StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (Read the staff posts before commenting!)

[ILikeFeet]

That just means you spend too much time in tech threads on gaming forums more than anything else.

the screen space effects are very apparent tho. not as bad as XC2, but still pretty obvious

 

[Deleted member 887]

IMO BOTW running on the WiiU with near parity to the Switch pretty well confirms there isn't a significant upgrade there. You can bet it was heavily optimized for each.

As several folk have pointed out, Takuhiro Dohta has been clear that the Switch version is essentially unoptimized. Actually, it's weirder than that - it's anti-optimized. It's the WiiU version down to WiiU specific optimizations, despite the fact that the WiiU optimizations add nothing on Switch.

The "tick/tock" discussion has gone pretty far afield. When we talk about "tick/tock" we're usually talking about "more power by being bigger" versus "more power by redesigning". In terms of systems architecture, Nintendo hasn't had a tick/tock approach at all.

The N64 was an architecture of it's own, a radical departure from the SNES, heavily influenced by arcade systems, new arch
The GameCube was a total break from the N64, looking to radically simplify development new arch
The Wii was a more powerful GameCube in almost every way bigger system
The WiiU was a hybrid monster ala the 3DS. The CPU design was just an even bigger gamecube but had two GPUs one identical to the Wii's and one with a new arch. This created a system that lost the ease of development that the GameCube created, while still being limited by the GameCube's architecture.
The Switch is an absolutely clean break which makes strict comparisons tricky.

On the CPU side, the Switch is generally a better design than the WiiU, but running at slightly slower clocks. You could argue that it comes out in the wash. On the GPU side it's trickier - the Switch's architecture is superior to the WiiU's and runs faster... in docked mode and slower in handheld mode.

However Nintendo's tick/tock cycle isn't about the internal architecture, but the experience. Nintendo has been tick/tocking the control scheme, and the kinds of games it wants to center since the Famicom. The Super Famicom was just that, before the N64 radically shook things up with 3D and a stick control by default.

The games on GameCube were better N64 games. 3D dominated, the controls were fundamentally taking what was strange about the N64 and making it "normal" after years of experience.

Despite having GameCube internals, Wii was an attempt to fundamentally change up the gameplay experience again with motion controls. The Wii U was an attempt to make that more mature, simply consolidating the various Motion Plus experiments into a single WiiMote, and adding the GamePad. Despite how it was marketed as yet another "new way to play" the WiiU was really just trying to continue pushing the experience the Wii founded, with controls that were designed to be accessible and designs that leaned into "friends and family playing together on the couch."

The Switch inherits a lot from these consoles, but it is a rethink of the game experience. Nintendo still makes couch co-op games, still supports as much waggle as you like, but the whole "take your game onto the subway to work" concept re-centers single player experiences, recognizable "gamey" control schemes, and weirdly, games that target adults in the sense of "big games for serious gamers, broken up into bite size pieces, because we've got kids and jobs".

Every indication is the Drake is actually an architectural rethink in some ways - the GPU is still Nvidia, instead of off the shelf Maxwell, we're getting customized Ampere, with a much larger feature set, and as such a different programming approach - despite suspected marketing as an incremental upgrade, and with no indication that it changes the gameplay experience.

This leaves some open questions about what Nintendo will do next. Is Drake the tick, or not? And without separate hardware lines for handheld vs TV to help it weather a "lost" generation, how will Nintendo approach the next tock? Are we going to see multiple ticks before the next tock, with Nintendo taking advantage of Switch's popularity and system design to close the gap in power significantly before its next gameplay concept comes out? Or will the imminent retirement of Miyamoto and his peers within the company cause a cultural shift that leaves controller innovation behind, and focuses on brand integration and Nintendo exclusives to drive hardware sales?

 

[manfromthedam]

here you go.

as far as I've heard, no

You, sir/ma'am, deserve your username in gold xD .

 

[Look over there]

In thinking about the emulation/piracy thread that popped up on era today, it does make me wonder how that scene will impact Nintendo's software decisions with their new hardware, if at all. I think think we have all been assuming that the Switch will enjoy a hearty cross gen period where it will get all/most Switch 2(whatever) releases for the next couple years, but I wonder if the ease of emulation and piracy of base Switch games impacts that at all.

