Nintendo reportedly ‘sent lawyers’ to Genki’s CES booth over Switch 2 Mockup

On January 14, 2025By Littum

Genki, the accessory maker at the heart of the Switch 2 mockup furore coming out of CES 2025, was reportedly visited by Nintendo’s lawyers.

Genki told the press that it did not sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Nintendo, however, and therefore “has nothing to worry about.”

Last week, Nintendo broke its silence on the various Switch 2 models and images that have been leaked, insisting that they were not official, but declined to comment on their accuracy. The Japanese arm of CNET released a Nintendo statement in response to Genki’s high-profile Switch 2 mockup, which it brought to CES 2025 in Las Vegas and showed off to the press. According to AutomaticNintendo told CNET that “the game hardware that Genki introduced as Nintendo hardware at CES is unofficial and was not supplied to the company by us.”

Genki also published a video showing a render of the Switch 2, which followed several leaked images of the next-gen console. Automaton said Nintendo told Japan’s Sankei Shimbun these photos and videos “are not official”.

IGN sat down with Genki at CES 2025 to find out more about its Switch 2 mockup. At the time, Genki insisted that the mockup was based on a real Switch 2 system it had seen and used as the basis for its accessories. A Genki representative expressed surprise at the fervor over the company’s mockup, saying they felt all information about the Switch 2 had already been leaked, and Genki wasn’t saying anything new. “I didn’t expect this much media attention, to be honest,” they told IGN at CES.

Genki subsequently withdrew. Automatic reported that a Genki representative admitted to Japanese publication Play*Kick that its Switch 2 mockup was based on leaked information that had already been circulating in the industry, and that it hadn’t actually seen Nintendo’s next-gen console, despite insisting that it had just days before.

Now according to The Game Postit has emerged that Nintendo’s lawyers visited Genki’s CES booth after its Switch 2 mockup took off online. Speaks in a video published on YouTubesaid French journalist Julien Tellouck: “I spoke to the guy from Genki, right behind me. He told me that Nintendo had already sent lawyers their way. But Genki has nothing to worry about because they never signed any papers with Nintendo , no non-disclosure agreement, no NDA.”

NDAs are often signed by accessory manufacturers to prepare their products for upcoming unannounced releases. However, based on this latest comment, Genki was not involved in any Switch NDA with Nintendo. The question now is whether Nintendo will take action against Genki, who, it’s worth noting again, changed his tune about seeing an actual Switch 2 just days after CES.

While Genki’s mockup seemed to add significant weight to a growing pool of previous leaks about what the Switch 2 will be, Nintendo has yet to officially reveal anything about the system, and all of these claims are subject to change or outright debunking. A formal announcement is expected in the first quarter of this yearNintendo has said.

Other reports suggested The Joy-Con’s alleged sensor can be used to turn the controller into a mouse. Meanwhile, alleged retail listings for the Switch 2 MicroSD Express card have suggested that the console will support the newer SD card standard in 256GB and 512GB form.

So what was Genki’s Switch 2 mockup based on if it wasn’t real Nintendo hardware? Follow the appearance of alleged images of the Nintendo Switch 2’s internalsfresh pictures allegedly showing the next generation of the console’s Joy-Con appeared online earlier this month. The images, which show a left Joy-Con, were reportedly first posted on a Chinese social media site before making their way to the Nintendo Switch 2 subreddit and Western social media.

They include larger SL and SR buttons than on the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, as you’d expect since the Nintendo Switch 2 is said to be a larger console than the original. These new Joy-Con reportedly ditch the shiny locking method used by the current Switch in favor of electromagnetic suction controllers.

In September, unconfirmed images – a mix of computer-aided design (CAD) images and printed circuit board (PCB) photos – said to have originated on a Chinese website before they came to Reddit, depicted a device similar to the existing Switch console but with a larger screen and magnetic Joy-Con. There is also reportedly a USB-C port on the top and bottom of the console.

Accompanying the images was a purported specs list that mentioned 12GB of RAM (the original Switch has 4GB) and 256GB of internal storage (the original Switch has 32GB). There is supposedly a new “C” button on the right Joy-Con, but no one seems to know what it is.

We also have one patentfiled in July 2023 but released for the first time last week, detailing AI image upscaling technology that will help keep video game download sizes small enough to fit on a physical game cartridge while offering up to 4K textures.

Here’s what we know for sure: Nintendo has confirmed that the yet-to-be-announced Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with original Switch games and will include Nintendo Switch Online. Nintendo has also said it will announce the Switch 2 by the end of March 2025, meaning the reveal is fast approaching. As for a release date, the console is not expected to launch during Nintendo’s current fiscal yearso it will arrive in April 2025 at the earliest.

We even have that developers directly say that they plan to release their upcoming games on the consolewith others are teasing a Switch 2 release for their game. When Switch 2 eventually comes out, Nintendo expects to have plenty of stock availablewhich in turn will hopefully combat scalping.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].

Genki Nintendo Switch Mockup images from CES 2025