Rumor: Nintendo had denied Embracer Group Nintendo Switch 2 dev kits due to chaos at the company

Imran Khan, a games journalist who previously leaked Everybody 1-2 Switch, has claimed that Nintendo had denied Embracer Group development kits for Nintendo Switch 2.

Khan says that Nintendo “deemed them too chaotic”, with that information being based on what was happening around eight months ago. He added that the company was “afraid the kits would go to studios that would then be closed down and then the kits might have gone missing.” Groups that were later sold off from Embracer and later checked back in apparently had more luck.

Embracer Group has shown a significant amount of instability in recent years. Aside from studio shutdowns and selloffs, many games have been cancelled and a good chunk of the company’s workforce was let go.

Today’s tidbits about Embracer comes as Digital Foundry’s John Linneman has noted that “many, many, many, many developers” still don’t have Nintendo Switch 2 development kits. This applies to “a lot of medium to small developers” with Nintendo being “very selective with who they allow to do it.”

This backs up what a previous report said regarding third-party games last week. It’s also not too surprising, given what happened with the current Nintendo Switch. At launch, just a handful of games were available. Big publishers were on board at the start, but many studios did not have access. That eventually changed in the months (and later years) to come. Unsurprisingly, it seems Nintendo is adopting a similar approach with Switch 2.

Finally, in other Nintendo Switch 2 updates, we figured we’d make mention of the new image above. That image comes from the Nintendo Today app, with many pointing out that it’s further hinting at a mouse feature for the system.