Wyrdness said:
I don't get why people keep thinking the Pro route could happen when it fundamentally undermines Nintendo's business model, a pro model only adds a version with significantly more costs that would eat into revenue from license fees that are central to their business model, the one time they did such a thing with the 3DS the newer model just had a slightly overclocked CPU it was nothing like the PS4/5 Pro. Games are more scalable because modern architecture in newer hardware is better resulting in more efficiency that's why engines scale better today, that makes it less likely for Nintendo to go the pro route and more likely for the Switch 2 to just have a longer run than the Switch 1 especially with advancements to features like DLSS, the only pro model coming will be the S3 itself. The won't be a cross gen approach either, Nintendo said right off the bat after 2026 it's all S2 same thing will happen when S3 arrives because sustaining more than one platform was one of the core problems that hindered Nintendo before, once Nintendo has a new platform going they're done with the previous one. |
It's too early to discount anything at this point.
Secondly, you're not even correct on what you're talking about, Nintendo had upgraded DS model as well (DSi) which had more RAM and a new CPU design, they also did it with the Game Boy Color, so that's 3 times, not once. The 3DS was not the first or only time they did that at all.
But even that is relatively meaningless, the new hardware team is nothing like the DS/3DS era, they're not honor bound to do anything the same way. They can do whatever they want. The people who were primarily making the final decisions for hardware 20-25 years ago at Nintendo are largely long gone. Even Miyamoto is basically semi-retired from the game division these days, he mainly focuses on the movies and theme parks at this point.
Even the name "Switch 2" a lot of people went on and on and on about how "Nintendo will never do that! Only Sony does that! Nintendo will never copy something Sony does" ... uh wrong. Nintendo will do whatever is good for Nintendo in the moment, the younger leadership and designers at Nintendo today grew up also with Playstation 1 and other consoles too not living in a bubble, they don't have any kind of aversion to copying things from Sony or anyone else if it stands to benefit Nintendo of today.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 12 January 2026
