The biggest gaming announcements and rumors from CES

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took place last week. While the spotlight was on the announcements, it may be the inadvertent leaks regarding Nintendo that made the biggest news. All the details and latest gaming news. Let’s go!

Switch 2 details emerging?

One of the most intriguing stories to come out of CES is a bevy of Switch 2 leaks. Nintendo acknowledged last year that the new console was coming, but information so far has been sparse, other than the system will play current generation Switch games. 

While Nintendo hasn’t confirmed any of the details, mock-ups of the new system and some of the specifications were reportedly released to peripheral makers. Here are some of the highlights (note: at this time, these are currently rumors, but come from reliable sources):

• The new system will reportedly be bigger than the current Switch, according to 3D mock-ups. 
• The Joy-Con controllers will reportedly have the ability to function as a mouse. 
• The new device will reportedly be getting two major Xbox games, including Halo.
• A tech leaker posted a possible “360-degree render” of the new system. 

The Verge posted a more detailed list of the rumors. Lawyers for Nintendo apparently approached the company responsible for the leaks at CES, and a spokesman for the company said only that the “images and videos are not official.” Analysts believe that once the new Nintendo device is released, it will sell 4.3 million units in 2025.

New gear for PC gaming

PC gamers may be salivating at some of the announcements from CES.  

Chipmaker AMD started the show by announcing their new next-gen Radeon RX 9070-series graphics cards. The briefing was light on details though, as AMD has not yet announced specifications, price or release dates of their new cards. AMD also displayed their latest CPUs, which they claim are “the world’s best processor for gamers and creators.” The Ryzen 9 9950X3D chips are expected to launch in March. 

Not to be outdone, Nvidia announced their much-anticipated new line of graphics cards. During their presentation,  Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made two claims that show why the company is one of the top businesses in the world. First, when introducing their new top-of-the-line 5090 GPU, Huang said that the card would offer “twice the performance” of their current top model, the 4090. 

The second big claim made by Huang was that the more affordable consumer-based 5070 card would deliver “RTX 4090 performance at $549.” By comparison, the 4090 sells for $1,600. PC Gamer and The Verge investigated this claim, and found that a mix of AI-powered rendering techniques and DLSS 4 make this a possibility. 

Nvidia’s new cards launch starting later this month. Ars Technica and The Verge have more detailed breakdowns. Are you excited for the new graphics cards? Let us know if you plan to pick one up in the comments!

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🏆 Our subscriber’s votes were counted, and we announced The Games Letter’s Games of the Year. Board, tabletop, video and more. Check out the full list of winners! 

🥷 Assassin’s Creed Shadows is delayed again, moving their release date from Feb. 14 to March 20. Meanwhile, Ubisoft is taking “decisive steps” to reshape the company amid its worsening financial outlook.

🇺🇸 The U.S. Department of Defense added game developer Tencent to a list of “Chinese military companies.”  Tencent says the addition is “a misunderstanding.”

📈 The NY Times looks at the rising cost of making video games. 

🐻 The National Park Service’s Fat Bear Week is getting an unofficial board game. 

🐟 The Bears aren’t alone, as the boardgame Wingspan is getting a sequel, and it’s all about fish. Let’s hope they can avoid the bears. 

🐉 How diversity in D&D met a rightwing backlash.

💰 Activision spent almost $1.8 billion developing three Call of Duty titles. 

🚗 A Transformers video game was canceled and the staff working on it laid off. After the announcement, footage of the game appeared online. 

🎩 Monopoly is getting a major overhaul in 2025.

☁️ Nvidia is bringing a native GeForce Now streaming games app to Steam Deck.

🗙 Some new LG Smart TVs will come pre-installed with an Xbox Cloud Gaming app, allowing subscribers to Game Pass to play games without a console. 

🎮 Private Division games, including Tales of the Shire and Kerbal Space Program, will be distributed by a new label created by former Annapurna Interactive staff. 

🧟 The PC port of Last of Us Part 2 will require a PlayStation Network login. 

🫱🏼 Lenovo announced a new handheld device, which is the first authorized third-party SteamOS handheld.

🐲 Dungeons & Dragons show Critical Role paused their broadcast due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

👏🏽 The studio behind Stellar Blade gifted all its employees a PlayStation 5 Pro and $3,400 following their successful game launch. 

📺 Helldivers 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn movies were announced last week, as was a Ghost of Tsushima anime.

New Releases this week:

1/14: Hyper Light Breaker (PC)
1/16: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch)
1/17: Dynasty Warriors: Origins (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)

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