Digital Foundry: mid-generation Switch refresh was canned internally, successor next
by Amiibofan101
Nintendo Switch
Digital Foundry: mid-generation Switch refresh was canned internally, successor next
by Amiibofan101
34 Comments
This coming March will mark the start of the Switch’s seventh year. The system has been wildly successful but it’s simply incapable of keeping up with the joneses, or even meeting the lowest bar demands of Nintendo-only gamers.
A new system needs to come out soon. Hopefully we get an announcement in 2023 and a release maybe Christmas of 2024.
Whatever they do, it better have backwards compatibility. The days of being able to charge us all over again for the same game should be over or they will lose a lot of people, considering every other console can now.
Anybody with half a brain could tell you that a successor was next. The Switch Pro, if it even existed, was probably canned due to lack of parts and COVID. The OLED may be a side effect of this so called mid -generation Switch. However, there’s no proof of that and these guys are just pulling stuff out of their arse. I doubt they know anything that we don’t already know. Seems more like an educated guess from them than concentrate proof. And ya, it would be foolish for them to do a mid-gen refresh when the Switch is approaching 6 years of life. Best to just go to the next best thing at this point.
I’m equally excited and nervous for whatever Nintendo does next as the Switch’s hybrid nature is pretty much perfect minus a few flaws. All I really want from whatever’s next is an iterative upgrade (better controllers than joycons, better battery, 1080p OLED screen, stuff like that) with backwards compatibility but Nintendo’s need to innovate for innovations sake could easily mess it up.
I say I really want the new Switch but honestly all I really want it for is Fortnite so I don’t have to bust out my gaming laptop setup just to play a quick few games. The current Switch version of Fortnite has awful graphics/frame rate.
This will SURELY put a stop to the Switch Pro rumors trending on twitter every 4 days… SURELY!
I hope switch 2 has modular screens where we can turn the system to clamshell design (like GBA) or tablet mode, and more
With Mario Kart 8’s DLC scheduled to be released until Dec 2023, I would not expect a successor anytime soon. I say Spring 2024 at the earliest
We Nintendo NX time boiz!!!
Super Nintendo Switch wadduuuup! I just hope they don’t unmerge (is that a word?) the handheld and console lines.
The only thing that legitimately worries me about Nintendo’s next console is backwards compatibly. The switch is stupid popular and I can’t fathom not being able to use those games.
I really hope it’s backwards compatible.
I left the console platform back when I had my N64, and I’m sad about not bring able to use it again, or losing access to games…
The Switch has a fantastic library, I hope we’re able to carry it forward.
It’s going to be so sad seeing the Switch go.
I actually want an iterative new console. I like the handheld to docking. I like the idea of Joy-Cons.
I just want fixes to the controllers. More power. More storage. Better screen.
I just want the Switch 2.
I don’t want some bizarre gimmick that surprises everyone either in how great of an idea it is or how bug shit awful it is.
I just want Nintendo to perfect the Switch. Because it’s a damn nifty console. One of my absolute favorites. And it has such room to grow.
I hope it’s “Virtual Boy 2”
A Super Nintendo Switch needs to be a leap like the Super NES was from the NES. Improved default controllers are a must. If it can’t render clean PS5 or XBox Series in a handheld, people will buy a Steam Deck instead. All of Nintendo is riding on their next console.
I mean considering the pandemic affected game development and the chip shortage, yeah id believe that they just scrapped the refresh for oled instead. Im at least hoping we get some kind of switch successor tease soon but im not holding my breath.
God, I wish I could be a leaker. I can spout random crap every year, and when I’m wrong, I can conveniently just say “Oh the Switch Pro got cancelled!”
Sure guys, it was totally canceled and wasn’t just you guessing or even just making stuff up
I just want backwards compatibility and handheld mode
The latter is especially important to me and whether I buy it will hinge on that
Please just make a backwards compatible switch 2. I know it seems like a no brainer given the success the switch has had, but this Nintendo and they are wildly unpredictable.
