Nintendo brings Switch 2 Sports Resort preview to UK festival tour

Nintendo's rolling Switch 2 tour of the UK has reached a notable milestone: the Deva Fest family festival in Chester became the site of the country's first public hands-on with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, the upcoming motion-sports title due to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on 22 October 2026.

Deva Fest — billed as Cheshire's family music, food and lifestyle festival — ran at Cholmondeley Castle from Thursday 6 August to Sunday 9 August. The event's official website confirmed that Nintendo brought a full Switch 2 festival experience to the site, giving attendees hands-on time with the console and a range of games, with Sports Resort highlighted as the centrepiece attraction. The Deva Fest site described it as a chance to try Nintendo Switch Sports Resort "before its 22 October launch, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2."

Nintendo has been running its UK Switch 2 tour throughout 2026, with the company's own news page — published in July 2026 — setting out the roadshow's aims and directing fans to check individual venue websites for ticketing details, as some locations require paid entry. Nintendo has also stated it will be updating the tour page regularly as more dates and locations are confirmed, so the schedule is expected to grow beyond what has been announced so far.

What is Nintendo Switch Sports Resort?

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort was announced during a Nintendo Direct on 9 June 2026. It is the third entry in the Wii Sports franchise, following Wii Sports Club in 2014 and Nintendo Switch Sports in April 2022 — and it leans heavily into the nostalgia of its predecessors while using the Switch 2's hardware to push the format forward.

The game returns to Wuhu Island, the sun-drenched setting made famous by Wii Sports Resort on the original Wii, and retains the "Sportsmates" avatars seen in Nintendo Switch Sports, alongside support for Mii characters. Its full roster of twelve sports is as follows:

• Returning from Wii Sports Resort: Archery, Power Cruising, Table Tennis, and Prop Plane (formerly Island Flyover)
• Returning from Nintendo Switch Sports: Basketball, Volleyball, Golf, Tennis, and Bowling
• New to the series: Skateboarding, Thumb Wrestling, and Boxing (which itself returns from the original 2006 Wii Sports)
• Warm-up activity: Jump Rope

Controls vary by sport and make deliberate use of the Switch 2's Joy-Con 2 capabilities. Skateboarding uses mouse controls, Power Cruising uses steering controls, while sports like Archery and Tennis rely on motion controls. During the June Nintendo Direct, company executive Yoshiaki Koizumi gave an extended demonstration of Thumb Wrestling — one of the game's more eyebrow-raising new additions.

Online play is confirmed, though Nintendo says full details about multiplayer capacity will be shared at a later date. The game can also be played offline.

First UK hands-on — but not the first anywhere

While Deva Fest marked the first UK public playable demo of Sports Resort, it was not the game's global debut. Nintendo offered hands-on sessions at San Diego Comic-Con in the United States from 23 to 26 July 2026, where attendees could try four of the twelve sports — though which four were available at that event was not specified at the time.

The UK tour demo follows a similar format: Nintendo has noted that game selection may vary by location, so it is not confirmed exactly which sports featured at Deva Fest or which will appear at future UK tour stops.

Price and availability

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is available to pre-order now at major UK retailers. Smyths Toys and Amazon UK both list the game at £41.99, with stock expected from 22 October 2026. A UK eShop digital price has not been confirmed at the time of writing.

The game is a Switch 2 exclusive — there is no version planned for the original Switch hardware.

Why this franchise carries weight

It is worth putting Nintendo Switch Sports Resort in context. The original Wii Sports, bundled with the Wii console in 2006, sold 33 million units during its lifetime and is widely credited with bringing motion gaming to a mainstream family audience. Nintendo Switch Sports, released in April 2022, has itself sold over 18.3 million copies — a figure that underlines just how much appetite remains for this style of accessible, pick-up-and-play sports gaming.

Sports Resort, then, is not a niche title. It is a flagship bet on a proven formula, updated for new hardware and a new generation of players.

What's next for the UK tour

Nintendo has confirmed it will continue to add dates and locations to the UK tour throughout the rest of 2026. Fans interested in attending a future event are advised to monitor Nintendo's official UK news page and check individual venue websites for ticketing requirements before travelling. With Sports Resort's 22 October launch now just over ten weeks away, more tour stops seem likely in the weeks ahead.