But, as Bowser puts it, it isn’t “technology for technology’s sake.” Bowser says that for Nintendo, the primary consideration is whether new technology can be applied to implementing new and interesting gameplay systems and features.

“It’s how specifically can technology enhance a gameplay experience,” Bowser said. “And then where do you apply that technology? Do you want to apply it on current existing hardware or platforms, or do you want to wait for the next platform? And then what’s the right gameplay experience with that? There’s a host of factors that goes into it, and it’s something we’re always looking at.”

Recent reports have suggested that the new Switch model, which is apparently going to be called the New Nintendo Switch Pro, is targeting a late 2021 launch, and is in line for a reveal soon. With Nintendo, it’s hard to be entirely sure about anything, but here’s hoping we do get official word on any Switch hardware revisions in the not-too-distant-future.

There’s been seemingly no end to the rumors surrounding the new Nintendo Switch, which will be an upgrade over the current model, but it seems an announcement is finally coming up. According to Bloomberg, Nintendo is planning to begin assembly in July and the console will release in September or October this year as per people familiar with the same. It will be priced higher than $299 and could likely be announced before E3 2021 begins.

This is to provide an opportunity for publishers to showcase Switch titles at the actual conference according to anonymous sources. Furthermore, the current Switch model will be phased out overtime with the Switch Lite becoming the de facto budget options. Interestingly, the commercial name is only known to “a handful of people” within Nintendo.

Insider Emily Rogers also on Twitter that the announcement of the new Switch “seems imminent.” She was also confident that a Metroid game would be releasing this year (which could refer to the rumored 2D Metroid being developed by MercurySteam). Bloomberg’s report was noted to be “accurate” especially with the plans for a September-October release. The console will have a new screen and upgraded chips and it seems that news will be dropping “sooner than we thought.”

E3 2021 is slated to run from June 12th to 15th.

https://twitter.com/ArcadeGirl64/status/1397653286673584128

https://twitter.com/ArcadeGirl64/status/1397728258951729156

The Switch is selling better than anyone would have expected back when it launched four years ago, and it shows no signs of stopping. And it seems Nintendo is preparing for it to gather even more momentum. Previous reports have suggested that the Japanese company is expecting record profits from hardware and software revenue owing to the launch of a new Switch model this year, and another report has now doubled down on that.

Nikkei states in a recently published story that Nintendo plans on releasing a more powerful Switch model with better visual capabilities this year that will boost sales. That a Switch Pro – or whatever Nintendo calls it – is coming later this year has been sort of the common wisdom over the last few months, with leaks and rumours stating that it will have 4K capabilities, support for Nvidia DLSS, an OLED screen, and more.

Nikkei’s report also goes on to state that Nintendo is manufacturing and shipping out 30 million units of the Switch in total in this current fiscal year. As of the end of 2020, the Switch had shipped nearly 80 million units worldwide, which means that by April 2022, that number may very well be at a whopping 110 million, if the aforementioned figure is accurate.

Nintendo Switch Pro rumours have been coming in thick and fast for a while, and with the evidence mounting that the supposed hardware revision is indeed in the works, anticipation for an official announcement is growing. Recently, Nintendo released the 12.0.0 firmware update for the Nintendo Switch, and though the update itself was surprisingly lightweight in most regards, it turns out it may have been hiding some references to an upcoming Switch revision.

Over on Twitter, @OatmealDome has been digging into the firmware update’s files, and seems to have uncovered a lot of references that could be possibly pointing to a Switch Pro (or whatever Nintendo ends up calling it). In addition to what seem like references to 4K (which the Switch Pro is allegedly going to be capable of) and the addition of being able to update the dock’s own hardware with future updates, the firmware update, interestingly enough, also seems to refer to a new cradle (which is what a Switch dock is referred to as) for “Aula”- which, of course, is supposedly the internal codename at Nintendo for the new Switch model, as previous datamining has uncovered as well.

Recent reports have uncovered significant details on the as-of-yet unannounced Switch revision, from support for Nvidia’s DLSS to an OLED screen for the tablet and more. It’s also been suggested that the hardware revision could receive some exclusive games, while a recent patent may also be hinting at a Joy-Con redesign.

[Nintendo Switch System Update]

12.0.0 adds this internal setting:

“4kdp_preferred_over_usb30”

I’m NOT SAYING that this is “Prefer 4K DisplayPort over USB 3.0”.

