that logic, the entire industry should just stop announcing anything beyond a very short window. Imagine if that mindset was applied across the board. We wouldn't have had half of the announcements at the VGAs, including games coming in 2026 or 2027 that people are already excited about.

MP4 is an exception, not some universal law of game development. Every publisher has projects that get rebooted or take longer than expected. Using those cases to justify permanent near-silence just feels like overcorrecting. A one to two year window is perfectly reasonable. That's literally the middle ground people keep refusing to acknowledge. Treating a few outliers as proof that anything beyond that is a mistake doesn't really hold up.
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It's an alarmist, damage control take to state that I don't need to know about upcoming games more than 6 months out? lol the fuck?


I don't need a "middle ground" between 6 months and 5+ years. I don't need to know about games 2 years in advance any more than I need to know about them 5 years in advance. Just show me the games when they're ready. This is particularly true with Nintendo, because we know Nintendo has the games coming. The aren't just sitting on that unmatched cornucopia of IP doing nothing.
 
Midway-AGNC- said:
By that logic, the entire industry should just stop announcing anything beyond a very short window.
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Yes. That would be much better than doing it 4-8 years out.
Midway-AGNC- said:
We wouldn't have had half of the announcements at the VGAs, including games coming in 2026 or 2027
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That would be just fine by me. We don't need to know about games that far out. TES VI showing a logo what? Three or four years ago already, with no release in site was a terrible idea, for instance. Makes you wonder if some of the games shown last night will even be out for this generation. That's fucked up.
 
Nintendo is always operated on their own time. It suck but what can you do? If you are going to wait for Nintendo announce a certain game you want or like then good luck with that. Nintendo can announce the next Mario platformer, Zelda, or a new IP, but having us wait when they are ready to announce any thing relate to their 1st party games like the next 3D Mario. We as the gamers or Nintendo fans got no choice but to wait when Nintendo is ready to announce it. That why I'm glad to own more the 1 gaming systems.
 
Many reasons but this is one. They are letting the holiday slate finish up then they will hype up the next run of games.

They also probably have a switch 2 lite in the wings they are holding back for the same reason. To prevent cannibalization.

I think they want a minimum time between announcement and game release.

Anybody that is waiting for a certain game or a certain hardware will buy when that comes out regardless of when they tell us about it. They already have the mindshare, so no need to spoil the surprise.
 
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Dacvak said:
I keep telling myself it's because the next 3D Mario is juuuust around the corner.

I'm almost out of clown makeup.
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I bought a Switch 2 for my nephew for Christmas and I can't believe I still had to buy Odyssey as the main 3D Mario game. Edit: and it's still 60e btw, an 8 years old game.
 
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Midway-AGNC- said:
By that logic, the entire industry should just stop announcing anything beyond a very short window.
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YES! You've got it!

No game needs to be announced more than 6 months before release and they should only be announced 6 months before release if the developer is 100% sure they can hit the release date target with no delays.

In a perfect world, games wouldn't be announced until they had gone "gold" and were 1 - 2 months away from release.
 
Poppinfresh said:
As far as announced games go, that seems pretty solid to me. On par with Sony and MS.
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You can't really compare the level of ambition here. Yes, the number of announced games might look similar on paper, but the type of games being announced is very different. Outside of Splatoon and maybe Mario Tennis, Nintendo's current Switch 2 lineup is mostly made up of remasters, enhanced editions, or smaller-scale franchises like Yoshi and Fire Emblem. Those aren't big, forward-looking bets meant to define the platform's next phase.

Meanwhile, Sony and Microsoft are anchoring their lineups with large, high-budget projects like Marvel's Wolverine, Fairgame$, Intergalactic, Fable, State of Decay 3, Forza Horizon 6, and The Outer Worlds 2. These are clear statements of long-term ambition. So saying the lineups are "on par" just because the list length is similar misses the point. This isn't about quantity, it's about scale, intent, and what those announcements say about the future of each platform.
 
analog_future said:
It's an alarmist, damage control take to state that I don't need to know about upcoming games more than 6 months out? lol the fuck?


