Nintendo were essentially rebooted in 2015 between their new super studio in Tokyo, their internal development restructuring, their combination of resources to combine their handheld and console divisions and assets and of course the death of Mr Iwata. On a side note the fact Iwata set all of these wheels in motion while working such long hours and so diligently to plot out his long term vision for the company to not only survive but thrive while he was receiving cancer treatment and knew he was dying is testament to how truly special the guy was in a world where everyone is suddenly a legend and the best person ever when they die. He was a true legend and I did not agree with his vision of Nintendo at all from 2005-2012. RIP.
Anyway the hybrid hardware design and concept is here to stay for the foreseeable future because of the above, the combination of the financial losses of the first 24 months of 3DS, the disastrous Wii U hardware and those software sales and the absolutely incredible success of Switch hardware and software sales. I initially predicted 80 million Switch sales in its lifetime and was laughed at online but it’s even blown me away with it’s success). This is why they signed a two decade long deal with Nvidia who could offer WiiU performance or better in 2015 in a handheld form factor with Tegra while also offering a tech roadmap which included real time ray tracing and more importantly ridiculously good upscaling with DLSS so they could again stay a generation behind Sony and MS in terms of cutting edge console tech.
I want more than anything to have even the choice of a dedicated home console but Nintendo see it as if they’re already offering people that with their hybrid solution especially when Switch 2 launches in 2024 and we are getting 1440p or more in docked mode versus at times sub 720p with the current Switch.
Above all of that though in terms of them never going near the hardware arms race again is one very important point that I don’t see talked about enough… Nintendo do not want to even dip their toes into the absolutely frightening prospect of $200 million game development which is where they would be going if they suddenly released a PS5 powered home console. Yes their visuals are stylised but the asset numbers, quality, detail and time it takes to create them is where those crazy budgets come from and would create further software gaps in their release schedules which is something they’re going to have to face with Switch 2 because they don’t have all the WiiU ports to plug three gaps per year.
If Switch 2 is a Steam Deck in performance with DLSS, an SSD and the ability to use ray tracing then that will be more than enough for developers and 99% of their audience.
Remember they made something like Tears of the Kingdom on a development target of a sub 0.2teraflop GPU, a phone CPU on par with 2012 iPhones, a slow storage solution and 3gigs of the most horrifically slow memory ever used in a videogame console in relative terms to it’s other components.
Switch 2 will at worst case scenario (meaning tracking how low they can at max drop it’s clock speeds before they’re getting diminishing returns on saving battery life and heat) be a 10x leap over Switch in terms of CPU performance and a 6-8 leap over Switch in terms of GPU performance. Much more, much faster ram and an SSD. RT and especially DLSS will be the icing on the cake.
People are not prepared for the level of visuals Nintendo and their partners will create with those level of specs when you see the miracles they pulled of with Switch hardware!