I mean, we know Nintendo hates both piracy and emulation, and certainly can't be happy that people can run their games day and date on PC and Steam Deck with better performance. Particularly with that gaining more and more notoriety online. Similarly, there are also 10s of millions of easily hackable V1 Switches out there as well, that Nintendo explicitly released revision hardware to phase out.

Maybe it doesn't impact their decision making, but at the same time I wouldn't exactly be shocked to see them sacrifice the mass market of the base Switch, and release more Switch 2 only games from the jump, to cut their games off from emulators and pirates.

...tangential to that, I wonder how Drake emulation would go. We know that DLSS will be a major feature. So the question I have in mind is, just from a top level perspective of problem solving, how would emulator developers approach handling DLSS knowing that a significant portion of their prospective userbase probably aren't using RTX cards.

In turn, that's probably asking about details on what DLSS needs and where are the points it can break down outside of its normal/intended use case.

 

[Concernt]

...tangential to that, I wonder how Drake emulation would go. We know that DLSS will be a major feature. So the question I have in mind is, just from a top level perspective of problem solving, how would emulator developers approach handling DLSS knowing that a significant portion of their prospective userbase probably aren't using RTX cards.

In turn, that's probably asking about details on what DLSS needs and where are the points it can break down outside of its normal/intended use case.

AFAIK, while it wouldn't deliver the same resolution benefits, DLSS is a bit of a black box. You make an emulator that can take the same inputs as DLSS (which are almost the same as TAA).

Or you can have the emulator take the inputs, totally disregard them and try to push the internal tender straight to display.

 

[KeijiKG]

well people say Pokemon has good graphics, so...

They could stand to be better. In the background department anyway. Character+monster models tend to be the strong point of current games.

Not Game Freak-made, but Battle Revolution's settings remain my gold standard for what console-Pokeymans games could've looked like with polys to spare and that was on the corn-blasted Wii

 

[Deleted member 887]

...tangential to that, I wonder how Drake emulation would go. We know that DLSS will be a major feature. So the question I have in mind is, just from a top level perspective of problem solving, how would emulator developers approach handling DLSS knowing that a significant portion of their prospective userbase probably aren't using RTX cards.

There is already a "DLSS-like" FSR DLL, where someone has taken the DLSS API/ABI and implemented it in top of FSR, allowing games with DLSS support to run in DLSS mode on top of FSR 2.x. As existing Switch emulators are HLE, this is likely the strategy - capture the inputs, forward to FSR when on non-RTX cards.

As DLSS is subtly different between versions and games are likely to ship with static linked NVN2 libraries, it is likely that it will not be possible in the near future to offer pixel perfect emulation.

In turn, that's probably asking about details on what DLSS needs and where are the points it can break down outside of its normal/intended use case.

DLSS 2.0 and FSR 2.0 use almost identical inputs - I believe FSR needs the complete color buffer, but DLSS only needs luminance.

 

[ILikeFeet]

You, sir/ma'am, deserve your username in gold xD .

have it on hand strictly for research purposes

They could stand to be better. In the background department anyway. Character+monster models tend to be the strong point of current games.

Not Game Freak-made, but Battle Revolution's settings remain my gold standard for what console-Pokeymans games could've looked like with polys to spare and that was on the corn-blasted Wii

I've been saying that the Genius Sonority games have been the ideal that Game Freak has yet to meat and have been laughed at.

 

[Mr Swine]

IMO BOTW running on the WiiU with near parity to the Switch pretty well confirms there isn't a significant upgrade there. You can bet it was heavily optimized for each.

Wii U is a Frankenstein in hardware that marries old tech with new tech. The Triple core CPU despite being turbocharged Wii CPU was really bad.

The GPU was “modern” compared to the CPU but was outdated since it was based on the Radeon R7 uArch when the Xbox One/PS4 where based on Polaris. That itself is several generations between

Heck, the dev that made Metro 1/2 couldn’t port the games to Wii U because of its bad CPU. The games ran okayish on PS360 but remastered ran perfect on Switch despite having a weaker CPU than the HD twins.

