Nintendo Switch 2 Direct: how to watch and what to expect

Years of waiting are finally coming to an end (one more time). After a short reveal earlier this year, Nintendo is finally lifting the entire lid on the Switch 2. On April 2, the company will host a Direct presentation entirely built around the console. While Nintendo has been tight-lipped on what exactly will be shown, you can expect it to give us a release date, price, and launch games at the very least. It’s sure to be one of the biggest live stream presentations of the year, so you won’t want to miss it — even if you aren’t planning on buying a Switch 2 right now.

Want to make sure you catch it when it airs? We’ve got you covered. Here are all the details for April 2’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, including when it airs, when you can watch it, and what you can expect to see during it. And if you can’t watch it live, we’ll be recapping it all live as it happens.

When is the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct?

The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct is set to air on Wednesday, April 2. It’ll kick off at 6 a.m. PT, so fans on the west coast will need to wake up bright and early for it. Nintendo has yet to say just how long it’ll be, but its 2017 Nintendo Switch reveal lasted just over an hour. You can likely expect about the same here.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Where to watch the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct

As is the case with every Nintendo Direct, you’ll be able to stream it on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel. We’ll embed the placeholder video in this article as soon as it goes live. We also expect that Nintendo will embed the stream into its own website if you feel like watching it there instead.

What to expect from the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct

Don’t go into this assuming it’ll be another teaser: This is going to be a full blowout. If it’s anything like the Nintendo Switch reveal stream in 2017, you can expect an overload of information that covers everything from hardware to online service tweaks to games. The most fundamental thing we’ll likely get here is a price and release date. The 2017 showcase revealed that the Switch would be coming out just two months from then, so it’s likely we get a similar timeline here. That would put Switch 2 at a June release, which lines up with rumors. Price is a total mystery, though, as it’s unclear if President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs will impact the system. If the price seems much higher than you’d expect from a Nintendo console usually, you might be able to deduce why.

We’ll likely learn a whole lot more than that, too. We still don’t know the Switch 2’s specs, so we could here them here. If it’s capable of outputting in 4K, Nintendo will want to champion that. We’re likely to get a lot more detail on how the “mouse-con” controllers work. Also possible is an update on how Switch Online will work this time around, though Nintendo may skip that if it’s largely the exact same service as what we saw on Switch. There’s only going to be so much time here, so you likely won’t see Nintendo wasting too much explaining things that haven’t changed.

Of course, the biggest attraction here is the games. We know next to nothing about what’s coming to Switch 2 and this is Nintendo’s moment to change that. Mario Kart 9 and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are sure to play a big role in the stream, but you can expect some major surprises. A new 3D Mario game feels likely considering how long it’s been since Super Mario Odyssey. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on some kind of Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing games too. Expect a few third-party games in the mix too, as that was a big part of Nintendo’s 2017 stream.