Is Xbox Teasing a Nintendo Announcement?

Is Xbox teasing a collaboration with Nintendo? For weeks, there's been speculation that Nintendo and Xbox are teaming up for some type of announcement that will come this fall. This speculation is percolating for a variety of reasons, but it's largely because of what insiders have been saying and because Microsoft continues to hint something is going down.

It began with Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, who has built a reputation for using Zoom calls to tease various things. For example, there was an Xbox Series S hiding in plain sight on his shelf before the console was revealed, and nobody noticed it. Since then, everything in the background of his Zoom calls is under a microscope. In his most recent Zoom call, a Nintendo Switch is prominently displayed on a shelf in the background, which the aforementioned insiders claim is a deliberate tease.

Fast-forward, after all of this, after insiders teased some announcement is coming later this year, and after the Halo Instagram account added fuel to the fire, Microsoft's Game Stack's livestream copied Spencer.

As you can see, right there, in a very obvious and prominent place, a Nintendo Switch is on a shelf in an official Xbox video. Could this be the participants simply having some fun in the wake of all this speculation? Sure, but for some, there's something more going on here.

Microsoft's Game Stack event is starting now and there's a shelf!!! *opens Photoshop to examine the pixels* pic.twitter.com/oahucc1gKG

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 20, 2021

As for what all of this could be building towards -- assuming it's building towards something -- who knows. Theories suggest it's Xbox Game Pass related or possibly Super Smash Bros. Ultimate related, but for now, this is just speculation.

Of course, both Xbox and Nintendo could put an end to this speculation with an official comment or statement, but so far that hasn't happened and it doesn't look like it's going to happen. If it does happen, we will be sure to update the story. In the meantime, take all of this with a grain of salt as it ranges from speculative to unofficial. That said, at this point, it does seem like Xbox is teasing something involving Nintendo. The bigger question is: what is it teasing?

As always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. What do you think Xbox is teasing?