 

[Pokemaniac]

...tangential to that, I wonder how Drake emulation would go. We know that DLSS will be a major feature. So the question I have in mind is, just from a top level perspective of problem solving, how would emulator developers approach handling DLSS knowing that a significant portion of their prospective userbase probably aren't using RTX cards.

In turn, that's probably asking about details on what DLSS needs and where are the points it can break down outside of its normal/intended use case.

The simple approach would be to either just bypass it entirely or slot in FSR instead. If they get creative, there's a chance they might be able to get a pass through setup going on Nvidia GPUs, but that's not portable.

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

As long as we don't have flashcarts similar to the Sky3DS or what we had on the NDS - Nintendo won't heavily suffer from piracy on the Switch.
At least not as heavily as the NDS era for sure.

True, but I mean that if they are pushed enough they’ll absolutely kill the switch in a heartbeat.

Doesn’t seem like they’ve been pushed enough.


In other news, this is an interesting bit of information:

There's also discussion of the news that Xbox Series S has more memory given to developers via a new update to the GDK development environment. The question is, can the 'hundreds of megabytes' added to the existing 8GB of memory make a significant difference? Alex suggests that we may see more RT modes, with the new RAM allocated to the BVH structures required to trace rays. As a counterpoint, I suggest that with 12.5GB of RAM available to developers on PS5 (at least at launch - and it's 13.5GB on Xbox) there's still a yawning chasm between Series S and other systems. I think any extra RAM is useful but I'm not sure how much of a game-changer it will be.

So at launch, PS5 had 12.5GB out 16GB for games.

And Series X has 13.5GB out of 16GB

Series S had 8GB out of 10GB according to them. though I saw elsewhere that it was actually 7.5GB

In terms of available memory.


It’s somewhat related.

Since we were discussing memory a few pages back.

 

[Concernt]

True, but I mean that if they are pushed enough they’ll absolutely kill the switch in a heartbeat.

Doesn’t seem like they’ve been pushed enough.


In other news, this is an interesting bit of information:




So at launch, PS5 had 12.5GB out 16GB for games.

And Series X has 13.5GB out of 16GB

Series S had 8GB out of 10GB according to them. though I saw elsewhere that it was actually 7.5GB

In terms of available memory.


It’s somewhat related.

Since we were discussing memory a few pages back.

Most of the big fat banks of memory on Series X and PS5 are texture and framebuffer, things Series S doesn't have to worry about due to a lower target output and Drake won't have to worry about due to hardware accelerated scaling, filtering, etc. 12, 8 or even 6GB of RAM on Drake would all be fine, but obviously the more the better.

If it does end up being 12, which I have to admit seems likely, that's realistically more like 10-11.5 available to games. That's. A LOT. Even next to PS5 and Xbox Series X, the smaller framebuffer (720p to 4K is the stated target of Nintendo's own DLSS patent and the target of DLSS Ultra Performance on PC) will close or even cross that gap.

8 or 6 wouldn't be a showstopper, but 12 would be a godsend for third party development.

 

[Hidden04]

It's quite funny that we are in the possible scenario of Drake being announced after the holidays.

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

Most of the big fat banks of memory on Series X and PS5 are texture and framebuffer, things Series S doesn't have to worry about due to a lower target output and Drake won't have to worry about due to hardware accelerated scaling, filtering, etc. 12, 8 or even 6GB of RAM on Drake would all be fine, but obviously the more the better.

If it does end up being 12, which I have to admit seems likely, that's realistically more like 10-11.5 available to games. That's. A LOT. Even next to PS5 and Xbox Series X, the smaller framebuffer (720p to 4K is the stated target of Nintendo's own DLSS patent and the target of DLSS Ultra Performance on PC) will close or even cross that gap.

8 or 6 wouldn't be a showstopper, but 12 would be a godsend for third party development.

If it’s of any consideration, LPDDR5 that fits the 128-bit interface of the Drake while also fitting in the size of the switch with respect to limited space would be 6GB 64-bit modules, which would mean 2 of them for 12GB 128-bit.


There’s also the 4GB version but it still seems like it’s in sampling.

