StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (New Staff Post, Please read)

[Detective Chimp]

Nintendo could easily keep on selling Switch throughout 2024 with remakes and few new games while announcing Switch 2 at the end of the year and release early 2025.

The console cycle is “broken” otherwise they would have announced it by now even with a ton of bundles

I don’t think that’s what they meant. It sounds like they are taking the smartphone/apple route in a few ways. Making games/purchases tied to your account and accessible across devices. Possibly heavily reduced timeframe between announcement and release like phones and other mobile devices.

 

[Samus95]

I don’t think that’s what they meant. It sounds like they are taking the smartphone/apple route in a few ways. Making games/purchases tied to your account and accessible across devices. Possibly heavily reduced timeframe between announcement and release like phones and other mobile devices.

Talking about mobile, I think people have to think about the concept "Of the Switch Family of System" Switch 2 will be marketed as a new member of a family, like a cellphone

 

[BassForever]

It's giving "Switch has games" vibes lmaoo xD




I beg to differ. They've managed to keep momentum partially thanks to the revisions. The Switch won't have any momentum when the new Fiscal Year starts. They know this. It's the reason why they're releasing a shitton of themed bundles.

People forget that Switch is in year 7, hasn't had a price drop, and is still on pace to sell 15 million units this fiscal year. The fact they still have this kind of momentum and have only now begun to do more bundles outside of their token MK8D one is wild.

 

[Samus95]

Also Microsoft and Sony had long LONG cross gen periods

We where going to think that N, the company that will benifit the most out of this trend would not do it???

 

[Detective Chimp]

Talking about mobile, I think people have to think about the concept "Of the Switch Family of System" Switch 2 will be marketed as a new member of a family, like a cellphone

Yep, my thoughts exactly. I think they’ll make a bigger deal out of it than the OLED announcement but it’ll be similar.

 

[Hartmann]

任天堂、関心を集める次のハード　社長はネット上の臆測を否定

任天堂から２０１７年３月に発売された家庭用ゲーム機「ニンテンドースイッチ」が発売から７年目を迎え、後継機の開発に関心が集まっている。インターネットを中心にさま…

www.sankei.com

As Nintendo's Nintendo Switch home video game console enters its seventh year since its launch in March 2017, interest in the development of its successor is growing. With various information circulating around the Internet, President Shuntaro Furukawa denied the rumors that sometimes circulate as if they are undisclosed information, but they are inaccurate.

President Furukawa clearly denied multiple rumors regarding the successor to the Switch at the financial results conference held on March 7. Specifically, he denied two rumors that "Nintendo explained the next-generation hardware for the Switch to certain software manufacturers at the end of 2022" and "Nintendo demonstrated the new hardware at an event held in Germany in the summer of 2023," both of which were "not true".

There are many "leakers" overseas who publish unpublished information from companies, and the Internet is flooded with information of unknown authenticity. The market is also speculating about the release date of the next-generation Switch, but Nintendo has avoided making any statements about the status of development, saying, "We are always developing new hardware, but there is nothing we can say at this time".

Furukawa said, "Facts that are not officially announced can confuse customers and investors, so we ask that you make an appropriate judgment based on the information we provide on our website and through SNS".

 

[Hermii]

Talking about mobile, I think people have to think about the concept "Of the Switch Family of System" Switch 2 will be marketed as a new member of a family, like a cellphone

I was 100% on this train years ago, but this thing (Switch 2/ Pro/ Electric boogaloo speculation) has been dragging on for so long now that Im now more on the traditional console generation train.

If they were going to release a phone type upgrade, they would have done so years ago imo.

 

[Samus95]

I was 100% on this train years ago, but this thing (Switch 2/ Pro/ Electric boogaloo speculation) has been dragging on for so long now that Im now more on the traditional console generation train.

If they were going to release a phone type upgrade, they would have done so years ago imo.

I mean in a marketing, investors sense not in a hardware sense

They market them as A Family, with switch 2 being the far better console with more and more exclusive over time.

as long as they possibly can if they have Mario spin off, Metroid , Fire Emblem maybe even a Yoshi and a DK they can push the narrative for at least a couple of years, including indies,NSO, and Gamcube and Wii remasters

With 3D Mario being the game that make yoi buy the big brother of the family

 

[Brock Reiher]

Support it with what, though? Not every year can have a TotK moment to keep software sales at the level Nintendo has enjoyed, hardware sales are already slipping, 4 of the 5 announced games so far coming in 2024 are remakes/remasters... it's not spelling confidence in me that 2024 is meant to be anything more than a transition year. Even if I happen to like 2024's software lineup so far, I can at least be honest about what it spells out.

