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Shaunodon on 29 June 2020
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nuckles87 said:
Shaunodon said:

As much as I wouldn't mind something like a Switch Pro, I can't see the point in it. The only purpose would be for supporting new AAA third party games, which have a nice market on Switch but not enough to justify a hardware revision. We're seeing enough of those games can already run on Switch with enough work put in, and the few that can't right now can be early releases for Switch 2 in 2024/2025.

People that buy Switch want to play 1st party games and other killer exclusives for the system. Most of those titles we've seen so far haven't even taken full advantage of the Switch hardware yet, so I can't see why any of the future ones would be restricted by it.

There are a few things Nintendo could do with an upgraded Switch now.

They can add a larger, 1080p screen. They can make it 4K capable. With a higher res screen and more onboard power, they can also make it a more capable VR device. 


A Switch Pro would not only be more capable of running third party games, it could also run first party Nintendo games at higher resolutions and frame rates, both in portable and docked mode. There are already first party games that don’t run at 1080p now (like the Xenoblade games, Mario Odyssey, BOTW), and with 4K TVs becoming more prevalent there is DEFINITELY a market for this sort of thing, and if they can do that without dividing the market, there is little incentive not to.

Honestly, Nintendo’s only real incentives for releasing a true “Switch 2” would be if they want to make significant changes to the platform as a whole (such as revised joy cons and dock with new features, or a VR pack-in peripheral), or be able to no longer promise near-universal compatibility between the Switch family of devices. If Nintendo’s fine with the current Switch joy con & dock tech, and are okay with just slowly phasing out software compatibility with older models ala smart phones, they may never need to make an official “Switch 2”. XD

Although I do fully expect a Switch 2. 

Again, these are the games I'm talking about when I say they haven't fully utilised the Switch's capabilities yet. Take into account that BotW was a game very much developed for Wii U initially, and then they stripped back the Wii U aspects (gamepad functionality) and had to quickly ready it for Switch. Both of the Xenoblades so far were pushed out with ~2 years dev time, to help fill out the release schedule. Mario Odyssey was another launch year game, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was originally intended for Wii U, but at some point had it's development shifted to Switch instead.

With more years actually focused on development for Switch now, they should have a lot less problems fully optimising games. And unlike the twins, their games aren't focused on trying to push raw graphical power, so they won't be much more demanding.

There may be a market for Switch games in 4k, but it's definitely not the vast majority of people who buy the systems. If there's any chance for a new Nintendo system running games in 4k, it'll be their next gen system, not a mid-gen upgrade. Even then, since there's no chance they'll turn back from the hybrid architecture, it wouldn't surprise me if their next system only targets 1440p-1800p, with a 1080p portable screen. I can even see games on next-gen twins that are 4k, going down to 1080p (docked) on Switch 2 or whatever they call it.

4k just isn't that big a deal yet. Not for a Nintendo system or the people who buy them. 1080p will still be passable for the next 10 years, even while 4k slowly becomes the standard. I'd still expect Switch 2 to target higher than that, but if some games are only 1080p in 2025-2029, it won't be a world ender.