But, if it is, it makes sense. The Switch uses DP for video output, and 4K output is rumoured for the new model. pic.twitter.com/mFDbR6TAQF

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) April 6, 2021

[Nintendo Switch System Update]

It appears that update 12.0.0 has added the capability for the Dock’s internal firmware to be updated.

Can’t see an obvious reason why.

(“Cradle” is the Dock’s internal name. Thanks to SwitchBrew and its maintainers.)https://t.co/SbZJpVjmDp pic.twitter.com/eT3CcEr1KE

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) April 6, 2021

[Nintendo Switch Firmware Update]

About my earlier tweet about update 12.0.0 being able to upgrade the dock firmware…

There is also this setting:

"is_crda_fw_update_supported"

"CrdA" = Cradle (Dock) for Aula. Aula is the codename for the new model.

(Thanks to @hexkyz!) https://t.co/USSPCbG20q pic.twitter.com/gwsOZdmg6b

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) April 6, 2021

Rumours of a more powerful hardware upgrade of the Switch – the Switch Pro, so to speak – have been around for well over a year at this point, but recently, those rumours and leaks have become much more prominent, with new potential details emerging what feels like every week. In this feature, we’re going to parse that stuff and talk about a few of the rumours about the Switch Pro – or whatever else Nintendo chooses to call it – that might just be true.

4K

We’re now at a point where 4K visuals are beginning to become the new standard for visuals for games on consoles. If not native 4K, developers at least try to target dynamic 4K, or, failing that, 1440p resolutions. And that push for 4K is only going to grow as the PS5 and Xbox Series X grow longer. For the Nintendo Switch, a console that caps out hard at 1080p and often doesn’t even hit those numbers, that’s not exactly an ideal situation.

With the Switch Pro, however, it seems Nintendo is looking to address exactly that issue. There have been multiple leaks and reports about the more powerful Switch variant over the last few months, and the one thing they all seem to agree on is the fact that when docked, the device will support 4K visuals, the lack of which in the regular Switch has been a long-standing issues with players and with developers. If this is indeed accurate – and it’s looking like it probably is – then hopefully, we’ll be seeing more third party support for the Switch down the line.

DLSS

That the Switch Pro will support DLSS is something else that we’ve heard more than a few times at this point. In fact, a Bloomberg report claimed as recently as a couple of weeks ago that the Switch Pro would have a new Nvidia chipset, and that it would support their Deep Learning Super Sampling (or DLSS) technology to be able to upscale visuals to 4K. Obviously, it’s unlikely that DLSS will be applied retroactively to existing Switch games (though hopefully there will be at least a few cases where developers and publishers decide to go back and release visual upgrades for their titles), but it should help the hardware target 4K in console mode going forward.

OLED SCREEN

The Switch Pro is getting some obvious upgrades where its docked mode is concerned, if rumours are to be believed, but portable mode isn’t getting left behind either. According to reports, that’s getting its own enhancements as well. According to a Bloomberg report from early March, the Switch Pro will have a 7 inch screen, as opposed to the regular Switch’s 6.2 inch screen (and the Switch Lite’s 5.5 inches). The screen’s resolution will be 720p, and on top of all that, Nintendo has also allegedly partnered with Samsung to replace the Switch’s LED screens with new OLED panels, which will offer better contrast, better image quality, and consume less battery.

CPU AND MEMORY

An upgrade to portable mode, support for 4K, and DLSS have been the headline grabbing parts of most Switch Pro rumours of late, but the console is supposed to be getting other enhancements as well. As you’d expect, rumours have also said that the Switch Pro will have an improved processor and memory, and as we mentioned before, it is allegedly going to have a new Nvidia chipset. Exactly what those improvements are going to look like isn’t something that any of the reports have gone into, but it should be interesting to see how much of an upgrade they will be over what the regular Switch already has- after all, most games will need to be able to run on the base Switch as well.

LAUNCH

Exactly when the Switch Pro will launch is a question that’s been asked often over the last few months. All reports seem to indicate that it shouldn’t be long. The Bloomberg report that talked about the device’s OLED display mentioned that Nintendo would be beginning mass production as early as June, and that assembly will begin in July. Meanwhile, it’s also been reported that Nintendo is expecting record software and hardware sales for the Switch in fiscal year 2021-22, which runs from April 2021 to March of 2022. All of that put together would suggest that Nintendo is targeting a late 2021 launch for the Switch Pro- possibly for the Holidays. Of course, in the absence of official word from Nintendo, all we can do is speculate right now, but a late 2021 launch for the Switch Pro does seem likely at this point.

