If you've spent even five minutes on gaming Twitter—or X, or whatever we’re calling it this week—over the last few years, you’ve seen the name. Tom Phillips. For a long time, he was the Editor-in-Chief over at Eurogamer, and if he typed the words "Nintendo Switch," the entire industry basically stopped breathing for a second.
It’s kind of wild when you think about it. One guy in the UK became the unofficial herald for a multi-billion dollar Japanese console. But there’s a reason for that. Phillips wasn't just guessing. He was the one who, alongside his team, broke the news that the original Switch was a hybrid back when everyone thought Nintendo was making a "dedicated VR machine" or some weird "dual-screen home console."
Fast forward to the transition between the first Switch and what we now officially know as the Nintendo Switch 2, and Phillips was right back at the center of the storm.
The Long Road to the Switch 2 Reveal
Honestly, 2024 was a mess for Nintendo fans. We were all sitting there, clutching our aging 2017 hardware, waiting for a sign. Tom Phillips and the Eurogamer team were among the first to throw cold water on our hopes for a 2024 launch. Back in February 2024, Phillips corroborated reports that Nintendo had internally pushed the launch of the Switch 2 into early 2025.
Why the delay?
The word on the street—and from Phillips' sources—was simple: software. Nintendo didn't want a repeat of the Wii U. They wanted a "killer lineup" ready to go on day one. It’s a classic Nintendo move, but it didn't stop the share prices from taking a 5.8% dip the moment that news hit the wire.
Then things got even more specific. Phillips was the one tracking the "whispers" that coalesced around January 16, 2025. He reported on the imminent reveal just days before it happened, noting that the focus would be on the hardware rather than the games. And he was spot on. On that Thursday, Nintendo finally showed us the machine, confirming the magnetic Joy-Con 2 and the 7.9-inch LCD screen.
What Tom Phillips Got Right (And Why It Matters)
It's easy to dismiss "leakers," but Phillips has always operated more like a traditional investigative journalist. He wasn't just posting blurry photos from a factory floor. He was talking to developers who were literally holding the dev kits.
Take the Gamescom 2023 situation.
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Phillips reported that Nintendo held secret behind-closed-doors demos for developers during the event in Germany. They were showing off the power of the "Drake" (the T239 chip). Specifically, they were running tech demos of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at higher resolutions and frame rates than the original hardware could ever dream of.
He also stayed on top of the "Ounce" codename. While the internet was arguing about whether the new console would be called the "Super Switch" or the "Switch Pro," the Eurogamer reports kept things grounded in the reality of the supply chain.
- Release Timing: He correctly identified the shift from late 2024 to the Q1/Q2 2025 window.
- Hardware Demos: He broke the news of the secret Gamescom meetings.
- Backwards Compatibility: While everyone was worried, the reporting consistently suggested Nintendo wouldn't abandon the 140 million+ people who already bought Switch games.
The Move to IGN and the "Teraleak"
Things shifted recently. Tom Phillips moved from his longtime home at Eurogamer to become the News Editor at IGN. If you thought the Nintendo news would slow down, you were wrong.
Just this past October, Phillips was lead on the reporting regarding the "Crimson Collective" breach. This was a huge deal where Nintendo servers were allegedly compromised. While Nintendo tried to play it down as "minimal," Phillips' reporting helped clarify that the breach was mostly limited to website servers—a stark contrast to the massive "Teraleak" that hit Game Freak around the same time.
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It's this kind of nuance that makes his reporting valuable. He doesn't just chase the hype; he checks the receipts.
The Reality of the Switch 2 Launch
Now that the Nintendo Switch 2 is out in the wild—having launched on June 5, 2025—we can see just how accurate those early reports were. The console hit the market at $449.99. It’s a bit pricier than the original, but the specs justified it for most.
We’re looking at:
- 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM (a massive jump from the 4GB in the original).
- A custom Nvidia Tegra T239 processor.
- Native 1080p in handheld mode and 4K output when docked via DLSS.
Phillips recently covered the sales figures, noting that Nintendo shifted 10.36 million units by September 30, 2025. That makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo console in history. It turns out that holding back for a better launch lineup—including Mario Kart World and the eventually confirmed Metroid Prime 4: Beyond—was the right call.
Actionable Insights for Switch Owners
If you're still sitting on the fence or just picked up the new hardware, here is what you actually need to do based on the current landscape of the console:
Don't throw away your old microSD cards yet. While the Switch 2 supports the new "microSD Express" format for faster loading, your old cards still work for older titles. However, if you want to play native Switch 2 games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond at 4K/60, you'll eventually want to upgrade to an Express card to avoid bottlenecking.
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Check your Joy-Con compatibility. The new Joy-Con 2 uses a magnetic attachment system. This means your old plastic-rail Joy-Cons won't physically slide onto the new tablet. You can still sync them wirelessly for multiplayer, but you'll need a separate charging grip or the original console to juice them up.
Update your firmware immediately. Firmware 21.2.0 just dropped this month (January 2026). It addresses some of the early 3D audio bugs people were reporting when using the new noise-canceling microphone features.
Keep an eye on the official Nintendo eShop for "Cross-Gen" upgrades. Many developers are offering free or cheap patches to let your old Switch games take advantage of the Switch 2’s "Drake" processor.
The era of the original Switch is winding down, but thanks to the reporting of folks like Tom Phillips, the transition has been one of the most well-documented—and successful—handovers in gaming history.