Well there are a lot of great games already announced for me personally. One is even TotK level-- Prime 4.

Nintendo just said they believe in Switch sales to stay strong.

 

[Danny]

The problem i see with going the cellphone route is it makes it very hard to predict if it will lead to Switch 2 selling well or if it makes people think that Switch 2 isn't needed, like what happened during the transition from the Wii to the Wii U. Console transitions seems to go easier when its a clear transition from last gen console to new gen console. If Nintendo continues to prop up the Switch 1 the lesser the need for people to get a Switch 2, which should lead to pretty terrible sales for Switch 2 in the short and medium term.

 

[Thraktor]

It is interesting to see even in weekly Media Create charts where the OLED significantly out supplies the other two models. This week alone it accounts for 84% of the sales. It wouldn’t shock me if the number was high & if that model was the one remaining on the market while the other two get cut first.

I'm thinking the opposite. If a large proportion of OLED model buyers are upgrading from an original Switch, those sales will all but disappear when Switch 2 comes on the market. Not many people are going to upgrade from an original Switch to an OLED model when the Switch 2 is out. The people still buying Switch 1 after Switch 2 launches will be doing so because it's the cheaper option, and the original Switch and Lite fill that niche a lot better than the OLED model does.

 

[SoldierDelta]

The problem i see with going the cellphone route is it makes it very hard to predict if it will lead to Switch 2 selling well or if it makes people think that Switch 2 isn't needed, like what happened during the transition from the Wii to the Wii U. Console transitions seems to go easier when its a clear transition from last gen console to new gen console. If Nintendo continues to prop up the Switch 1 the lesser the need for people to get a Switch 2, which should lead to pretty terrible sales for Switch 2 in the short and medium term.

The Wii U had a bunch of weird problems related specifically to marketing. If Nintendo makes it clear it's more powerful and has games that are worth a damn, then it'll sell. The E3s with the Wii U failed to show any games that'd interest the core fanbases and made the actual specifics of the device very confusing, to the extent people thought it was just a controller for the Wii.

If the Switch 2 shows those games, and shows how powerful it is, the problem won't rear its head as much.

 

[ziggyrivers]

People forget that Switch is in year 7, hasn't had a price drop, and is still on pace to sell 15 million units this fiscal year. The fact they still have this kind of momentum and have only now begun to do more bundles outside of their token MK8D one is wild.

I don’t negate that the Switch could maintain momentum, but I’m betting on the other side of the argument.

Granted, the replacement market sales could be what keeps motivating sales. And it makes sense: they’re gonna phase out the OG and Lite soon. At least in Brasil. I imagine they’ll dk the same in other markets

They market them as A Family, with switch 2 being the far better console with more and more exclusive over time.

They’re gonna market the Switch 2 as the next iteration of the Switch family of systems, and after they release the Lite 1, they’ll market that as the next generation family of systems, and so forth. It’ll be the iPhone approach:

• iPhone 14 lineup (regular, Plus, Pro, Pro Max)

• iPhone 15 lineup (repeat)

• Nintendo Switch Family of Systems (V2, Lite, OLED)

• Nintendo Switch Family of Systems (Lite, OLED, 2)

• Next Generation Nintendo Switch Family of Systems (2, Lite 2)

 

[1UpMango]

Nintendo, you know what you have to do. Recreate the magic...Announce Switch 2 the same day as GTAVI haha.

Switch 2 trailer next month!

 

[VegiHam]

The mention of purchase history is more referring to "All your eshop purchases from Switch will be available on our next platform"

That's what it really means

I agree that that is probably exactly what it means, and that's what I'm hoping for. But someone asked what else could it possibly mean, and it's fun to think laterally sometimes.

For me im happy with a switch 2 advert, don't care with what games, they might as well show me 0.99$ mobile shovelware ports in those ads.

Thoroughly agreed!

 

[RennanNT]

they’re gonna phase out the OG and Lite soon. At least in Brasil.

