StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (New Staff Post, Please read)

[Steve]

Been thinking about the elusive Switch 2 that never appeared and where expectations should be regarding the hardware and system in general.

I think most people (including myself) reached the conclusion that Switch 2 would basically just be a beefier Switch with a small new gimmick. I felt pretty good about this assessment until recently.

Here's the thing... Switch is really old and dated at this stage. What use to be a really cool and unique piece if hardware is kind of just a common thing now with many competitors offering beefier iterations of the Switch concept.

I personally feel like releasing a beefier Switch 2 in 2025 may prove to be to little too late. Don't get me wrong, I would be thrilled but I think it's been so damn long now that it kind of makes sense for Nintendo to maybe do something completely new or at least include a gimmick that is a much bigger deal then we have been expecting.

I'm not sure a beefier Switch 2 would be anywhere near as big as a hit as Switch 1 was and honestly to Nintendo's credit, I think they already know and anticipate this.

I think Nintendo might be cooking up something that they hope will greatly surpass consumer expectations. While I think the hybrid approach will be kept, I think there will be something completely new that competitors can't easily copy. No idea what this will be but I do believe Nintendo knows they need more then just a slightly more beefy Switch to really get that forward momentum going again like the Switch was able to do in 2017 when it was a new cool fresh concept.

Beyond hardware I also think Nintendo intends to really push their game development teams to output some truly special games. With Nintendo's major investments into amusement parks and movies based on their IP they know the games themselves will need to keep blowing people away and continue to grow in scope if they want consumers to continue getting excited for the Nintendo ecosystem.

A gorgeous open world Mario, a remake of beloved Ocarina of Time with nice visuals while we wait for the next new Zelda, the next big Mario Kart, etc. I think Nintendo is cooking and has been for a very long time. We haven't had a lot of big Nintendo flagship games in years. The last mainline Mario is nearly 7 years old, Mario Kart 8 is originally from the Wii U. Same with Donkey Kong, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the Nintendo output has continued to be strong but I think a lot of the more current game lineup has been more mid-tier titles in the pantheon of Nintendo's library and I think because the teams intend to cook up something special for the Switch successor.

Switch 2 may be a bigger deal then we may all expect. I don't think Switch 2 or whatever we end up getting can just be a slightly better Switch. I think after such a long wait, the expectations are going to be high and honestly Nintendo knows this. A beefier Switch in 2020 made sense but in 2025 the expectations are going to be much higher, the competition more fierce and Nintendo needs all hands on deck with a product that excites and games that make Switch's best games look dated.

It's been a long wait, the meal has been cooking for a lot longer then anyone of us have wanted to wait but it's likely needing the time to get just right and I think in 2025 we very well might be completely blown away when Nintendo finally comes to the table.

Really makes me wonder what the Main gimmick will be, since having something that's small, but isn't annoying like the Wii U, but having it like the 3DS is the perfect example of a gimmick that isn't shoe horned every time. But a fun feature

 

[crazybenjamin]

Keep in mind that you needed GC controllers for BC on Wii and Wii motes for BC on Wii U. Compared to that, it wouldn't be surprising if new joycons dropped IR camera (or moved to another place) and games like RFA end up needing OG joycons to work (or to buy an updated ringcon).

I doubt the Gen 2 Joycons will be as radically different from their predecessors compared to how Wiimotes or the Wii U Gamepad were. In that regard, locking IR-using games behind Gen 1 Joycons will be harder to justify compared to these other situations.

 

[Saturnman789]

The PS2 released 24 years ago.

I am younger than the PS2.

The first generational shift I actually remember was Wii to Wii U.

I'm around the same age as you, vaguely remember the gamecube-wii transition and kid me discovering the magic of my gamecube discs somehow working on our new wii, wasn't even informed about it just randomly decided to pop spyro in to see what would happen and it actually worked! Hopefully little timmy will get to have that same experience with the switch 2

I was not actively involved in any nintendo communities until the NX announcement and rumor season so that one feels like the first "true" new console hype experience for me.

 

[oldpuck]

SSDs inherently have better latency (or more directly IOPS) than HDDs, which is where the bulk of the benefits are coming from to begin with. You're already deep in the diminishing returns plateau just by having a SSD that's not terrible.

