Get ready to put your detective hats on, folks, because there's a mystery afoot. The Nintendo Switch reveal trailer — you know, the one where groups of trendy people play the up-and-coming console at such memorable and realistic venues as a rooftop party or at a basketball court — has been removed from the official Nintendo YouTube channel.
This was first brought to our attention by Reddit user CarbVan on r/GamingLeaksAndRumours and sure enough, looking at the YouTube channel in question, the reveal trailer is nowhere to be found. Of course, the video remains available online through outer outlets (the one posted by GameSpot, for example), so you can still find inspiration for which wacky and wonderful location you will play your Switch in next, but the question still stands: why has it been removed from its initial source?
The simple (and, unfortunately, most likely) answer is that it has been removed due to a music licensing issue. The trailer's backing track, 'Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)' by White Denim, is a song that, as Reddit user TheyCallMeRadec points out, appears to be in some legal trouble after the track's initial distributors were recently taken over by another company. Questions about the song's true owner are usually reason enough for a video such as this to be taken down and there is every chance that we have seen exactly that in this instance.
But what if there is another reason? CarbVan's original post does point out that Nintendo has intentionally removed reveal trailers in the past to make way for another, perhaps connected announcement right around the corner. We might be replacing our detective hats with ones more of the tinfoil variety, but could we be seeing something similar happening here — after all, rumours of the 'Switch 2' continue to circulate at a higher and higher density each week. Is the removal of the OG Switch reveal trailer a sign of things to come?
There is every possibility that Nintendo is clearing the runway here, making room for something else down the line, though our logical brains can't help but lean towards the former, somewhat more boring option — surely nothing as big as the Switch's successor would be teased this close to the holiday season, right... right?