If you mean this post:

Also Necro posted that Switch OG and Lite are being discontinued from sale on Nintendo Brazil online store and can only be purchased from 3rd party retailers



Necro I feel like you know more than you let us believe haha and you have been dropping hints those past months

That was a mistranslation, only the V2 was mentioned to be delisted. Here's my translation:

The @NintendoBrasil is working on an update for their official site page where it lists hardware available in Brazil.

Switch V2 was de-listed and OLED Neon will start being sold here.

The product pages have links for the BR retailers.

 

[mjayer]

Switch 2 trailer next month!

When?

 

[ziggyrivers]

When?

The Nintendo Greneration Switch

 

[Thraktor]

Well its the best new thin since slices bread.

Yeah, it took them a decade longer then all the others to move to an account based system instead of an console based, and switch -> switch 2 is the FIRST transition where this really comes into effect, so i get why they are still talking about it that way.

kinda cute in a world where everything is account based, even an online calculator now wants some form of login for tracking, so them acting as if its something new is...funny.

Nintendo have had account systems in place since the launch of the Wii U in 2012. The Nintendo Network ID tracked purchase history across both Wii U and 3DS, had a shared wallet, and a handful of games even supported cross-buy across the two platforms. If I recall correctly you could also make purchases through a web browser and they would automatically download to your Wii U or 3DS.

For a variety of reasons, the lack of BC with either Wii U or 3DS being the major one, they transitioned to the Nintendo Account system instead with the Switch (although you could link your NNID to your Nintendo Account, I'm not sure if it did much).

This is why I think the references to building long-term relationships via the Nintendo Account are notable. They could have said the same thing about Nintendo Network IDs during the Wii U/3DS era, but they didn't. The Switch was a hard reset for Nintendo in terms of their hardware architecture, and they took the opportunity to also reset their account system, but the intent both for the Switch hardware and the Nintendo Account always seems to have been to facilitate forward compatibility with future systems.

The constant references to the Nintendo Account in these presentations are Nintendo's way of telling investors they're not going to have to do another hard reset, because they've planned for a smooth transition to the Switch 2 since they started working on the Switch. And although they obviously can't talk about the hardware part of that before they've announced the new console, they're absolutely going to take every opportunity to talk about the account side of things.

 

[mjayer]

The Nintendo Greneration Switch

Gonna pretend like I did that on purpose so people would know it was fake. Yep.

 

[Aether]

Nintendo have had account systems in place since the launch of the Wii U in 2012. The Nintendo Network ID tracked purchase history across both Wii U and 3DS, had a shared wallet, and a handful of games even supported cross-buy across the two platforms. If I recall correctly you could also make purchases through a web browser and they would automatically download to your Wii U or 3DS.

For a variety of reasons, the lack of BC with either Wii U or 3DS being the major one, they transitioned to the Nintendo Account system instead with the Switch (although you could link your NNID to your Nintendo Account, I'm not sure if it did much).

This is why I think the references to building long-term relationships via the Nintendo Account are notable. They could have said the same thing about Nintendo Network IDs during the Wii U/3DS era, but they didn't. The Switch was a hard reset for Nintendo in terms of their hardware architecture, and they took the opportunity to also reset their account system, but the intent both for the Switch hardware and the Nintendo Account always seems to have been to facilitate forward compatibility with future systems.

The constant references to the Nintendo Account in these presentations are Nintendo's way of telling investors they're not going to have to do another hard reset, because they've planned for a smooth transition to the Switch 2 since they started working on the Switch. And although they obviously can't talk about the hardware part of that before they've announced the new console, they're absolutely going to take every opportunity to talk about the account side of things.

It was a weird hybrid as far as i remember. Software was tied to the console, so even if you logged with your account into another wii u, you could not reload your games.

(correct me if im wrong). So if the purchases are kinda tied to the hardware, even if a history is stored with your nintendo account, then im not sure that it fully counts. and the shared wallet, wasn't that a change during wii u/3ds's lifespan, in preparation already for the switch?

never the less, its clear what they are communicating is: were doing the same as all other eco systems.
Its simply the better way in a business sense, instead of needing to reestablish every generation.

If they would not talk about it that way, i would honestly start to worry about the company leadership. Yet this still doesn't fully qualify how backwards compatibility will be handled.
It might as well be an opt in option for publishers (horror, especially for games without aktive support anymore), an opt out (then we'll see who the bad ones are), or simply automatic full support with the option for "patches" for those devs that want them.