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Give me a 7-inch oled or just led display with more graphical power so we can play 1080p and I’m sold
great i only got my switch a year ago. here’s hoping new games will still release on it or the new one is at least backwards compatible. and that it won’t release until 24.
At 56:35, the guy talks about one thing Nintendo need to get right with the Switch 2 is that it has to be powerful enough for developers to easily port PS5/XSX games to it – I completely disagree. If you look at the top selling games on the Switch, they’re all Nintendo games. You have to scroll far down to see a 3rd party game, and even then, it’s a game that was specifically built from the ground up on Switch (#21 Monster Hunter Rise). Then there are games that run on any console such as Minecraft and Among Us. So you have to go down even further to #47 to find one that was created for a PS4/XBO then ported to the Switch (Dragonball Fighter Z).
This notion that developer’s porting games like NBA, FIFA, CoD etc and they’re essential to the Switch or that they’ll be critical for the Switch 2 and something Nintendo has to get right is just false. It would be *nice* if Nintendo made the console powerful enough for downports to be easy for developers, but it’s definitely not necessary for its success. The game sales figures just disprove that.
All Nintendo need to do really is make it more powerful than what the current Switch is and make it a ‘DS’ with a second screen that folds up like the Nintendo DS did. Have the screens touch screen, add a stylus and boom, you have your next 100m+ selling console/handheld hybrid.
Not news to me. Ever since 2018 I’ve assumed that there would never be a Switch Pro and a next generation successor would be the next major Switch hardware leap/revision.
Interesting that they were apparently actually working on a Pro. That actually is sort of a surprise to me, but not shocked it apparently isn’t happening.
There was an NVIDIA employee saying the next gen Switch to use the tegra239 chip which would put the next Switch at a little above a PS4 when docked. With DLSS, it would play most modern games at reduced resolutions, etc. It should be a pretty significant bump. It’ll be like what the Switch was relative to the other consoles (at that time) when it was originally released. [NVIDIA employee tegra239](https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/xj69ir/comment_by_nvidia_employee_confirms_existence_of/)
So glad this “pro” model never saw the light of day. It’s not worth splitting the userbase for minuscule framerate and resolution boosts. I just hope Nintendo didn’t get the wrong signal from influencers asking for such a model for what feels like four years now.
What I would really like is for Nintendo to just update the current Switch to allow a <real> high performance mode. An overclocked Switch basically feels like an updated console already.
All the Switch 2 needs to do is be backwards compatible with the current Switch, and be powerful enough to maintain 60 frames per second, and I’ll be happy.
Gotta love a bunch of unsupported speculation. Hey keep on guessing boys, you’ll be accidentally correct before long!
If the next console isn’t backward compatible then I’m not buying it.
Oh great
Just when i could finally get my hands on a switch :/
It totally makes sense that they had this ready to go but when the pandemic hit and made the chip shortage, they had to pivot to just upgrading the screen to OLED and utilize the same old Tegra chip based on their current supply lines. Sad to think that the pandemic screwed us all out of a more powerful switch and gave us OLED instead.
My thoughts on the Switch successor in 2 years:
I’m going to get flamed for this but hear me out. I was very happy with the V1 switch in docked or portable mode for several years. But then when the switch LITE came out I traded some games in for one and I will tell you, the switch LITE is my go-to when playing in bed or traveling, or just on-the-go in general. My main switch never leaves docked mode. And being most happy with this setup for the past year, I have to tell you guys: it’s not a bad thing if they go back to a two system setup of a main system and a portable one. I don’t need it to switch, but I DO need both systems to play the same games, so that I can continue my games on the go and on the TV when I get home. This is my personal situation. I obviously understand this doesn’t apply to all people but I am wondering out loud if it applies to most people.
Will I still be able to play my Switch Cartridges on the new console? I hope so…. That’s all I ever want for whatever new console they plan to release….