Nintendo surprised the internet on Thursday Unveilingcompletely unexpectedly, a fresh official addition to the Switch console — seven and a half years after the console’s launch and shortly before the anticipated presentation of its successor, “Switch 2.”
It’s also a uncomplicated and practical piece of kit. The Joy-Con Charging Stand (Bidirectional), to give it its formal name, does exactly what its name suggests: it charges two Joy-Con controllers for a price of $29.99. Official photos posted by Nintendo on social media show the stand connected directly to the Switch dock via a USB cable to draw power. It also appears that the central charging block can be detached from the stand, perhaps so it can be used as a wired controller while charging the Joy-Cons. The charging stand will be released on October 17.
The stand looks useful enough. The question is: why is Nintendo deciding to put this peripheral into production now, when the Switch apparently has so little way to go? And why didn’t Nintendo do it sooner?
The answer to the second question is that Nintendo already sells officially licensed charging stands from third-party manufacturers. This AND PowerAand probably didn’t see the need to add his own device to them. The only major difference is that these stands charge four Joy-Con, not two.
The question remains “why now” and a bit online speculation indicates that the stand is a necessary piece of future-proofing for Nintendo’s next console — and if that’s the case, it confirms some of its leaked feature details.
Back in April, reports surfaced that the fresh Switch 2 Joy-Cons would attach to the console magnetically, rather than using the sliding rail system on the current machine. Those same reports claimed that existing Switch Joy-Cons would still be compatible with the fresh console.
But if you can’t attach your ancient Joy-Cons to your fresh console, how do you charge them? With the official Nintendo Joy-Con Charging Stand (Bidirectional) of course!
It’s certainly a logical explanation for why Nintendo might have felt it needed to produce its own Joy-Con charging solution at this behind schedule stage — although the company is unlikely to admit it.
Perhaps as a cover story, Nintendo indicated that the stand could also be used to charge official NES controllers for the Switch, which is a timely idea given the launch Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition this week. Well, it would be timely if the charging stand’s launch hadn’t already been three months ago.
Could this humble peripheral be a clue 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.
