The Nintendo Switch 2 is more likely to be held back by software limitations, some of them shared with its predecessor, than hardware limitations.
Speaking in the latest episode of the Moore's Law is Dead's Broken Silicon podcast, Alderon Games founder Matthew Cassells commented on some of the Nintendo Switch 2 software limitations that could impact game performance. Among them are the FAT32 and exFAT file systems, which both the original Switch and the new generation system use. These dated file systems have all sorts of drawbacks over other file systems, such as the 4GB file size limit of FAT32, which leads to issues such as forcing developers to use smaller files, which can limit texture quality, or dividing files into chunks. Regarding this, the Alderon Games founder finds it baffling that Nintendo continues to use these dated file systems, as they also pay a licensing fee to Microsoft to use them with no concrete benefit. PlayStation consoles, for example, use their file systems based on Linux free file systems, and so have none of the limitations of FAT32 and exFAT.
This isn't the only software limitation the Nintendo Switch 2 has that the other consoles don't. While developers can work around the file size limit, Nintendo puts another limitation on top of it. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo keeps a strict limit on how many times a game can write data on the NAND to prevent it from dying too soon, which is thoroughly checked in the rigorous approval process for both new games and updates. According to the Alderon Games founder, this is a limitation forced by the company's choice of cheap NAND, which poses the question of whether these limitations are worth the little Nintendo saves on these chips. Additionally, these limitations become even worse if other factors are considered, such as the system reserving a lot of resources for the OS and GameChat, and the massive usage of encryption and DRM, which is not surprising, considering Nintendo's stance on hacking and piracy.
Though this will likely become less of an issue down the line, the Alderon Games founder also lamented the lack of Nintendo Switch 2 devkits, which only a few developers own. As such, many developers who want to continue supporting their games on the new system have to do a lot of guesswork and hope the build they are submitting works flawlessly on it.
While some of these limitations could impact games more down the line, they are not exactly a problem right now for users, as the Nintendo Switch 2 is proving to be extremely successful, and has shown what it can do in the hands of expert developers such as CD Projekt Red with the Cyberpunk 2077 port. You can learn more about the system and how it is a significant improvement over its predecessor by checking out Chris's review.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
