Nintendo reportedly briefed Activision on its Switch 2 plans last year
The companies met in December to discuss Nintendo’s next-gen console
Nintendo reportedly briefed Activision Blizzard on plans for Switch 2 late last year.
That’s according to internal Activision materials that have emerged as part of Microsoft’s legal battle with the US Federal Trade Commission, which were viewed by The Verge.
According to the materials, Activision executives, including CEO Bobby Kotick, met with Nintendo executives, including president Shuntaro Furukawa, to discuss Switch’s successor on December 15, 2022.
Briefing materials sent to Kotick ahead of the meeting by Chris Schnakenberg, head of Activision’s platform strategy and partner relations, appear to suggest that the company expected the console’s performance to be comparable to PS4 and Xbox One.
“Given the closer alignment to Gen8 platforms in terms of performance and our previous offerings on PS4 / Xbox One, it is reasonable to assume we could make something compelling for the NG Switch as well,” he wrote. “It would be helpful to secure early access to development hardware prototypes and prove that out nice and early.”
However, appearing as a witness in July as part of Microsoft’s court battle with the FTC, Kotick claimed Activision was unaware of the specifications for Nintendo’s next console.
Kotick, who admitted he’d made an error of judgement in not bringing Call of duty to Switch given the console’s commercial success, was asked if it was likely that future series entries would be released for new Nintendo hardware.
“I think we would consider it once we had the specs but we don’t have any at present,” he said.
Asked again, he reiterated: “Like I said, once we get the detailed specifications—we missed out on the opportunity on this past generation with Switch—so I would like to think we’d be able to do that, but we’ll have to wait until [we get the] specifications.”
Further reading
Sources: Nintendo targets 2024 with next-gen console
Nintendo is yet to officially comment on plans for its next console. However, according to VGC sources, the company has dispatched Switch 2 development kits to key partners, with a launch planned for the second half of 2024.
The platform holder also showed off tech demos for its Switch successor behind closed doors at Gamescom, it’s understood.
