Comments on the latest Digital Foundry podcast suggest that there are many developers that are still struggling to obtain Nintendo Switch 2 development kits.
On DF Direct Weekly #228 (via Nintendo Everything), hosts John Linneman and Oliver Mackenzie shared their findings from discussions they had with developers at last week’s Gamescom 2025 event.
Linneman: “Nintendo seems to be almost discouraging Switch 2 development to some degree, where I’ve spoken with plenty of developers where they were either told that their game… they should just ship it on Switch 1 and rely on backwards compatibility. There’s a lot of developers that are unable to get Switch 2 dev kits. We talked to a lot of devs at Gamescom this year and so many of them said the same things. They want to ship on Switch 2. They would love to do Switch 2 versions. They can’t get the hardware. It’s really difficult right now.”
Mackenzie: “I don’t really understand the strategy because, like you said, even now developers are struggling to get systems. And I know that some months ago when we’re, you know, hearing things through the grapevine and talking to people, there were some weird exclusions with some big developers struggling to get kits for games, from what we’ve heard. And there were some weird inclusions as well, like some indies were included which is nice to see but like there’s that campfire game – you know, the camera campfire game – and they’re getting kits, and some big developers, on the other hand – who developed AAA stuff – aren’t necessarily in the pipeline there for kits.”
Linneman made similar comments on another DF Direct Weekly podcast from March, before the Switch 2’s launch. He said: “Based on a lot of the things I’ve heard, it also seems like many, many, many, many developers are still without kit.”
The “campfire game” Mackenzie referred to is Chillin’ by the Fire, which was revealed in last month’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase presentation. It is available now on Nintendo Switch 2.
The discussion begins in the video below, from the 8:25 mark.
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Written by Reece Heather
A lifelong Nintendo fan and a longtime editor at Zelda Universe, Reece will forever be grateful that he somehow dodged the Naughty List of Christmas 1998, when Santa delivered the life-changing gift of a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mario Kart 64. When he's not playing games, Reece is usually reading Punisher comics, delving helplessly into the weirdest depths of anime and manga, or spending time with his cocker spaniel Gracie -- the goodest girl ever!