Yeah, I think GPUs have gamers think entirely in terms of throughput. HDD latency is so bad that even if the asset is tiny, if you need it this frame, you better have asked for it last frame.

Sony and Microsoft do seem to have been angling towards trying to use the SSDs in a more RAM-like way to try to go further beyond, but I've always been a bit skeptical about the feasibility of doing that. Even if you could set yourself up to meaningfully leverage that much throughput, which is easier said than done, there's the elephant in the room that is PC, which both Sony and MS are increasingly beholden to.

Yeah, totally agree. It's not practical to use it as memory. More realistically, you can get RAM back by eliminating lots of elaborate preloading and caching, and replacing it with straight forward on demand loading. A

Saying most of loading is decompression is perhaps overstating things a bit.

Yeah, that's totally fair. I oversimplified for the sake of not getting in the weeds.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

So what is the Switch DLSS missing exactly to have the correct latency?

The more tensor cores and the faster they're running, the quicker DLSS produces results. Switch 2 will probably have less of either than any other commercial product that does DLSS. Exactly how limiting this is we've yet to see, but what it's potentially missing is just being a bigger and more power-sucking device.

 

[omniryu]

Indeed. I am already old and tired.

Just counting the days until the end. That being the launch of NG Switch.

If I can give a tip, just walk one hour a day and that will keep you in better shape than most. I gained a lot of weight in my late 20s and I started to feel sluggish and tired. I would walk outside or go to the gym. However, when it is cold (I live in the south) I would not walk or jog and sometimes I wouldn't go to the gym. If you're like me, buy a treadmill or the cheaper and slower alternative, a walk pad. Good for the cold times and when you don't want to spend a fortune on a gym membership. Also it is portable to so it can fit in a small room so it is accessible.

Wasn't trying to insinuate you were some kind of untermenschen. Just pointing out that MPD is mostly genetic. Though eh, it's also not that unusually at that age either.

Oh no, I understand. No worries.

The more tensor cores and the faster they're running, the quicker DLSS produces results. Switch 2 will probably have less of either than any other commercial product that does DLSS. Exactly how limiting this is we've yet to see, but what it's potentially missing is just being a bigger and more power-sucking device.

Oh, I see. Well no biggies. As long we don't have horrible aliasing, 300p, and the vomit that is temporal reconstruction. I am fine. A solid 1080p. 1440p is even better. HDR out the wazoo, and I think everyone will be fine.

 

[Aishasghost]

Really makes me wonder what the Main gimmick will be, since having something that's small, but isn't annoying like the Wii U, but having it like the 3DS is the perfect example of a gimmick that isn't shoe horned every time. But a fun feature

AR would be an obvious one. It doesn't require excessively powerful hardware unlike something like VR, basically only requiring a camera . The applications in a game would be pretty obvious too. Granted, you'd probably only have like 2, ultra experimental games use it in any meaningful way and literally nothing else not unlike HD rumble but nevermind that.

 

[omniryu]

Yeah, totally agree. It's not practical to use it as memory. More realistically, you can get RAM back by eliminating lots of elaborate preloading and caching, and replacing it with straight forward on demand loading.

So if this doesn't catch on, then what? I was assuming it would but... nothing.

AR would be an obvious one. It doesn't require excessively powerful hardware unlike something like VR, basically only requiring a camera . The applications in a game would be pretty obvious too. Granted, you'd probably only have like 2, ultra experimental games use it in any meaningful way and literally nothing else not unlike HD rumble but nevermind that.

Idk, I feel disgusted with AR. Not the tech itself, it just the idea of being engulfed in an environment that will be directed to a space of over consumption and abuse by corporate. It is like we are willingly jump into the matrix. Think we have dead scrolling now, ha! Wait, until the wrap the device around your head. Idk, maybe it just me, buy my screens don't need my soul in a metaverse. I know I gave made a big jump, but it is really a slide dude. First it just console makers. Then meta wants you to work their for a 9 to 5. Then ( my roommate gave me this idea) you are the ideal you with your avatar.

Really think about that. Our ideal bodies can be hard work. We 'visit' hyrule because we want you go on adventure. But AR and VR, the way want to use the tech, is design to consume your life. They will mimick the perfect life for you so you won't want to escape.