They could go with 4 32-bit modules of I think 2GB? But I’m not sure if that’s available really at the moment.


There’s LPDDR5X but we all seemed to agree that 5X is most likely to happen in the Revision with a die shrink for further power saving purposes.

 

[ILikeFeet]

If it’s of any consideration, LPDDR5 that fits the 128-bit interface of the Drake while also fitting in the size of the switch with respect to limited space would be 6GB 64-bit modules, which would mean 2 of them for 12GB 128-bit.


There’s also the 4GB version but it still seems like it’s in sampling.

They could go with 4 32-bit modules of I think 2GB? But I’m not sure if that’s available really at the moment.


There’s LPDDR5X but we all seemed to agree that 5X is most likely to happen in the Revision with a die shrink for further power saving purposes.

It's possible that 64-bit 4GB chips are just waiting for buyers

4 chips sounds very unlikely since I don't think Nintendo wants a more complex board

 

[Concernt]

If it’s of any consideration, LPDDR5 that fits the 128-bit interface of the Drake while also fitting in the size of the switch with respect to limited space would be 6GB 64-bit modules, which would mean 2 of them for 12GB 128-bit.


There’s also the 4GB version but it still seems like it’s in sampling.

They could go with 4 32-bit modules of I think 2GB? But I’m not sure if that’s available really at the moment.


There’s LPDDR5X but we all seemed to agree that 5X is most likely to happen in the Revision with a die shrink for further power saving purposes.

Indeed, and the problem with a higher number of lower capacity chips is that material costs remain high during a materials shortage and the motherboard space, already at a premium, needed to support them.

I imagine they'll go with a similar layout to what we have now, an SOC with two RAM chips beside them, and I'd say probably both being 6GB LPDDR5.

5X has no notice but to wait for a revision if it doesn't launch with Drake, since the memory controller is in the SOC, only makes sense to add support alongside similar power saving changes like die shrinks

 

[Deleted member 1324]

here you go.

#DiminishingReturns

 

[Deleted member 1324]

Following on from my post the other day with how much the industry is changing (along with the issue of people emulating their latest and oldest games on PC) I really do wonder how long it will be before Nintendo say fuck it and do a Sony by releasing their games on PC.

Not their latest games to start but if they did it tomorrow it would be games like BotW, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Metroid Dread, Smash Ultimate and Mario Odyssey. I also think they’d go with their own store unless EPIC offered them a massive deal like only taking a 5% royalty fee as opposed to Steams 20-30%.

There are tens of millions of PC only gamers who would never buy a Switch or the next Switch but would pay $50 to play one of the above listed games on their computer. Another 5-10 million sales is very tempting and what Sony are doing on a smaller scale (3-5 million). It’s an inevitability imo and would also push some multiplayer games popularity on places like twitch which further gets you into peoples mind and the publics zeitgeist.

Nintendo should also allow some of their characters into Fortnite while they are at it. I can’t believe that hasn’t already happened.

 

[mariodk18]

How will Ampere vs Maxwell change how Nintendo and other developers make their games?

 

[Deleted member 1324]

Most of the big fat banks of memory on Series X and PS5 are texture and framebuffer, things Series S doesn't have to worry about due to a lower target output and Drake won't have to worry about due to hardware accelerated scaling, filtering, etc. 12, 8 or even 6GB of RAM on Drake would all be fine, but obviously the more the better.

If it does end up being 12, which I have to admit seems likely, that's realistically more like 10-11.5 available to games. That's. A LOT. Even next to PS5 and Xbox Series X, the smaller framebuffer (720p to 4K is the stated target of Nintendo's own DLSS patent and the target of DLSS Ultra Performance on PC) will close or even cross that gap.

8 or 6 wouldn't be a showstopper, but 12 would be a godsend for third party development.

I’d put money on it being 8. This is penny pinching Nintendo who would chose 8 over 12 even if it cost them 5cents per unit

5 cents over 50 million units is also $10 million extra made.

 

[SMALLVILLE BOY]

Following on from my post the other day with how much the industry is changing (along with the issue of people emulating their latest and oldest games on PC) I really do wonder how long it will be before Nintendo say fuck it and do a Sony by releasing their games on PC.