 

[syrozz]

Switch 2 trailer next month!

So a GTA VI trailer is really about to drop before Switch 2 announcement.

I hate that timeline.

 

[RennanNT]

Software was tied to the console, so even if you logged with your account into another wii u, you could not reload your games.

(correct me if im wrong).

Software was tied to the account, but you could only use that account in 1 Wii U at time. To play your games in another Wii U, you had to transfer your account there (and it could be done by calling support if your Wii U broke). It's actually similar to how primary console works on Switch and other consoles, except they didn't allow secondary consoles and it was way more cumbersome.

So yeah, they could have kept the NNID, but I assume there were some underlying issues with how they implemented the NNID and they decided to do it from scratch instead of trying to fix.

 

[mjayer]

So a GTA VI trailer is really about to drop before Switch 2 announcement.

I hate that timeline.

I'd say we have a whole month for that to become untrue.

However, if you like the idea of GTA6 being one of the games highlighted in Nintendo's reveal trailer for NG, then you'd probably want Rockstar to reveal it first. I'm guessing they wouldn't be on board giving Nintendo the first reveal. What a gift that would be. Maybe if Nintendo paid them. Would be a wise move, as it would push a lot more views into that video and create more hype. I wonder how many stacks it would take to convince Rockstar to do that? Anyone care to guess? 20 Million? More?

 

[Aether]

Software was tied to the account, but you could only use that account in 1 console at time. To play your games in another Wii U, you had to transfer your account there (and it could be done by calling support if your Wii U broke). It's actually similar to how primary console works on Switch and other consoles, except they didn't allow secondary consoles and it was way more cumbersome.

So yeah, they could have kept the NNID, but I assume there were some underlying issues with how they implemented the NNID and they decided to do it from scratch instead of trying to fix.

was is that way? i knew that you could get your games back through support, but i guessed it was a manual process with looking up your purchase history and reenabling it for the new one if you dod not do the migration process.

And wasn't it possible to re download games after a reset even if you did not log in into your account?
if it was that way, then i would argue it was tied to the console, and the console was connected to your account.

 

[Jake]

So a GTA VI trailer is really about to drop before Switch 2 announcement.

I hate that timeline.

Me too, but I’m so ready to see how awesome GTA 6 will be.

 

[Neoxon]

Well there are a lot of great games already announced for me personally. One is even TotK level-- Prime 4.

Nintendo just said they believe in Switch sales to stay strong.

Metroid Prime 4 isn’t gonna sell anywhere NEAR TotK numbers, especially with Japan not caring about Metroid in general. Outside of an Act of God, 5 million is the ceiling.

 

[BassForever]

So a GTA VI trailer is really about to drop before Switch 2 announcement.

I hate that timeline.

GTA VI should have been announced like 2-3 years ago.

 

[Jersh]

Nintendo have had account systems in place since the launch of the Wii U in 2012. The Nintendo Network ID tracked purchase history across both Wii U and 3DS, had a shared wallet, and a handful of games even supported cross-buy across the two platforms. If I recall correctly you could also make purchases through a web browser and they would automatically download to your Wii U or 3DS.

They had accounts, but calling it a system at launch is a stretch. Just about every feature you mentioned came later; Nintendo Network IDs didn't even come to the 3DS for a few years, and it took a while after for the shared wallet to happen.

I'm still not sure what was up with their purchase history tracking; anecdotes from people who called customer service to have purchases transferred suggest it was strangely difficult on Nintendo's end to make that happen. They could do it, but it's like the system wasn't built for that kind of thing.

Regardless of how well they could see things server-side, the system was in fact built with the console storing purchases in mind. Before Nintendo added the ability to purchase through the web browser, there's stories of people saying Nintendo's customer support transfers for digital software ended in Nintendo crediting the account so the user could re-purchase everything; they couldn't even force a purchase on their end. The system as designed in 2012 was just absurd.

(although you could link your NNID to your Nintendo Account, I'm not sure if it did much).

It actually linked the wallets, and during late stages of the old eShop shutdowns became the only way to add funds IIRC.

Other than that it just added an alternative, less secure way to sign in lol.

 

[LiC]

President Furukawa clearly denied multiple rumors regarding the successor to the Switch at the financial results conference held on March 7. Specifically, he denied two rumors that "Nintendo explained the next-generation hardware for the Switch to certain software manufacturers at the end of 2022" and "Nintendo demonstrated the new hardware at an event held in Germany in the summer of 2023," both of which were "not true".