Switch 2 AR/VR sounds cool, maybe I would try it, but I don't want it to become anymore popular. Just a fad.

 

[oldpuck]

So if this doesn't catch on, then what? I was assuming it would but... nothing.

I dunno! Devs will have to do something. RAM is getting pricier. The eras of doubling every gen as probably over. I'd bet against 32GB next gen, for example.

 

[lexony]

Ehh. . . So fair warning. . . The Nvidia leak of 2022 leaked almost as much about Drake as what leaked about Switch in June 2016.

Even if there is a big Nintendo demonstration of hardware at a GDC like event prior to handing out new SDEV units, there might not be more information to reliably leak.

Ram confirmation, clocks/profiles, software loading details, and certain BC details are possible future leaks.

If you mean that Eurogamer Article in July 2016, it was just a few months before the Switch release and it pretty much told us almost everything, technical internals, controller concept, that it uses cartridges and that Nintendo wants to keep it simple to avoid another marketing fiasko like with the WiiU.

Not saying that the Nivida Leak wasn‘t huge, but outside of the chip and in what way it could shape the hardware, it tells us very little what we can expect from how this hardware will look like. I know that everyone expect it to be similar to the Switch and it‘s very likely true, but we don’t know how they will execute it: will it use joycons?, does it use existing service, has it bc, what is its gimmick if it has any, how will they use the power available to them? Most what we are talking about here is just speculation by us.

Anyway I don‘t really want it to leak, just an official acknowledgement by Nintendo at the next Investor meeting would already be nice.

 

[Discostew]

This is likely a silly question, but does DLSS and RT use all available tensor cores in an Nvidia GPU? Or is there is there a sort of restriction?

 

[Akuji]

I wonder what sorts of improvements Nintendo's retro catalog could get on the next system.

Running the current suite of retro consoles in 4K should be easy (dunno about N64's current emulation mess). Running these systems at a 4K resolution would also allow for much more accurate looking scanline filters, like what the Retrotink-4K can produce. But if we start getting into Gamecube and Wii emulation I'm thinking that it would be a concern. Could DLSS even work with Gamecube/Wii emulation, or emulation at all for that matter? Would it even be worth it for them to attempt that compared to just doing something like 1440p and a simpler upscale?

Another subject is rollback. SNES/GB/GBA appear to already be running rollback with NES missing out and N64 being too busy being broken to have time for that (not sure about Genesis). Assuming the new system means a new pass at the emulators that missed it, it would be nice for rollback to become the standard. I don't know if rollback can be guaranteed for the later systems, although I've ran plenty of rollback games like Slippi and Street Fighter V on a laptop with a GTX 1050 in it just fine so I think that this is way more doable than something like native 4K, but I could be wrong here.

Last thing I'm thinking about isn't exactly hardware related but I wonder how everything will roll out. Would they have new versions of the old apps or would we just get patched versions of those, if we do get new apps will it be at launch or with some delay, would they have some sort of save importing, that sorta stuff. I'm starting to wonder if "Nintendo Switch Online" isn't a good name anymore and the next system's new name and/or vibe is different enough if they'll want to rebrand it.

 

[Aishasghost]

So if this doesn't catch on, then what? I was assuming it would but... nothing.

Idk, I feel disgusted with AR. Not the tech itself, it just the idea of being engulfed in an environment that will be directed to a space of over consumption and abuse by corporate. It is like we are willingly jump into the matrix. Think we have dead scrolling now, ha! Wait, until the wrap the device around your head. Idk, maybe it just me, buy my screens don't need my soul in a metaverse. I know I gave made a big jump, but it is really a slide dude. First it just console makers. Then meta wants you to work their for a 9 to 5. Then ( my roommate gave me this idea) you are the ideal you with your avatar.

Really think about that. Our ideal bodies can be hard work. We 'visit' hyrule because we want you go on adventure. But AR and VR, the way want to use the tech, is design to consume your life. They will mimick the perfect life for you so you won't want to escape.

Switch 2 AR/VR sounds cool, maybe I would try it, but I don't want it to become anymore popular. Just a fad.

