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New report reveals that the Nintendo Switch won’t be as powerful as the regular PS4.
While most gamers and some industry experts believe that the Nintendo’s Wii U failed as hard as it did was because of its less-powerful specs and lack of content, compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Although Nintendo thinks that those factors played a role, the company thinks that the large gamepad of the Wii U wasn’t very innovative for that time, considering that tablets were already a popular device when it launched.
The original Wii also had less powerful specs than other consoles in that generation, but due to its innovative controls and content, it became one of the most successful consoles of all time. As such, Nintendo seems to be onto something when it emphasizes innovation in playing mechanics rather than having high specs on their console, as some gamers would have liked.
According to a new report from GamesBeat, the company’s upcoming console, the Nintendo Switch will continue the trend, as it won’t be as powerful as the three-year-old PS4, not the mention the PS4 Pro or Microsoft’s Xbox One Scorpio. This may be disappointing news for some who expected it to be on par with at least the first version of this generation.
The important technical aspect revealed in the new report is that the Nintendo Switch will have the last generation of Maxwell graphics processing architecture developed by Nvidia. Although the company released the Pascal architecture earlier this year, which uses a 16nm process instead of 20nm specific to Maxwell.
Nintendo reason behind this decision is because when the development of the console began, the only viable architecture was Maxwell integrated with a Tegra chip. Pascal was not yet available for Tegra chip installed in the Nintendo Switch. To use Pascal meant that the Nintendo Switch would have needed to be delayed and the company risked to see another similar or better product on the market before its release.
Not willing to take this risk and relive the experiences of the Wii U, Nintendo though that the Maxwell Tegra chip would provide enough power to handle its library of games. Nintendo exclusive content is what most people buy the company’s consoles for. Besides games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo Switch will also be handle games like Skyrim and NBA 2K. However, it’s extremely unlikely that the console will support 4K gaming, meaning that they will be left behind again if the unique features of the Nintendo Switch won’t catch on.
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