In March, Japanese outlet Nikkei released a report about Nintendo working on a new Switch 2 revision to comply with European Union rules, which allows users to replace batteries in consumer electronics themselves.
There has been an update about this week, with Nintendo’s official European website confirming “future compliant versions” of the Switch 2 for this region will come with “unique model numbers” and the additional code ‘OSM’ visible on the packaging, designating them as separate products.
As noted in the official compliance message below, this will come into effect on 18th February 2027. Here it is in full:
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries (Batteries Regulation)
Like the WEEE Directive, the Batteries Regulation aims to reduce the environmental impact of the manufacture, distribution, use, disposal and recycling of batteries and rechargeable batteries. In doing so, it forbids the supply of batteries and rechargeable batteries with certain hazardous metal content and sets out requirements for batteries’ labelling, safe removal from appliances, collection and recycling. Nintendo products are fully compliant with these requirements, and Nintendo cooperates fully with authorised regional institutions to facilitate the proper collection and environmentally sound recovery or disposal of its batteries.
In addition, the Regulation requires that from February 18th, 2027, batteries integrated into certain appliances and sold in the EU must be easily replaceable by end-users at any time during the lifetime of the product. Nintendo is implementing measures to comply with these requirements by preparing versions of products to meet the Regulation. For current products with model numbers starting with “BEE”, future compliant versions will have unique model numbers and the additional code “OSM” visible on the packaging, designating them as separate products for regulatory purposes.
As you might recall, ‘OSM’ was the mystery product code that sparked rumours of a new Switch 2 model earlier this year. Of course, as we now know, it is to comply with these rules in Europe.
It’s worth noting there may not necessarily be any noticeable cosmetic difference in the revised model. Nintendo quietly released a revision of the original Switch 1 model in 2019, offering improved battery life and also closing a security hole in the original hardware’s Nvidia chipset and it looked the same. So it’s not the first time it’s done revisions like this.
The Japanese firm also recently announced Switch 2 price revisions. These will come into effect this September in the west.