You're definitely right that being a gigaconsoomer is honestly really sad. It's pretty crazy that some people are so deep into materialism they base their entire sense of self on the things they buy. It's honestly kinda sad. I also generally agree that the concept of the metaverse is pretty disgusting. The whole appeal seems to be rooted in some borderline gnostic hatred of the physical world in much the same way that transhumanist ideology seems to be rooted in disdain for the human form. Though honestly, I was mostly thinking something more along the lines of pokemon go than whatever you've described.

 

[oldpuck]

This is likely a silly question, but does DLSS and RT use all available tensor cores in an Nvidia GPU? Or is there is there a sort of restriction?

Not a silly question.

RT doesn't use the tensor cores at all. It's a common misunderstanding, though, because Nvidia actively marketed them as being involved for a while. But RT uses its own RT core instead.

For any task a GPU does, across any of the three kinds of cores that Nvidia has (shader cores, RT cores, Tensor cores), the work gets divided into independent chunks, and then spread out across all the available cores.

DLSS and RT operations will use all available cores - unless there isn't enough work to spread around. But DLSS and RT both usually can be divided down into hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tasks per frame. Even the biggest Nvidia GPU only has a few hundred tensor and RT cores.

The only time you really see only some RT or Tensor cores loaded is briefly, at the end of a big operation. If you have 12 tensor cores, and 1,000 tasks, that obviously doesn't divide evenly. For the majority of the work, all of the cores are loaded, then there is a brief instant where the remaining leftover work only needs a couple of cores.

 

[Discostew]

Not a silly question.

RT doesn't use the tensor cores at all. It's a common misunderstanding, though, because Nvidia actively marketed them as being involved for a while. But RT uses its own RT core instead.

For any task a GPU does, across any of the three kinds of cores that Nvidia has (shader cores, RT cores, Tensor cores), the work gets divided into independent chunks, and then spread out across all the available cores.

DLSS and RT operations will use all available cores - unless there isn't enough work to spread around. But DLSS and RT both usually can be divided down into hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tasks per frame. Even the biggest Nvidia GPU only has a few hundred tensor and RT cores.

The only time you really see only some RT or Tensor cores loaded is briefly, at the end of a big operation. If you have 12 tensor cores, and 1,000 tasks, that obviously doesn't divide evenly. For the majority of the work, all of the cores are loaded, then there is a brief instant where the remaining leftover work only needs a couple of cores.

Thanks for the answer. As for the misunderstanding, I didn't mean ray tracing itself, but things like denoisers that use the RT results.

 

[Aufhebung RPG]

4K30, sure, but the question was 4K60. And that an OLED overclocked to hell only gets 20% there goes to show how much farther a new system must go beyond that.

Now we've come full circle again to the big unknown of whether DLSS 4K60 is viable at all. If it is with even a mediocre amount of overhead left, then we might expect almost any Switch game could squeeze in there.

Can you back that up at all? If it takes ~X time for an unknown game to render a 2160p image, it would take the GPU ~0.25X to render the 1080p version. 1440p DLSS would then have to take ~0.75X time to become more expensive than 2160p, which seems far worse than anything I've seen suggested. It would also mean DLSS time to 2160p would be ~1.69X, significantly less efficient than just rendering there to begin with. Basically DLSS would be less than worthless.

To me at least, the fact that they seem to have gone with a 1080p screen portable suggests they're pretty confident about 1080p60 being feasible in that mode. And if that happens, docked mode for the same software being ~1440p seems a reasonable step.

Correction, there's no evidence that the leaked 7.91-inch screen is a 1080p screen, I just think we're being a little blindly optimistic about the 1440p60fps target in docked mode

 

[Hermii]

Correction, there's no evidence that the leaked 7.91-inch screen is a 1080p screen, I just think we're being a little blindly optimistic about the 1440p60fps target in docked mode

There is, the same source that gave us 7,91also said 1080p.

 

[Aufhebung RPG]

There is, the same source that gave us 7,91also said 1080p.

OK, this is me not noticing the news about it, sorry, but I still think 1440p60fps is a product of some optimism, I mean Nintendo will probably go with dynamic 1440p resolution

 

[Hermii]

OK, this is me not noticing the news about it, sorry, but I still think 1440p60fps is a product of some optimism, I mean Nintendo will probably go with dynamic 1440p resolution

How it works if they use DLSS as far as I understand is that it's always scaling up to 1440p. The dynamic part, is the resolution before DLSS.

