Nintendo Skips Gamescom Amidst Switch 2 Rumours

thegamer.com:

Nintendo won't be attending Gamescom this year, skipping one of the largest industry events of the summer.

This comes amidst rumours that Nintendo is preparing to announce its next console, often referred to as the Switch 2. Recent reports suggest that it will be with us in early 2025, although we now know that it won't be revealed at Gamescom this August.

The news was just reported by VGC after Nintendo issued a statement to the German news site, Games Wirtschaft. This statement reads as follows (machine translated into English):

Gamescom is a central event in Nintendo’s event calendar. This year, however, after careful consideration, we decided against taking part in Cologne. Instead, players can try out the games for Nintendo Switch as part of other Germany-wide events.

While Nintendo has skipped Gamescom in the past, it has attended most years starting from 2010. Now, with the Switch seemingly on the way out, Nintendo may feel that it doesn't have much to show off without its successor, as many upcoming games are expected to launch on the next-gen hardware. Until this new console is revealed, Nintendo's lineup of upcoming games may not stack up to the offerings of Xbox and PlayStation, who are presumably still attending Gamescom this year.

If the rumours are accurate and the Switch 2 is set for an early 2025 release window, it remains to be seen how far ahead Nintendo is planning to announce it. The studio might cut it pretty close if the announcement isn't ready for Gamescom in August, although it is only speculation that this is the reason behind the decision to skip the event.

We haven't heard anything about the Switch's successor through official channels, but rumours have spread for some time now. As well as giving us an apparent release window, reports have also stated that the console will be backwards compatible with the Switch. This means you shouldn't have to dust off your old Switch to play your games, which is handy, as Nintendo is still