Like I said.

 

[Brock Reiher]

Metroid Prime 4 isn’t gonna sell anywhere NEAR TotK numbers, especially with Japan not caring about Metroid in general. Outside of an Act of God, 5 million is the ceiling.

It is still a major game that will bring attention to the system. We're also do for a new mainline Pokémon sooner rather than later, potentially next year.

 

[Lancelot]

Well, they announced it.... November/December announcement dream may be truly dead, what a bang to let it go with though!

 

[Truno]

So a GTA VI trailer is really about to drop before Switch 2 announcement.

I hate that timeline.

GTA V launched in 2013 lol, how is this surprising

 

[redmutineer75]

My prediction is that the Switch 2 releases in 2024, and the Switch OLED is still sold and gets games until 2026, when the Switch 2 Lite releases. It's the same cycle as the 3DS had, with the New 2DS XL as the budget portable system until 2019 when the Switch Lite released. Maybe they release a cheaper Switch OLED model to go along with it.

 

[Bonejack]

Well, they announced it.... November/December announcement dream may be truly dead, what a bang to let it go with though!

It's one of those days where i'm unable to see what's sarcasm and what's not. So please excuse me asking ... but we're all on the same page that any GTA announcement and any Nintendo / ReDraketed announcement are seperate things with nothing in common, right?

 

[Lancelot]

It's one of those days where i'm unable to see what's sarcasm and what's not. So please excuse me asking ... but we're all on the same page that any GTA announcement and any Nintendo / ReDraketed announcement are seperate things with nothing in common, right?

It's sarcasm along with the fact we're probably getting nothing this year, anyway. Nintendo is all about controlling the narrative still, announcing something major with this bomb in the wild might not be a good idea. There's a reason whenever these people announce their release dates everyone and their mother in the industry avoids the month like the plague.

 

[RennanNT]

And wasn't it possible to re download games after a reset even if you did not log in into your account?

You could do that on the 3DS, which didn't have an account system on launch. I'm not aware of you being able to do that on Wii U though.

 

[ziggyrivers]

My prediction is that the Switch 2 releases in 2024, and the Switch OLED is still sold and gets games until 2026, when the Switch 2 Lite releases. It's the same cycle as the 3DS had, with the New 2DS XL as the budget portable system until 2019 when the Switch Lite released. Maybe they release a cheaper Switch OLED model to go along with it.

Didn’t Furukawa confirm that wed be getting Switcj games until the Fiscal Year ending in 2025?

 

[Giancarlo]

I don’t negate that the Switch could maintain momentum, but I’m betting on the other side of the argument.

Granted, the replacement market sales could be what keeps motivating sales. And it makes sense: they’re gonna phase out the OG and Lite soon. At least in Brasil. I imagine they’ll dk the same in other markets


They’re gonna market the Switch 2 as the next iteration of the Switch family of systems, and after they release the Lite 1, they’ll market that as the next generation family of systems, and so forth. It’ll be the iPhone approach:

• iPhone 14 lineup (regular, Plus, Pro, Pro Max)

• iPhone 15 lineup (repeat)

• Nintendo Switch Family of Systems (V2, Lite, OLED)

• Nintendo Switch Family of Systems (Lite, OLED, 2)

• Next Generation Nintendo Switch Family of Systems (2, Lite 2)

only the og Switch is gonna be discontinued, Nintendo will keep Switch OLED e lite on the market

I'd say we have a whole month for that to become untrue.

However, if you like the idea of GTA6 being one of the games highlighted in Nintendo's reveal trailer for NG, then you'd probably want Rockstar to reveal it first. I'm guessing they wouldn't be on board giving Nintendo the first reveal. What a gift that would be. Maybe if Nintendo paid them. Would be a wise move, as it would push a lot more views into that video and create more hype. I wonder how many stacks it would take to convince Rockstar to do that? Anyone care to guess? 20 Million? More?

Rockstar always aim for the most techinal/graphical games as possible, can Switch sucessor run GTA 6? GTA 6 will surely be a graphical/techinal showcase

 

[redmutineer75]

Didn’t Furukawa confirm that wed be getting Switch games until the Fiscal Year ending in 2025?

