 What if I were to tell you that Nintendo has accidentally confirmed cross-platform play for their next-generation Nintendo Switch or whatever they call it, their next-generation Nintendo? Cross-platform play, specifically with the Nintendo Switch, which of course makes you feel like we're talking about a Nintendo Switch too, right? If you ever wanted confirmation, it's going to be another Switch-like device. Well, Nintendo basically gave that to us plus cross-platform play. So kudos to Nintendo! Oh, beyond all of that! We also now know about a potential brand-new game in development by Nintendo. Thanks to some hiring posts. And yes, this game also happens to be for the next-generation Nintendo, aka the Nintendo Switch 2. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to finally talk about something that isn't just like speculation or somebody random on the internet said something. No, no, no, no, no! We have actual, evidential support for some Switch 2 stuff, and I am so excited. But before we dive into that, I need to remind you that we are giving away a Nintendo Switch OLED Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Edition. We're also giving away a Collector's Edition of Tears of the Kingdom, and we're giving away, oh boy, can I get this out? The PAX East pin for this. I'm so excited. All you have to do is go down into the pinned comment or to the description to enter. Also, we're on our road to 133,000 subscribers, so I'd appreciate it if you would go ahead and hit the like button on this video. Comment down below and let me know what you're most excited about with the new hardware, like what you think this new hardware needs to do, and then, yeah, when I hit the bell icon so you're notified of every video we do. All right, so before I get into this, I gotta tell you the full credit for this entire video, which has two parts to it, belongs to another YouTuber called DocTray81. Seriously, he's a small YouTuber. Let's get him to 10,000 subscribers. He's a little bit short at 9.6. Let's get him to 10,000 by the end of this video. I'll put a link at the top of the description down below for you guys to go subscribe to his channel. Now, what does DocTray81 do? What is he known for? What does he specialize in, and why are we paying attention to what he says? Well, he actually does amazing research in the hiring post on LinkedIn profiles, which is how he has discovered many behind-the-scenes happenings over the years, and all of those panned out because he's not basing it on speculation. He's basing it on what the companies are actually hiring for and what those hiring posts say. So facts, in other words. So he found a LinkedIn profile of an employee at Area 35 Incorporated. This person is presently working there, and has been since 2021 to present day, and he's currently working to spearhead UI slash UX developments for various video game projects both in Unity and Unreal Engine 5 on platforms such as Nintendo Switch, Mobile, and PC. Notably, this doesn't actually include PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series for some reason. Now, DocTray does go on to note that Fortnite might be the only game on Switch using Unreal Engine 5. I think there's a couple more games in development using it, but I don't know anything that's released with it. I know Yoshi's Craft of World used Unreal Engine 4, but I can't really recall a ton of UE5 games. So if there are other Unreal Engine 5 games running on Switch, let me know down in the description below. I'm very curious what else besides Fortnite is using it on Switch. Anyways, so he wanted to obviously know, DocTray did, who the heck is Area 35. So he clicked on the Area 35 Inc. link from the profile. At the very top of the profile for Area 35, it notes one particular game in our immediate pipeline is a long-running, industry-leading Japanese IP with global mass market appeal, which is forging ahead into the next generation using Unreal Engine 5. And it says, these are their words from Area 35. Feel free to guess, but we can't tell you what it is. So it's something they're really excited about. Now, it also notes on this page that you will work alongside industry best talent, including Yasuki Kozaki, which worked on Pokemon Go and Fire Emblem, Takuza Suzuki, which worked on Diablo III, Starcraft II, Final Fantasy XVI, and Michael Chu, who did Overwatch, Diablo III, and Warcraft on a small, tight-knit team. And what's interesting here, of course, is there's only really two games on that list that really fit, maybe three if you want to argue Pokemon, but Pokemon Go was not made in Japan. So Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy, right? Those are like the two games that stand out as, hey, those are Japanese popular IPs. Well, why do we think then that this is going to end up being a Fire Emblem game? Well, it does note that the company is currently in production of a Japanese strategy slash RPG in a similar vein to Tactics Ogre, Vandal Hearts, and Bahamut Lagoon. Now look, all of those games play very similarly to Fire Emblem. So it would make sense for this to be a Fire Emblem game. Of course, it could be another Final Fantasy Tactics game. We can't ignore that possibility, but we have more evidence why this is probably Fire Emblem and not Final Fantasy, although I wouldn't necessarily be against a Final Fantasy Tactics game. Because on Area 35 Inc's page, it includes a link to another job posting. So Area 35 advertising for companies they probably are working with, and this job posting is at Safe House. This job posting is for an environmental artist, and in it it says, as this project is targeted at lower power devices like the Nintendo Switch, the senior environment artist will also need to be someone who has the technical ability and know how to make even complex environments look good while keeping the system low down. Now this doesn't clarify if it's like a Final Fantasy Tactics or a Fire Emblem, but the fact that Fire Emblem is already mentioned by name, the fact that the reference was Final Fantasy XV, and we're clearly not getting Final Fantasy XVI Switch to at least not anytime soon, I would say that it is highly likely at this point that this is dealing with a new Fire Emblem. And I know what you're saying, we just got Fire Emblem engaged in January. Guys, this would be a game in development for the next generation device. So it probably won't even be coming out this year or next year. I mean, it could be a 2025 game, but it is something to consider that potentially this person was hired for it. And by the way, these third-party companies like this, while it's not like the in-house intelligence systems or whoever's spearheading the next Fire Emblem, what it is, is companies that do VFX work. So they're doing some of the graphical work on the game, and this is very common for Nintendo and many studios to hire outside companies to handle that sort of stuff. Now, that's really cool. But what if I were to also tell you, as I noted at the beginning of this video, Nintendo is actually confirming cross-platform play for their next generation device. And in doing so, essentially confirming it's another switch. What if I were to tell you this was a thing? Well, DocTray81 was at it again in another video. Again, both linked down in the description. And in that, he notes this. Here's the hiring post right on screen. Notably, it references in the data for the position. It says, Optimization and Security for the Nintendo 3DS switch and other Nintendo platforms. Okay, so maybe the other Nintendo platforms just means we, you. Well, in the hiring post, it states the following. The goal will be to aim for and go beyond a state-of-the-art solution in these fields, targeting current and next-generation Nintendo platforms. And what field is it noting in this hiring post? Cross-platform play. That's what they're hiring for. So Nintendo, and this, by the way, is the Nintendo European Research and Development Team out in Europe. So the nerd division that does a lot of research and development for platforms is essentially confirming in this post there will be a next-generation system. It is going to be a sort of Nintendo switch because the games will be cross-platform with the switch. Oh, and by the way, cross-platform play is a massive deal and going to be a thing for a while, at least. And they're trying to get on the cutting-edge technology to pull it off. This is really exciting, and honestly, just cross-platform play is something that all of us, maybe not everyone, supports. Nintendo has traditionally not done cross-platform play. They usually have, like, one game, and then it's not even technically cross-platform, right? It's just a game that releases two different versions, one on a former system, one on a current. That's not perfectly cross-platform play, but it doesn't really matter the fact that they're even fundamentally investing in this generation. Fire Emblem, yada-yada, we're...aw, man. I can't wait. I'm so excited for this. Anyways, I hope to catch you guys tonight on our live stream. If not then, then I will see you in our video tomorrow. But we should be live tonight around 8pm Central Time. You guys have a good rest of your day, and I'll catch you in the next video.