Aside from the raw technical numbers, we have received considerable information about the Nintendo Switch 2, courtesy of recent direct. It is also part of the recent Ask The Developer Q&AS. In one of those recent, Switch 2 producer Kwamoto revealed that one of Nintendo’s goals when creating Switch 2 is that developers can make more ambitious games.
This is due to relatively insufficient hardware that powers the original switch. Many games worked well on the system, but third-party and first-party developers showed quite a few titles, and certainly benefited from the extra horsepower of smooth frame rates.
“There were times when we wanted to make the switch system faster processors and provide a new, unprecedented gameplay experience,” Kawamoto said. “I think the processors that I chose to implement on the Switch on the Switch back then were the best option back then. But over time I began to realize that it didn’t necessarily mean that we could create the game that developers wanted.”
The original switch had a chip based on Nvidia’s Tegra SoC. When the Switch was announced in 2017, the chip was already quite old, and it first debuted on tablets like Google’s Nexus 7 10 years ago. Meanwhile, the Switch 2 comes with a new chip designed by a new custom NVIDIA, rumoured to be based on the recent Tegra 239.
Kawamoto’s statement coincides with a statement made by Takuhiro Dota in a similar Q&A. There, we talked about how we wanted to deal with the problem with switch 2.
“From a software developer’s perspective, if you were creating a game, we thought about what you wanted on the console,” Dohta says. “In the past, Nintendo has developed software that utilizes unique hardware features such as the Wii Remote and the dual screen of the Nintendo DS System. However, since the Switch started, I think there has been a change in the way software developers create games.”
“As exploiting hardware features to create something unique, developers can now choose the software technology they want to incorporate to make their games stand out.”
Dohta also spoke about improving the speed of the Switch 2 to allow developers to create the type of game they want. This is why Switch 2, coupled with the fact that unique hardware features are not necessarily used by developers, led to iterative upgrades on the switch.
“My honest opinion as a software developer is that just because new hardware features are added doesn’t mean that a variety of issues are resolved or new kinds of gameplay experiences are being created one after another,” he said. “So we improved its processing speed with the hope that Switch 2 would become a dedicated gaming platform with a strong, solid foundation that allows software developers to create what they need.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 will hit the store shelves on June 5th. Console releases come with many game releases. Mario Kart World and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.