 

[NateDrake]

if I remember correctly, the Zelda demo was more meant for showing off fast loading. the higher frame rate (I don't think resolution was mentioned) was a bonus

The primary focus of the tech demo was improved load time, yes. There was no load from menu to game.

 

[Aufhebung RPG]

How it works if they use DLSS as far as I understand is that it's always scaling up to 1440p. The dynamic part, is the resolution before DLSS.

Then maybe my expectations are a bit lower lol, I don't think 1440p60fps is an easy target to reach

 

[Hermii]

The primary focus of the tech demo was improved load time, yes. There was no load from menu to game.

Do you agree with the notion that your source could easily have misjudged the resolution (if it was based on their eyesight)? Unless Nintendo specifically stated the res and how it was achieved.

 

[NateDrake]

Do you agree with the notion that your source could easily have misjudged the resolution (if it was based on their eyesight)? Unless Nintendo specifically stated the res and how it was achieved.

Of course. I didn't see it myself, so I'm at the mercy of their testimony. Also important to note: it was a tech demo. Doesn't mean what was shown will be replicated in a released product.

 

[Semi Lazy Gamer]

Of course. I didn't see it myself, so I'm at the mercy of their testimony. Also important to note: it was a tech demo. Doesn't mean what was shown will be replicated in a released product.

I'm reminded of Cruis'n USA being apparently an arcade tech demo for the Ultra 64, but was worse when it actually got ported to the N64.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I'm reminded of Cruis'n USA being apparently an arcade tech demo for the Ultra 64, but was worse when it actually got ported to the N64.

You can say the same for Crusin Blast, lol.

I would like to see what they could do with Drake as it'd be better featured than the arcade hardware of Crusin Blast (which was a 1050ti)

 

[Danny]

OK, this is me not noticing the news about it, sorry, but I still think 1440p60fps is a product of some optimism, I mean Nintendo will probably go with dynamic 1440p resolution

Yeah i would think Nintendo will focus on getting 60fps on as many games they can and then use DLSS to get resolution as high as possible on those games. When it comes to third party ports many of those will probably be 30fps on Switch 2.

I also think the next open world Zelda game will still be 30fps on Switch 2 because they will use the power upgrade to add more stuff into the game rather than boost the fps compared to Switch Zelda.

 

[Aufhebung RPG]

Yeah i would think Nintendo will focus on getting 60fps on as many games they can and then use DLSS to get resolution as high as possible on those games. When it comes to third party ports many of those will probably be 30fps on Switch 2.

I also think the next open world Zelda game will still be 30fps on Switch 2 because they will use the power upgrade to add more stuff into the game rather than boost the fps compared to Switch Zelda.

First party games also depend on the actual scale, for example I don't think the next Legend of Zelda will be able to hit 60fps if the resolution can stabilize at 1440p via dlss.

 

[BreakAtmo]

Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart runs fine on SATA SSDs. I don't think the cross-gen period has anything to do with it. Decompression might really matter, of course, but I just think taking advantage of all that SSD performance is really hard

The HDD in PS4 was like 100 MB/s, the NVMe in PS5 is 5,500 MB/s, the RAM in PS5 is 448,000 MB/s. The SSD was a 50x performance leap, but it's still not nearly fast enough to function as RAM.

This is storage that isn't fast enough to use in fundamentally new ways, but is so fast at it's old job that it's overkill.

I've actually heard before that the PS4 and X1 HDDs were only about 50MB/s. They didn't come close to 3.5" desktop PC drivers

 

[Steve]

Of course. I didn't see it myself, so I'm at the mercy of their testimony. Also important to note: it was a tech demo. Doesn't mean what was shown will be replicated in a released product.

Still it’s impressive that Botw had absolutely no load time.

Can anyone here speculate what the switch 2 would need for instand load time, since the ps5 uses SSD.

 

[Hermii]

Still it’s impressive that Botw had absolutely no load time.

Can anyone here speculate what the switch 2 would need for instand load time, since the ps5 uses SSD.

