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The Kat Take: A Busy Week for Nintendo News, Both Good and Bad
But the Switch 2 just keeps printing money.
Kat Bailey
June 27, 2025
It’s been quite a busy week for Nintendo news, both good and bad.
And where have I been? Well, dear reader, I’ve been prepping for my annual charity stream supporting Trans Lifeline, producing a show for San Diego Comic-Con, and getting ready for an unexpected trip to the UK. Busy! But at least I’ll get to play some Mario Kart on the plane, right? Okay, here we go!
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Table of Contents
The Kat Take: The Switch 2 doesn’t need AAA third-party support to thrive
Half the headlines that came around this week could have been their own newsletter. Here are some of the ones that jumped out at me.
Much adieu about Masahiro Sakurai: Over the weekend, Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai comment on the rising costs of game development grabbed notice among industry watchers, not the least because some of the translations made it seem like he was advocating for generative AI. Here’s the version of the quote translated by IGN.
I think it is becoming unsustainable to continue producing large games on the scale that companies currently do, as it requires too much work.” he said, before suggesting generative AI as a potential tool for helping to solve this problem. (...) the only effective breakthrough I can think of at the moment is generative AI. I think we are getting to the point where (AAA studios) have to change their way of working by using gen AI to improve work efficiency. I think we are in an era where only the companies that successfully respond to these changes will be able to survive.
This sparked a furor among some fans, who assumed that Sakurai was advocating for AI development practices. But his broader point seems to be that the games industry has become unsustainable amid rising costs and lengthening development cycles – something most reasonable could agree with. Sakurai himself is currently working on Kirby’s Air Ride, with one rumor claiming that
Mario Kart World fans revolt: Meanwhile, not all is well in the world of Mario Kart. It seems that fans were able to find a workaround that allowed them to play traditional three lap online races, only for the latest patch to remove it. It was classic Nintendo, and the move quickly sparked a revolt among fans and a wave of memes that is ongoing.
Personally, I think Nintendo should just let people play the way they want – even if it is, as Kotaku described it, the Mario Kart equivalent of No Items Final Destination. But Nintendo has always been quite rigid in the way that it has curated its gameplay experiences, and this is just the latest example.
Hardware Unboxed has tested this with their tools and the results are even worse than the previous article. We're talking 30+ms here. This isn't really acceptable...and I think it could be improved in firmware, which I feel they should consider. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB67...
— John Linneman (@dark1x.bsky.social)2025-06-24T11:33:47.683Z
Switch 2 screen woes: Okay, I don’t mean to lean so much into controversy this week, but there’s a lot of it to go around. Digital Foundry’s John Linneman has been among the folks leading the discussion about the Switch 2’s screen which, to put it mildly, is not good. Actually, it’s pretty bad, with one site measuring its average response time at 17.06 ms – more than double the average. Hardware Unboxed’s tests are even worse – 30+ ms. The high average response time manifests in smeared visuals and other artifacts, particularly in retro games like Super Mario World, and is difficult to unsee once you’re aware of it.
“This isn't really acceptable...and I think it could be improved in firmware, which I feel they should consider,” Linneman wrote on Bluesky.
Of all these stories, this one bums me out the most. I’ve been collecting dedicated handhelds since the days of the original Game Boy, and I’ve always put a premium on a great screen. Coming off the Switch OLED, the Switch 2 does indeed feel like a noticeable downgrade. A firmware update may fix some issues, but it seems like it might take a hardware refresh to get to a good place here.
Switch 2 is getting another GameCube game: The other night my partner texted me and asked, “Are we going to play the best soccer game of all time on Switch 2?” She was referring to 2005’s Super Mario Strikers, which drops next week on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, joining Zelda: Wind Waker, Soul Calibur II, and F-Zero GX. Confession time: I’ve never played Super Mario Strikers, but I do love soccer (football), and the original game has a positive reputation among Nintendo sports fans. I’m going to play this one when I head to the UK next week.
Despite everything, Nintendo can’t keep up with the demand: You’d think that many of the headlines I listed above would put Nintendo in trouble, but nope, they can’t keep up with demand. During Nintendo’s 85th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which took place earlier this week, president Shuntaro Furukawa reportedly apologized for not being able to meet demand. Here’s the machine translated quote from an article on Nintendo Life:
Currently, in many countries, the demand for Switch2 exceeds the supply, and we are unable to meet it. We understand that some shareholders have also been unable to obtain it. We started accepting lottery sales at My Nintendo Store in April. The response far exceeded our expectations, and I announced in my name on X that there were 2.2 million applicants, along with an apology.
Since then, we have conducted four lottery sales, but some people were not selected. We have announced that the fifth lottery will take place starting in July. Many general retailers have also conducted lottery sales. The number of stores offering in-store sales is gradually increasing.
As a company, we are working to improve our production system to deliver as many units as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this initial demand, which greatly exceeded our expectations.
To borrow a very old meme, the Switch 2 just prints money.
More Nintendo Reading: Will the Switch 2 be the last of its kind?
Nintendo Life has a new interview with Undertale creator Toby Fox, in which he calls Delta Rune “the equivalent of like two and a half Undertales at this point.”
This article rounds up more of the translated quotes from the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
Joshua Rivera explains why the Switch 2 may be the last of its kind in a new article on Slate. Mini Kat Take: I think hobbyists will always exist, but I agree that the industry has taken an unsettling turn.
A new article on GameSpot talks about why the Blue Prince doesn’t have a satisfying ending, and why it doesn’t need one.
Because I’m kind of obsessed with Magic: The Gathering these days, I can’t resist sharing this news about Sonic the Hedgehog (and Tails! And Knuckles!) getting their own Magic cards. It’s ridiculous. It’s dumb. It’ll be extremely successful.
Nintendo Pictures helped make Death Stranding 2, which released earlier this week and is getting rave reviews. Alas, I don’t think it’ll be on Switch 2 anytime soon.
Nintendo is currently holding a summer sale through July 9, featuring price cuts for Mairo 3D World, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade, among other first-party games.
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