Not their latest games to start but if they did it tomorrow it would be games like BotW, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Metroid Dread, Smash Ultimate and Mario Odyssey. I also think they’d go with their own store unless EPIC offered them a massive deal like only taking a 5% royalty fee as opposed to Steams 20-30%.

There are tens of millions of PC only gamers who would never buy a Switch or the next Switch but would pay $50 to play one of the above listed games on their computer. Another 5-10 million sales is very tempting and what Sony are doing on a smaller scale (3-5 million). It’s an inevitability imo and would also push some multiplayer games popularity on places like twitch which further gets you into peoples mind and the publics zeitgeist.

Nintendo should also allow some of their characters into Fortnite while they are at it. I can’t believe that hasn’t already happened.

Yeah another 5-10 millions of those games but at the same time it will be 15-20 less millions for new games and even worse ,another millions the console wont sell. I dont think Nintendo going thirdparty is the smartest choice for them.

 

[Blue Monty]

I’d put money on it being 8. This is penny pinching Nintendo who would chose 8 over 12 even if it cost them 5cents per unit

5 cents over 50 million units is also $10 million extra made.

The money made by the cut they would get from 3rd parties thanks to the extra memory would make up the 10M
Of course this is just a joke case but if they think that going with 12 would help their 3rd party support enough they will go for it if they can still make it fit for their goal price. They already made such a change when Capcom suggested it

 

[Lant_War]

Following on from my post the other day with how much the industry is changing (along with the issue of people emulating their latest and oldest games on PC) I really do wonder how long it will be before Nintendo say fuck it and do a Sony by releasing their games on PC.

Not their latest games to start but if they did it tomorrow it would be games like BotW, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Metroid Dread, Smash Ultimate and Mario Odyssey. I also think they’d go with their own store unless EPIC offered them a massive deal like only taking a 5% royalty fee as opposed to Steams 20-30%.

There are tens of millions of PC only gamers who would never buy a Switch or the next Switch but would pay $50 to play one of the above listed games on their computer. Another 5-10 million sales is very tempting and what Sony are doing on a smaller scale (3-5 million). It’s an inevitability imo and would also push some multiplayer games popularity on places like twitch which further gets you into peoples mind and the publics zeitgeist.

Nintendo should also allow some of their characters into Fortnite while they are at it. I can’t believe that hasn’t already happened.

Don't think it makes sense for Nintendo to ever get into PC any deeper than like, porting Mario Kart Tour as some rumors suggest. Why would they port Mario Kart 8 for example, which is still a console seller almost a decade later, to a far more accessible platform? The same goes for BOTW or Odyssey, they would most definitely sell really well at PC at full price but all those people will probably no longer buy a Switch. Sony / MS are not comparable because their first party software isn't the main driver of their consoles.

 

[thoughthaver]

In thinking about the emulation/piracy thread that popped up on era today, it does make me wonder how that scene will impact Nintendo's software decisions with their new hardware, if at all. I think think we have all been assuming that the Switch will enjoy a hearty cross gen period where it will get all/most Switch 2(whatever) releases for the next couple years, but I wonder if the ease of emulation and piracy of base Switch games impacts that at all.

I mean, we know Nintendo hates both piracy and emulation, and certainly can't be happy that people can run their games day and date on PC and Steam Deck with better performance. Particularly with that gaining more and more notoriety online. Similarly, there are also 10s of millions of easily hackable V1 Switches out there as well, that Nintendo explicitly released revision hardware to phase out.

Maybe it doesn't impact their decision making, but at the same time I wouldn't exactly be shocked to see them sacrifice the mass market of the base Switch, and release more Switch 2 only games from the jump, to cut their games off from emulators and pirates.

dunno people are still buying switches and in large numbers too. PC gamers trying to do epic owns on nintendo by emulating their games dont really seem to be a factor in slowing sales (nevermind that emulation gets rid of the appeal of the switch which is switching from tv to handheld in a snap)

 

[LiC]

How will Ampere vs Maxwell change how Nintendo and other developers make their games?

