On Wednesday, October 16th, 2016, Nintendo of America famously tweeted an invitation to watch the first Switch preview trailer (back when it was still code-named “NX”). The trailer was scheduled to go live the very next day. In what can only be interpreted as a gigantic Switch 2 teaser from a retailer which undoubtedly has insider knowledge, Walmart Canada just tweeted the exact same image, with the caption “Hey, Mario 👋”
The implication is that tomorrow, Nintendo will repeat history and announce some kind of Switch 2 reveal (e.g. “pulling back the curtain”) that will take place the following day: Thursday, January 16th.
This lines up with the deafening roar of rumors that Nintendo will officially reveal the Switch 2 hardware this week.
This tweet may seem innocent on the surface; a savvy social media manager cleverly adding their voice to the rumor mill to boost engagement. But it’s much more than that, because Walmart Canada is known for being a bit, well, enthusiastic when it comes to things that haven’t been unveiled yet.
Back in 2018, I reported on Bethesda’s hilarious response to Walmart Canada leaking the existence of Rage 2. The retailer also briefly published pre-order listings for a slew of unannounced games including Forza Horizon 5, Borderlands 3, and Gears of War 5. (The listings were quickly removed, but not before Wario64 captured a screenshot.)
As Gamespot points out today, Walmart Canada’s leaky behavior has slowed to a trickle since then. However, it must be said that large corporations like this rarely let the people handling their social media accounts fire from the hip without any approval process. This very much feels like something posted deliberately to not just generate engagement, but also to generate hype.
We tend to view Nintendo as a tight-lipped and litigious platform holder, but as someone who used to do marketing for AMD, I know for a fact that leaks are often intentionally planted. Yes, this is wildly speculative, but I wouldn’t put it past Nintendo of America to be quietly orchestrating a few creative ways to draw all eyes to them this week, in an effort to capitalize on the nonstop media attention Switch 2 has received since CES.
By the way, here’s a fun tidbit to add more fuel to the fire: the official Nintendo of America account tweeted the following 3 hours after Walmart’s post:
The idiom “spilling the tea” refers to sharing insider knowledge or gossip. Unintentional or absolutely masterful sub-tweet? I’ll let you decide.
Hopefully we’ll know much more about the Switch 2 in less than 48 hours.
