I’ve given up trying to predict what Nintendo will do – especially when it comes to the Switch 2

In 2018, Nintendo invited me to a meeting in New York City to check out a mysterious new initiative. It was billed as an “interactive experience for Nintendo Switch” that sent my mind to all sorts of places. This is, after all, the company that made a strange dual-screen Game Boy with a Bongo controller. It could be anything. Still, I didn’t think I would spend this meeting folding pieces of cardboard – or that these cardboard accessories would turn out so great. That was the moment I completely gave up trying to guess what Nintendo would do next.

This meeting has kept me quite busy over the last few weeks. While much of the gaming industry was excited in anticipation of the Switch sequel, Nintendo has focused on pretty much everything else.

Last month I visited the company in Kyoto, but not to see new hardware; Instead, I took a tour of the Nintendo Museum that had just opened. This month, Nintendo announced a new gadget, but instead of a console, it was an alarm clock. And just this week, details began to emerge about the company’s secret online test, which some predicted would provide clues about the Switch 2. No: Instead, it appears to be an online game in the style of Minecraft. Three big moments, zero Switch successors.

This is of course not new. Nintendo basically goes its own way. When Sony and Microsoft introduced the current generation of consoles, Nintendo released a new version of Game & Watch, an LCD handheld from the 80s. But the company’s rapid succession of announcements and revelations in recent weeks has been surprising and shows its idiosyncratic nature. And while it may seem coincidental, the weeks of museum openings and alarm clock launches are likely part of a very calculated strategy.

It could mean a few things. Perhaps Nintendo is clearing the runway to keep the focus on the Switch 2 whenever it decides to announce it. In the Switch era, Nintendo has become much more adept at conveying clear messages, which wasn’t always the case. Just think back to when the Wii U was first announced and some (myself included) initially mistook it for a Wii accessory. So it makes a lot of sense to get these other things done before the next console. Nintendo Direct presentations have become big moments, and the one dedicated to the next console may be the biggest yet. You don’t want to screw this up.

It could also be an indication of where Nintendo is right now. This is a company that doesn’t just want to be known for games. Great Mario That’s what creator Shigeru Miyamoto said when I was in Kyoto in September. “A lot of people might see Nintendo as a video game company,” he explained during a press conference. “But what I wanted to express with this museum is that we are, first and foremost, an entertainment company.” While the company is secretly building a new console and launching the current one with great success, it has also taken new directions .

Of course, doing things differently doesn’t always guarantee success, and Nintendo has certainly experienced its share of failures. Those glory days of the Switch, The Super Mario Bros. Movieand Super Nintendo World famously came in the wake of the Wii U, Nintendo’s best-selling home console to date. It took 30 years for the company to follow up on the infamous original Mario Film flop with a billion dollar film. There are ups and downs in the industry, and it only takes one console generation to go from the top of the market to the bottom. That just makes it harder to predict what Nintendo will do; I certainly never imagined that the Switch would be their next system in 2017, or that it would go on to sell better than the Wii and Game Boy.

This is all a long way of saying that, just like when I sat in front of a few stacks of cardboard in New York, I’m currently at a loss and can’t figure out what Nintendo executives are thinking. I have some ideas, of course, supported by a steady stream of rumors, but no real idea what the company’s next console will look like or when it will be announced. All I know is that it won’t be boring. But if so? That would be another big surprise.