Its not just about storage speed, a huge part of loading times is cpu intensive file decompression. Series consoles and PS5 has specialized hardware to deal with this, that offloads the cpu. Drake also has similiar hardware (File Decompression Engine, FDE short).

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Getting a little nervous about the total lack of buzz.

If this isn't announced by the end of fiscal year meeting, I think this may be delayed into fiscal year ending March 2026.

If this launches in late 2025 with no LPDDR6, I will be sad.

 

[redmutineer75]

Could DLSS even work with Gamecube/Wii emulation, or emulation at all for that matter?

Theoretically, any 3D game could be made to work with DLSS if it can get the movement vectors. People have gotten DLSS to work on Quake, so getting it in GameCube and Wii games shouldn't be hard.

 

[Hermii]

Getting a little nervous about the total lack of buzz.

If this isn't announced by the end of fiscal year meeting, I think this may be delayed into fiscal year ending March 2026.

If this launches in late 2025 with no LPDDR6, I will be sad.

If buzz was an indicator, it would have been revealed 5 times already.

I just think Nintendo was more bothered by last years gamescom leaks than we realized, and really scaled down their presence.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

If buzz was an indicator, it would have been revealed 5 times already.

I just think Nintendo was more bothered by last years gamescom leaks than we realized, and really scaled down their presence.

I mean, like actual buzz from major outlets. If this is getting released in Q1 2025, it probably is getting announced in less than a month and there's nothing from Bloomberg, Eurogamer, etc.

 

[Darknut85]

I mean, like actual buzz from major outlets. If this is getting released in Q1 2025, it probably is getting announced in less than a month and there's nothing from Bloomberg, Eurogamer, etc.

Switch launched March 2017 and was revealed October 2016. There’s still plenty of time.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Switch launched March 2017 and was revealed October 2016. There’s still plenty of time.

The Switch was announced in Spring 2015 and had its release date announced Spring 2016.

 

[Steve]

The Switch was announced in Spring 2015 and had its release date announced Spring 2016.

I mean the 2015 announcement was more in desperation because of the Wii U failure and also letting their investors know they’ll working on a new system.

This time around with the success of the switch, they can I presume be more secretive and mention NG switch sometime this month or early may.

 

[Stinky Horse]

Theoretically, any 3D game could be made to work with DLSS if it can get the movement vectors. People have gotten DLSS to work on Quake, so getting it in GameCube and Wii games shouldn't be hard.

It will require a decent amount of work per game to do it properly. From what I've seen of Quake's, the enemies get very blurry, I'd guess they are just deriving all movement from the world position and ignoring animation.

 

[Hermii]

I mean the 2015 announcement was more in desperation because of the Wii U failure and also letting their investors know they’ll working on a new system.

This time around with the success of the switch, they can I presume be more secretive and mention NG switch sometime this month or early may.

Yep. Announcing NX cost them no sales, since Wii U was already dead. Plus it was to dissuade speculation that they were going all mobile. So it's not an example to be followed.

 

[ziggyrivers]

So it's not an example to be followed.

Said by Furuwaka himself, actually

 

[Steve]

Yep. Announcing NX cost them no sales, since Wii U was already dead. Plus it was to dissuade speculation that they were going all mobile. So it's not an example to be followed.

I’m curious if they’ll to a price cut this holiday or after the switch 2 launches.

Like if they announced the switch 2 in summer, then I can see people debating on if they should buy a switch or wait until the switch 2.
Except if they do a price cut and maybe bundle in Mario kart 8.

 

[ziggyrivers]

I don’t see Nintendo doing explicit price cuts. I think they’ll keep releasing Switch bundles with games, that way they don’t have to directly reduce the price

 

[SoldierDelta]

I don’t see Nintendo doing explicit price cuts. I think they’ll keep releasing Switch bundles with games, that way they don’t have to directly reduce the price

Ahh, the "Technically not a price cut but is much better value even if they're selling years old games" deal. Works very well, given how many copies of MK8D they've sold at this stage.
I do think a price cut to 200 dollars might be worth it after the Switch 2 launches, but for now... I wouldn't call it a requirement.

