Nintendo Sets the Stage: Gamescom 2025 Will Define Switch 2's Future

Nintendo wants to be the best, and this year's Gamescom 2025 looks like the perfect time for it to do so. From Metroid Prime 4: The fact that it can be played on the Nintendo Switch 2 and that the list is full of AAA games and well-known indies sends a clear message: Nintendo is not just entering the next generation; it's shaping it.

From August 20 to August 24, Gamescom will show off more than 13 big Nintendo games that you will be able to play, and some games that you can play right this moment. These include both long-awaited sequels and unexpected hits.

This is the whole list:

• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Nintendo Switch 2 Edition)
• Pokémon Legends ZA (Switch 2 Edition)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Hades 2
• Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition
• Borderlands 4
• Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade
• Donkey Kong Bananza 
• Mario Kart World
• Super Mario Party: Jamboree 
• Cyberpunk 2077

Nintendo has had the most active Gamescom show in more than ten years. Nintendo has been pretty quiet about these kinds of events in the past, especially when the Switch was new, but now they're all in.

And now that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is almost here, there's no need to worry about the game being delayed until 2026. All signs point to a release date in 2025, and the news is likely to be shared at a big Nintendo Direct in September. This will be the next step in what looks like a well-planned rollout strategy.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the tech muscle, and Gamescom is the story push. The Switch 2 sold 67,733 units in Japan from July 28 to August 3, according to Famitsu's most recent sales figures. This is a lot more than its closest competitor, the PS5, which only sold 7,141 units. As for the Xbox Series, only 271 were made.

Switch 1 still sold 18,637 units, which shows that Nintendo's plan of targeting different generations is working. Japan still only has a limited number of Switch 2s available, and you still have to use a lottery method to buy one in person.

In the U.S., supply and demand are still equal from cycle to cycle, but access is getting better. Nintendo is not only selling more than its competitors, it's selling ten times more in its home country and growing in key U.S. areas.

Reports are saying that Nintendo's launch plan is "Phase 3". Gamescom looks like it will be the setting for the next big Direct, where release dates for Metroid Prime 4, Hades 2, Silksong, and Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade will be set.

Some titles already have dates:

• Borderlands 4 is going to be out on October 3, 2025.
• Pokémon Legends with an initial release date of October 16, 2025.
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch 2 Edition) has an initial release date of August 28, 2025.

Others are expected to follow closely behind, especially since the holiday window is coming up quickly. Nintendo's Indie World Showcase showed a few standouts, even though fans had mixed reactions.

Yacht Club Games' Mina the Hollower comes out on October 31 for both Switch 1 and Switch 2, and you can play a test right now. Makes you feel like Zelda meets Castlevania. Made by the same people who made Shovel Knight. The strange RPG Glacier takes place "65 million years in the future" and has real-time fighting and themes of evolution.

With Switch 2 hardware flying off the shelves, a huge showing at Gamescom, and the September Direct coming up, Nintendo is putting together a perfectly planned, multi-phase plan that will make it the most popular platform for the rest of 2025 and into the next generation.