It won't change anything for developers, except that Nvidia's own stack has gained features (like DLSS and ray tracing) as well as improved in power and efficiency, and the layers that developers do interact with (like NVN2) allow taking advantage of those things.

 

[Blue Monty]

Don't think it makes sense for Nintendo to ever get into PC any deeper than like, porting Mario Kart Tour as some rumors suggest. Why would they port Mario Kart 8 for example, which is still a console seller almost a decade later, to a far more accessible platform? The same goes for BOTW or Odyssey, they would most definitely sell really well at PC at full price but all those people will probably no longer buy a Switch. Sony / MS are not comparable because their first party software isn't the main driver of their consoles.

Just to make it clear if I understood is correctly they will not really port Mario Kart Tour to PC as much as soon Windows 11 supporting Android so the game will be playeable on PC anyway and Nintendo will just give support for it adding mouse controls to make it playeable. Also Pokemon Unite is already playeable on PC through Tencent launcher

I see Nintendo going multiplatform with some games but more like Mobile/Switch like TPC is doing than Switch/PC, even if the games will come to PC anyway due to Windows supporting Android. Of course the games that will be multiplatform will just really be mobile games with Switch ports and not your usual console games

 

[NineTailSage]

At this point and time with all of the big tech companies shying away from using Samsung Foundries for fabrication, I do wonder what kind of perfect storm situation could the Drake Switch land in with Samsung needing to retain major customers.

 

[KeijiKG]

Don't think it makes sense for Nintendo to ever get into PC any deeper than like, porting Mario Kart Tour as some rumors suggest. Why would they port Mario Kart 8 for example, which is still a console seller almost a decade later, to a far more accessible platform? The same goes for BOTW or Odyssey, they would most definitely sell really well at PC at full price but all those people will probably no longer buy a Switch. Sony / MS are not comparable because their first party software isn't the main driver of their consoles.

Here's what's effectively a poster-child of a Mario Kart game that could be on PC since well -- I doubt Switch could handle this one as is.

 

[karmitt]

Here's what's effectively a poster-child of a Mario Kart game that could be on PC since well -- I doubt Switch could handle this one as is.

I’m still rooting for the idea that 2027 sees the successor to Drake be an iteration of the hybrid design with VR being a third major ‘profile’ (alongside handheld and docked).

 

[Serif]

I’m still rooting for the idea that 2027 sees the successor to Drake be an iteration of the hybrid design with VR being a third major ‘profile’ (alongside handheld and docked).

1440p OLED screen + DLSS + foveated rendering + enhanced joy-con + headset accessory + wireless display casting + AR + assymmetrical multiplayer - we've got a successor to the Switch and a spiritual successor to the Wii U and 3DS in one device.

 

[prid]

Did you know? Many wines are not vegan, and some not even vegetarian, due to the use of clarifying agents derived from animal products. If you are vegan and want to enjoy wine, make sure you procure a bottle clarified through vegan agents

Not only wines, but also certain juices, which may have been clarified with gelatine. If I'm not mistaken, Capri-Sun also used to do that, but they've now gone vegan, thankfully

 

[Skittzo]

Not only wines, but also certain juices, which may have been clarified with gelatine. If I'm not mistaken, Capri-Sun also used to do that, but they've now gone vegan, thankfully

Oreos used to be made with lard. I know this because we were only allowed to have hydrox cookies since Oreos were unkosher.

 

[Deleted member 887]

Following on from my post the other day with how much the industry is changing (along with the issue of people emulating their latest and oldest games on PC) I really do wonder how long it will be before Nintendo say fuck it and do a Sony by releasing their games on PC.

Not their latest games to start but if they did it tomorrow it would be games like BotW, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Metroid Dread, Smash Ultimate and Mario Odyssey. I also think they’d go with their own store unless EPIC offered them a massive deal like only taking a 5% royalty fee as opposed to Steams 20-30%.

There are tens of millions of PC only gamers who would never buy a Switch or the next Switch but would pay $50 to play one of the above listed games on their computer. Another 5-10 million sales is very tempting and what Sony are doing on a smaller scale (3-5 million). It’s an inevitability imo and would also push some multiplayer games popularity on places like twitch which further gets you into peoples mind and the publics zeitgeist.