 

[Goodtwin]

I do not expect Nintendo to continue manufacturing Switch units after SNG launches. Primarily because they haven't dropped the price of the system and I do not see them doing a significant price drop of the Switch. If you look back at consoles in the past, like the PS2 for example, it launched at $299 but was selling for $99 in its seventh year on the market. Switch launched at $299 and is still $299 as it enters its eighth year on the market. Does it really make sense to have a very old console on the market trying to sell it for only $100-150 less than their brand new system? Sony was in a similar spot with the PS4 and opted to discontinue production of the PS4 as soon as PS5 was on the market. This doesn't mean there are no units in the supply chain. By the time SNG launches, there could still be ample supply of Switch units at warehouses and retailers to keep it on store shelves for another 12-18 months.

 

[BreakAtmo]

The primary focus of the tech demo was improved load time, yes. There was no load from menu to game.

It's fun to think of the console as being so impressive that such a massive improvement to image quality and framerate is just, like, this little side thing that Nintendo felt no need to focus on.

 

[pelusilla6]

Getting a little nervous about the total lack of buzz.

If this isn't announced by the end of fiscal year meeting, I think this may be delayed into fiscal year ending March 2026.

If this launches in late 2025 with no LPDDR6, I will be sad.

It wont launch with lpddr6 lol, the specs arent public (or finalished!)

I even doubt the Steam Deck 2 would use lpddr6 when it launches in 2025-26 (and i would die for Strix Point + lpddr6 + OLED).

 

[BreakAtmo]

Thanks for the answer. As for the misunderstanding, I didn't mean ray tracing itself, but things like denoisers that use the RT results.

Actually, yeah, this is what Ray Reconstruction is - improved denoising powered by the tensor cores.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

It wont launch with lpddr6 lol, the specs arent public (or finalished!)

I even doubt the Steam Deck 2 would use lpddr6 when it launches in 2025-26 (and i would die for Strix Point + lpddr6 + OLED).

Launching one year before LPDDR6 becomes mainstream enough would be pretty depressing though.

 

[redmutineer75]

I do not expect Nintendo to continue manufacturing Switch units after SNG launches. Primarily because they haven't dropped the price of the system and I do not see them doing a significant price drop of the Switch. If you look back at consoles in the past, like the PS2 for example, it launched at $299 but was selling for $99 in its seventh year on the market. Switch launched at $299 and is still $299 as it enters its eighth year on the market. Does it really make sense to have a very old console on the market trying to sell it for only $100-150 less than their brand new system? Sony was in a similar spot with the PS4 and opted to discontinue production of the PS4 as soon as PS5 was on the market. This doesn't mean there are no units in the supply chain. By the time SNG launches, there could still be ample supply of Switch units at warehouses and retailers to keep it on store shelves for another 12-18 months.

Sony started selling PS units for cheaper because people stopped buying them at the original MSRP. People are still very much willing to buy a Switch for $300 in 2024, so Nintendo has no need to drop the price. Besides, Nintendo doesn't tend to stop manufacturing for their successful systems, as evidenced by the GBA Micro, Wii Mini, and New 2DS XL all coming out after their successors had released. The potential for the Switch as a budget system for non-gamer adults and younger siblings is immense, and I don't think Nintendo will squander that opportunity. The 3DS was only discontinued in 2020 for Christ's sake. The idea of Switch still being sold into 2027 or 2028 is not out of the question.

 

[Concernt]

Sony started selling PS units for cheaper because people stopped buying them at the original MSRP. People are still very much willing to buy a Switch for $300 in 2024, so Nintendo has no need to drop the price. Besides, Nintendo doesn't tend to stop manufacturing for their successful systems, as evidenced by the GBA Micro, Wii Mini, and New 2DS XL all coming out after their successors had released. The potential for the Switch as a budget system for non-gamer adults and younger siblings is immense, and I don't think Nintendo will squander that opportunity. The 3DS was only discontinued in 2020 for Christ's sake. The idea of Switch still being sold into 2027 or 2028 is not out of the question.

Yeah, it's good to keep that bottom part of the market well supplied. I do think we'll see price cuts at or before launch, but they'll be modest.

I think it could be a really healthy transition, and they can keep both consoles supplied with the same library of smaller games for years, on top of the evergreens.