Virtuos, a studio that has helped several major developers work on their games, has amassed quite a bit of knowledge about the development of games as well as the capabilities of various consoles. Eoin O’Grady, technical director at Black Shamrock – a subsidiary of Virtuos – who has previously worked on major games like Grounded and The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, spoke about the capabilities of the Nintendo Switch 2 in a recent interview.
Speaking to WCCFTech, O’Grady mentioned how, as long as a game is optimised to run at 60 FPS on Xbox Series S, it can easily be ported over to the Switch 2 while keeping the same level of performance. This comes down in large part thanks to the Switch 2’s upscaling technology, which is based on Nvidia’s DLSS.
O’Grady also spoke about how, when it comes to raw power, the Switch 2 is closer in performance to something slightly below the Xbox Series S. However, Nintendo’s new console has one big feature that puts it at around the same level as the Xbox Series S – DLSS.
“GPU-wise, the Switch 2 performs slightly below the Series S; this difference is more noticeable in handheld mode,” explained O’Grady. “However, the Series S does not support technologies like DLSS, which the Switch 2 does. This makes the GPU capabilities of the two consoles comparable overall.”
When it comes to the CPU, however, things are more clear cut; the Switch 2 is closer in terms of CPU performance to the PS4 than it is to one of the current-gen consoles. O’Grady noted that, since games tend to make more use of a system’s GPU than its CPU, however, the weaker CPU doesn’t hurt the Switch 2 thanks to its more powerful GPU.
“CPU-wise, there is a clearer distinction between the two consoles,” he said. “The Switch 2 is closer to the PlayStation (PS) 4 in this respect, having a CPU just a bit more powerful than the PS4’s. Since most games tend to be more GPU-bound than CPU-bound when well optimized, the impact of this difference largely depends on the specific game and its target frame rate.“
“Any game shipping at 60 FPS on the Series S should easily port to the Switch 2. Likewise, a 30 FPS Series S game that’s GPU-bound should also port well. Games with complex physics, animations, or other CPU-intensive elements might incur additional challenges in reaching 30 or 60 FPS or require extra optimization during porting.”
O’Grady, along with director of business at Virtuos North America, Alex Heise, also recently spoke about the success of the Switch 2, and how Nintendo tends to iterate on its ideas for its next major release.
“First and foremost, the Switch 2 is the most iterative console Nintendo has launched in quite some time, dating back to the transition from NES to SNES,” noted Heise. “No Nintendo console has ever had a “2” in its name, and in this case, they made a strategic decision by building on the proven success and strong brand of the original Switch with a similar yet more compelling product. The value of the Switch 2 is immediately clear to gamers, improving upon past console launches such as the Wii U.”
For more details about the Nintendo Switch 2, check out our review.
