Switch Pro: episode 481. While Nintendo spoke again last month to reiterate that, no, no new console is planned outside of its OLED switch brand new, new first-hand information contradicts the manufacturer.
We're getting used to this back and forth between Nintendo's official statements and informants. But this new information from Nate The Hate supports those published during the year by Bloomberg concerning a Switch 4K.
A console doped with DLSS
Generally well-informed, this Nintendo insider dwelt on the company's hardware future in his latest podcast. He says there to have questioned several contacts and to see there a little more clearly in the vagueness which surrounds the plans of Nintendo.
“After the publication of the Bloomberg article [on the availability of devkits for a Switch 4K, NDLR], I contacted several of my sources to try to see more clearly. And I won't call this console the “Switch Pro” anymore. From the conversations I've had, it's clear that this is new hardware for the Nintendo Switch, but I don't know yet how it will be positioned. »
A revision of the current model? A Nintendo Switch 2? Nate isn't sure yet, but he will now rely on the "Switch 4K" moniker due to said console's capabilities. “[The console] can offer 4K, and that will be possible thanks to DLSS. These facts are tangible, there is clear evidence that backs up this information, and there is no reason to think that will change in the future. »
Nintendo on the verge of segmenting the market?
So we come back to the same point as before the curtain raiser on the Switch OLED. How will Nintendo assume to segment a market as fruitful as that of the Switch which, in just over 4 years, has sold more than 89 million copies?
Because offering 4K (sprinkled with DLSS, or another upscaling method) can only be done by opting for a latest generation chip. A more powerful model, therefore, which would logically push developers to prefer it to the original Switch and its aging hardware. In other words: if “Switch 4K” there is, it will be accompanied by exclusive games, which will leave some 89 million faithful behind. Moreover, the change of graphic architecture would pose enormous backward compatibility concerns. Which clearly draws the hypothesis of a next-generation console rather than a "simple" revision that would complicate Nintendo's range.
Continuing his presentation, Nate confirms that the development kits for this new console have been distributed to studios since the end of 2020. And according to his sources, Nintendo could formalize the existence of this console between the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. That is for the sixth anniversary of the Nintendo Switch – which exceeds the usual life cycle of a home console from the company.
