Nintendo puzzled the internet on Thursday by unveiling, out of the blue, a new official accessory for Switch — seven and a half years into the console’s life, and not long before the expected unveiling of its successor, “Switch 2.”
It’s a simple and utilitarian piece of kit, too. The Joy-Con Charging Stand (two-way), to give it its formal title, does just what it says: charges two Joy-Con controllers for the price of $29.99. Official images released by Nintendo on social media show the stand plugging directly into a Switch dock via USB cable to draw power. It also seems the central charging block can be detached from the stand, perhaps so it can serve as a wired controller while the Joy-Cons are charging. The charging stand will be released on Oct. 17.
The stand looks useful enough. The question is: Why is Nintendo choosing to put this peripheral into production now, when the Switch seemingly has so little road left to run? And why didn’t Nintendo make it before?
The answer to the second point is that Nintendo already markets officially licensed charging stands from third-party manufacturers Hori and PowerA, and likely saw no need to add to these with its own device. The only major difference is that these stands charge four Joy-Cons, not two.
That leaves the “why now” part, and some online speculation points to the stand being an essential bit of future-proofing for the next Nintendo console — and, if so, one that confirms some of its leaked features.
In April, it was reported that Switch 2’s new Joy-Cons would attach to the console magnetically, rather than using the sliding rail system on the current machine. The same reports asserted that existing Switch Joy-Cons would still be compatible with the new console.
But if you can’t attach your old Joy-Cons to your new console, how do you charge them? Why, with an official Nintendo Joy-Con Charging Stand (two-way), of course!
It’s certainly a logical explanation as to why Nintendo might decide it needed to manufacture its own Joy-Con charging solution at this late stage — albeit one the company isn’t likely to admit to.
Perhaps as cover, Nintendo pointed out the stand could also be used to charge its official NES controllers for Switch, a timely notion considering the release of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition this week. Well, it would be timely if the release of the charging stand wasn’t still three months away.
Could this humble peripheral be a hint as to the Switch 2’s features? We’ll find out when Nintendo finally reveals its next console before the end of its current fiscal year in March 2025.