The Nintendo Switch 2 could be more or less on par with the Steam Deck, but software limitations could impact the system's performance heavily.
Commenting on the leaked specs of the next console from Nintendo during the latest episode of the Moore's Law is Dead Broken Silicon podcast, Alderon Games' Matthew Cassells provided some very interesting insights on the upcoming system. While its specs should put its performance almost on par with the Steam Deck, though the Switch 2's CPU's weaker single core could impact performance in certain scenarios, as we already heard last month, some decisions made on the software side of things could be very limiting. Console manufacturers include in their systems security processors and encryption that introduce limitations, and the same is likely happening with the new Nintendo console, especially considering how the Switch was hacked and even a working flash cart was released on the market not too long ago.
Interestingly enough, the Nintendo Switch 2 could have some more limitations that few could foresee. For example, on the current system, a game cannot write too much data to prevent flash storage from getting worn out, which is a rather big limitation for certain types of games. The current console also has a strict patch size limitation, which can also be impactful.
For the rest, the Nintendo Switch 2 should be more than enough for the foreseeable future, as the 12GB of RAM shouldn't create problems if high resolutions are not targeted. However, more complex games using ray tracing or advanced Unreal Engine 5 stuff may require upscaling from some very low resolutions, resulting in blurry image quality.
The Nintendo Switch 2 has yet to be officially unveiled. We will keep you updated on the system as soon as possible, so stay tuned for all the latest news.
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.
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