Nintendo should also allow some of their characters into Fortnite while they are at it. I can’t believe that hasn’t already happened.

Nintendo has no source of revenue that isn’t video game related. It completely changes the economics for Nintendo, and EPD games will not be cross platform to PC in the foreseeable future because of it.

Putting recent evergreens like BotW or Mario Kart on PC would cut into sales of Switches - most switch owners only own those games a fact which the average Famiboards poster often forgets. There is no way Nintendo would make more in PC sales than they would lose in console sales.

They would also substantially lose control. Development costs would increase substantially, while making the “tuned to your custom controller” level of polish would go out the window, and PC ported games would no longer be able to take advantage of console features like motion control or touch screen, meaning that the big games on the platform would no longer sell the console’s USPs.

Not to mention that, as you say, Nintendo would have to pair with a store and lose a cut of the cash, while risking considerably more piracy than they already do.

Nintendo went to mobile because kids were on mobile, while no longer being Mario fans from birth. PC doesn’t fit that niche. Instead, Nintendo would rather make movies and TV shows, and let that sell their brand (and diversify their income streams).

 

[Deleted member 1324]

Don't think it makes sense for Nintendo to ever get into PC any deeper than like, porting Mario Kart Tour as some rumors suggest. Why would they port Mario Kart 8 for example, which is still a console seller almost a decade later, to a far more accessible platform? The same goes for BOTW or Odyssey, they would most definitely sell really well at PC at full price but all those people will probably no longer buy a Switch. Sony / MS are not comparable because their first party software isn't the main driver of their consoles.

The customers Xbox successfully went after first (and now PlayStation) will never buy a console regardless. You’re selling a potential extra 10-20 million copies of something like MK8D to an audience that doesn’t currently exist.

Also I’m not saying Nintendo should go third party (selling their games on Xbox or PlayStation) but rather selling their games to customers on PC they literally have no current chance of reaching due to them not buying consoles.

 

[Dakhil]

At this point and time with all of the big tech companies shying away from using Samsung Foundries for fabrication, I do wonder what kind of perfect storm situation could the Drake Switch land in with Samsung needing to retain major customers.

Depends on if Nvidia can be convinced to use one of Samsung's more recent process nodes (Samsung's 5LPE process node or newer) for the fabrication of more than one product. Nvidia usually secures capacity for a process node to fabricate more than one product. (Of course, the Tegra X1 is an exception.)

 

[Mr Swine]

Reading the Two Point Campus review and this is why I hope we get Drake sooner rather than later:

Two Point Campus review

Performance is another matter though. Whilst from a technical standpoint it’s incredible that the game is running as well as it does on a console like Nintendo’s hybrid, it can’t be ignored that when things get busy, the frame rate takes a noticeable hit. As it’s a management sim, it doesn’t really affect gameplay, but it did occasionally cause us to select the incorrect item in a menu or pick the wrong item in a room; not to mention it’s a bit hard on the eyes. The campuses can get large enough to mitigate this somewhat, spreading students out rather than them running in and out of a central hub, and the earlier stages of a campus’ life run perfectly well, but it’s still something we know the developers are keen to improve.

 

[Hermii]

The customers Xbox successfully went after first (and now PlayStation) will never buy a console regardless. You’re selling a potential extra 10-20 million copies of something like MK8D to an audience that doesn’t currently exist.

Also I’m not saying Nintendo should go third party (selling their games on Xbox or PlayStation) but rather selling their games to customers on PC they literally have no current chance of reaching due to them not buying consoles.

I think at least a portion of that demographic would drop buying Nintendo hardware, because they can play botw in 4k60 on their rig.

A lot of Nintendo games by their nature is light on the hardware. If you can get the games on your laptop, the hurdle of buying a dedicated thing is higher.

 

[ShadowFox08]

At this point and time with all of the big tech companies shying away from using Samsung Foundries for fabrication, I do wonder what kind of perfect storm situation could the Drake Switch land in with Samsung needing to retain major customers.

8nm node from Samsung and nothing moar. You'll learn to love it too...