The fiscal year ending 31 March 2025 includes some already announced games (Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as examples). Furukawa wasn't giving any new information, he was just covering his bases.

 

[Goodtwin]

Furukawa said, "Facts that are not officially announced can confuse customers and investors, so we ask that you make an appropriate judgment based on the information we provide on our website and through SNS".

If I were an investor and able to make a follow up question or statement really, it is entirely within Nintendo's power avoid consumer/investor confusion by being more forthcoming with future plans. They are now willing to acknowledge the growing demand for a successor, something they hadnt really previously done. The problem surrounding inaccurate messaging will only intensify with each passing month. Switch will be entering its eighth year on the market next March, it should not be at all surprising there is excitement for a successor.

@LiC Do we know that it was just a video shown off at Gamescom? Or could it have been a PC with target specs, or even an Orin dev kit since that was supported by NVN2.

 

[MP!]

GTA VI should have been announced like 2-3 years ago.

So should new switch pro 2 advance

 

[Giancarlo]

If I were an investor and able to make a follow up question or statement really, it is entirely within Nintendo's power avoid consumer/investor confusion by being more forthcoming with future plans. They are now willing to acknowledge the growing demand for a successor, something they hadnt really previously done. The problem surrounding inaccurate messaging will only intensify with each passing month. Switch will be entering its eighth year on the market next March, it should not be at all surprising there is excitement for a successor.

@LiC Do we know that it was just a video shown off at Gamescom? Or could it have been a PC with target specs, or even an Orin dev kit since that was supported by NVN2.

VGC said Breath of the Wild/Matrix demo was runing on the target specs(it could easily be a PC runing this game on techinal/graphical specifications for ir next hardware, kinda like this is what Switch sucessor can do, we want you to make a game for the console

 

[Hermii]

notice Furukawa said the Gamescom thing was inaccurate, he didn't call it flat out wrong.

I personally have doubts about the accuracy of "4k dlss 60fps" in botw.

 

[ziggyrivers]

The fiscal year ending 31 March 2025 includes some already announced games (Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as examples). Furukawa wasn't giving any new information, he was just covering his bases.

I know, I was referring to the 2026 bit of your post. Though granted, maybe we wont get 1st party games, but 3rd games most certainly

 

[Neoxon]

It is still a major game that will bring attention to the system. We're also do for a new mainline Pokémon sooner rather than later, potentially next year.

But to have Pokémon as your only guaranteed big seller for all of 2024 is a huge risk. Metroid is a franchise you get because you have the system in question, not the other way around. Nintendo isn’t going to bet the farm on Metroid for the entire year until Pokémon in November.

 

[LiC]

@LiC Do we know that it was just a video shown off at Gamescom? Or could it have been a PC with target specs, or even an Orin dev kit since that was supported by NVN2.

I don't think it being a video has been stated explicitly by anyone, but I don't really know what the point of bringing a PC to Gamescom would have been when a video would do the job just as well. Either way, it's not the actual hardware being shown, just a presentation meant to convey its capabilities.

And if there were ever Orin devkits, which I doubt there were, they were long, long gone by August 2023.

 

[redmutineer75]

I know, I was referring to the 2026 bit of your post. Though granted, maybe we wont get 1st party games, but 3rd games most certainly

He said that the Switch would continue to receive games during the fiscal year (which we already knew) but he didn't say anything about it being only until then. Again, he's just covering his bases while not revealing any new information. To quote Otto von Bismarck, "I am making rapid progress in the art of using many words to say nothing at all."

 

[SirArthur]

Its impressive that they got it working on the Iphone 15 but there is a lot of issues with it. Metalfx Performance (apple's upscaler) is a worse FS1

 

[Ghostsonplanets]

Do we know that it was just a video shown off at Gamescom? Or could it have been a PC with target specs, or even an Orin dev kit since that was supported by NVN2.

Tech demos based on target hardware was the rumor iirc. They never showed the console and no rumor claimed as such.

notice Furukawa said the Gamescom thing was inaccurate, he didn't call it flat out wrong.

I personally have doubts about the accuracy of "4k dlss" in botw.

What he specifically said was: "demonstrated the new hardware".
And that's true. The rumors claimed target specs. Target Specs =/ New Hardware. If he had said "demonstrated the new hardware and a demo are untrue", then it would mean the report is inaccurate. But what he's saying is corporate speak when they want to deny something that did happen. So they twist the words to suit their narrative.