I don't need a "middle ground" between 6 months and 5+ years. I don't need to know about games 2 years in advance any more than I need to know about them 5 years in advance. Just show me the games when they're ready. This is particularly true with Nintendo, because we know Nintendo has the games coming. The aren't just sitting on that unmatched cornucopia of IP doing nothing.
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ShadyAcshuns said:
Yes. That would be much better than doing it 4-8 years out.

That would be just fine by me. We don't need to know about games that far out. TES VI showing a logo what? Three or four years ago already, with no release in site was a terrible idea, for instance. Makes you wonder if some of the games shown last night will even be out for this generation. That's fucked up.
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Poppinfresh said:
YES! You've got it!

No game needs to be announced more than 6 months before release and they should only be announced 6 months before release if the developer is 100% sure they can hit the release date target with no delays.

In a perfect world, games wouldn't be announced until they had gone "gold" and were 1 - 2 months away from release.
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Sorry but the reactions to the VGA announcements proves how out of touch you are, lol.
 
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Nintendo's being stupid here. If they're NDA'ing 3rd parties from announcing games at big events like the VGAs, they've earned some scorn.
 
Kacho said:
Don't sleep on Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven in early 2026 btw. Not Switch 2 exclusive, but compelling games nonetheless.
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I'm more excited for Rhythm Heaven than any other upcoming game.

I imported the original the week it came out, and it's still my favorite GBA game. And every subsequent Rhythm Heaven has been incredible.

Truly can't wait for that game.
 
KyoZz said:
I bought a Switch 2 for my nephew for Christmas and I can't believe I still had to buy Odyssey as the main 3D Mario game. Edit: and it's still 60e btw, an 8 years old game.
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This is the gaming equivalent of getting mad that the restaurant still charges full price for the best dish on the menu eight years later
 
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Durin said:
I was mostly just hoping given the long wait for the Switch 2, Nintendo would've had more saved in the chamber vs the Switch 1.

This is roughly about the same, just sans a big Zelda game to start.

Either way, I'm gonna wait on the OLED model, and they'll have more games by then.
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That's my plan, wait for 3D Mario and Zelda or Xenoblade (or whatever is next for Monolith) as well as OLED refresh.

I am not in any hurry as there are no must have games for me and even my kids aren't really excited for anything on S2.
 
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analog_future said:
Or maybe the record breaking sales numbers of the Switch/Switch 2 hardware and virtually every modern 1st party Nintendo game proves how out of touch you are.
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ShadyAcshuns said:
How can you legitimize such a loaded statement? You sound like a kid who gets mad when their parents don't know who their favorite pop artist is.
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Poppinfresh said:
or like a kid who gets mad because Nintendo exists.
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These replies kind of prove my point better than anything I could add. Notice how the response isn't actually engaging with the argument about communication strategy, timing of announcements, or long-term confidence. It immediately jumps to sales numbers and then straight into personal attacks. As if criticizing Nintendo's approach somehow equals "hating Nintendo" or being mad that the company exists.

That's exactly the problem. For some people, Nintendo isn't just a company, it's an identity. Any criticism, no matter how measured, gets treated like a personal insult or an attack on their childhood. The moment you say "maybe Nintendo could handle this better," it turns into "you're a kid," or "you're salty because Nintendo is successful." And the irony is that this is precisely what I addressed in the original post. Financial success doesn't invalidate criticism. Being successful doesn't mean every strategy is beyond questioning. If anything, success raises expectations.

Dismissing any discussion with "they sell a lot, therefore shut up" isn't an argument, it's pure fanboy damage control.
 
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2026 I don't expect anything major.

2027 could be:
-new 3D Mario
-new Zelda
-Zelda oot remake
-Zelda link to the past 2.5HD remake
-something kid Icarus ?

If they just 4k 60fps update more NS1 games in the meantime and maybe add a Wii virtual console offering I'd be happy.
 
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