 

[Concernt]

I’m still rooting for the idea that 2027 sees the successor to Drake be an iteration of the hybrid design with VR being a third major ‘profile’ (alongside handheld and docked).

You mean forth! Everyone forgets about Tabletop Mode.

 

[Concernt]

The customers Xbox successfully went after first (and now PlayStation) will never buy a console regardless. You’re selling a potential extra 10-20 million copies of something like MK8D to an audience that doesn’t currently exist.

Also I’m not saying Nintendo should go third party (selling their games on Xbox or PlayStation) but rather selling their games to customers on PC they literally have no current chance of reaching due to them not buying consoles.

I'd disagree hugely! Nintendo Switch is the most popular console among PC gamers because one thing PC is really bad at is portability and handhelds. Nintendo Switch slips neatly into a PC gaming setup. I mean I speak from experience, I was a PC gamer, moved to Switch, and ended up abandoning PC altogether.

Switch, unlike other consoles, does a lot of things gaming PCs either can't, or can't do without extremely high cost and added complexity.

 

[manfromthedam]

Switch, unlike other consoles, does a lot of things gaming PCs either can't, or can't do without extremely high cost and added complexity.

Good point. Xbox and PS are essentially slightly more user-friendly PCs, but don't offer much beyond that - in contrary to Switch.

 

[Skittzo]

I'd disagree hugely! Nintendo Switch is the most popular console among PC gamers because one thing PC is really bad at is portability and handhelds. Nintendo Switch slips neatly into a PC gaming setup. I mean I speak from experience, I was a PC gamer, moved to Switch, and ended up abandoning PC altogether.

Switch, unlike other consoles, does a lot of things gaming PCs either can't, or can't do without extremely high cost and added complexity.

Well, technically laptops exist but yeah, they aren't exactly portable like Switch.

I've always considered that Switch is the "laptop" of the gaming console world though so I find it funny.

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

You mean forth! Everyone forgets about Tabletop Mode.

Tabletop mode is probably one of the more underrated switch features.

How can that be improved if at all?

 

[Thugstas]

Tabletop mode is probably one of the more underrated switch features.

How can that be improved if at all?

Compact projector ?

 

[Blue Monty]

Tabletop mode is probably one of the more underrated switch features.

How can that be improved if at all?

Better joy-cons

 

[Bonejack]

Better joy-cons

Now now, lets keep things realistic.

 

[Deleted member 1324]

I'd disagree hugely! Nintendo Switch is the most popular console among PC gamers because one thing PC is really bad at is portability and handhelds. Nintendo Switch slips neatly into a PC gaming setup. I mean I speak from experience, I was a PC gamer, moved to Switch, and ended up abandoning PC altogether.

Switch, unlike other consoles, does a lot of things gaming PCs either can't, or can't do without extremely high cost and added complexity.

Of course that’s true to a tiny extent when you realise “PC gamers” are estimated to be in the high hundreds of millions. It’s potentially as big of a market as mobile to Nintendo.

I don’t really care one way or another but if I was Nintendo as a business I’d put a selection of games on PC. That Smash clone has just hit 10 million players so I’d hate to imagine the kind of revenue they’d generate out of Smash and Kart alone on PC even ignoring the DLC.

The porting costs would also be minimal considering Switch’s power and architecture. Their games would run at 720p/60fps on laptops from five years ago.

 

[Raccoon]

Of course that’s true to a tiny extent when you realise “PC gamers” are estimated to be in the high hundreds of millions. It’s potentially as big of a market as mobile to Nintendo.

I don’t really care one way or another but if I was Nintendo as a business I’d put a selection of games on PC. That Smash clone has just hit 10 million players so I’d hate to imagine the revenue they’d generate out of Smash and Kart alone even ignoring the DLC.

it would kill their whole business though

 

[Deleted member 1324]

it would kill their whole business though

You better warn the head of Xbox and PlayStation then although they’d tell you all it’s done is increase their R.O.I on older software without hurting their core business model.

 

[Raccoon]

You better warn the head of Xbox and PlayStation then although they’d tell you all it’s done is increase their R.O.I on older software without hurting their core business model.

they have a totally different selling point though. Nintendo is all about exclusive games that you can't play anywhere else