2021 GAMES

More powerful hardware is all well and good- what about the games though? Well, it seems like Nintendo has big plans for that as well. As we just mentioned, Nintendo is expecting record software sales for the Switch in FY 2022, which would indicate that they have major releases planned. Interestingly enough, a Bloomberg report back in August 2020 mentioned that the Switch Pro’s launch would be accompanied by a full slate of major new releases from first party studios and third party partners alike. Currently, we don’t have exact release dates for a lot of major upcoming games for the Switch, with the exception of the likes of Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Splatoon 3, both of which are supposed to launch in 2022.

What we can do, however, is speculate. Could the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild be positioned as a flagship game for the Switch Pro in the console’s launch window, for instance? Recent rumours have also spoken about Resident Evil Outrage, a new mainline title in the series that’s being developed with the Switch as its lead platform, and is supposedly due out within a year of Resident Evil Village’s launch. If those reports are accurate, it would be a perfect game to show off the Switch Pro’s new capabilities, thanks to the excellent RE Engine’s capabilities.

EXCLUSIVES

How developers choose to leverage the Switch Pro’s more powerful hardware while ensuring that they maintain support for the base Switch will be interesting to see, but it seems like not all of them will choose to strike that balance. Insider NateDrake has said on ResetEra that the Switch Pro is likely going to have a few exclusive games, especially from third party developers, and that he knows of at least one of them (though he didn’t mention what that is, obviously). It wouldn’t be surprising if that were true. From the Game Boy Color to the DSi to the New 3DS, Nintendo has released its fair share of more powerful mid-generation hardware upgrades in the past, and all of them had at least a few exclusive releases that didn’t support those systems’ base versions.

PRICE

This isn’t a rumour as much as it is a prediction. With more powerful hardware, the Switch Pro is obviously bound to be costlier than the regular Switch- but how much costlier? According to Bloomberg Intelligence’s analyst Matthew Kanterman, Nintendo is likely to target a price in the range of $349 to $399. There are a few other questions that are worth asking though- once the Switch Pro launches, will Nintendo slash the prices on existing Switch models? Will the regular Switch and Switch Lite continue to be sold at $299 and $199 respectively, or will Nintendo choose to lower the price for one or both of them? That remains to be seen.

By now, you’ve no doubt heard the many swirling rumors about a revision for the Switch, which many have dubbed online as the ‘Switch Pro.’ We’ve been hearing lots and lots of different reports about what the system will be like. Now we also have something that could point to some redesigns for the system’s default controllers, the joy-cons.

YouTuber Mike Perez on his Nintendo Academy channel discovered a new patent for the joy-cons. You can see the full video as well as a drawing of the patent below. Filed originally on March 2nd, this version of the joy-cons looks to have an updated and more traditional looking d-pad, which is sure to make some happy. Though another thing that I imagine won’t make many happy is it appears this has the circle pad instead of a regular joystick. These were on the the 3DS. As Perez speculates, this could be for the upcoming Switch Pro, although it’s also possible it could just be for a standalone revision.

As always with patents, it’s worth keeping in mind that companies file and refile these things all the time for any potential idea they have. It could, in the end, mean nothing, but since the Switch Pro revision is looking more and more real, it’s not hard to see some small redesigns like this for its default controller.

Rumours of a Nintendo Switch Pro have really heated up these past few months. Supposedly, the hardware upgrade for Nintendo’s hybrid system will boast everything from an OLED screen to 4K capabilities, while some reports state that it will also have hardware-based DLSS capabilities. The Switch has already been a massive commercial success for Nintendo, but it seems the Japanese giant is expecting that success to reach even greater heights with the launch of the Switch Pro.

A new report from Bloomberg states that Nintendo is forecasting record Switch sales in the coming fiscal year, which runs from April 2021 to March 2022, and that suppliers have also been supposedly briefed about the same. On top of that, Nintendo is also reportedly expecting a significant bump to software sales, with with forecasts for the coming fiscal year being raised to a record 250 million.

Bloomberg’s report states that manufacturers of Switch’s physical cartridges are preparing to make more than they did in the current fiscal years, while software developers themselves also seem to be prioritizing development for the Switch, owing to the system’s large and ever-increasing install base.

Currently, the likes of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Project Triangle Strategy, and Splatoon 3 are confirmed to be releasing in 2022, while Switch owners will also be hoping for similar launch windows for the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel and Bayonetta 3. Some rumours also indicate that the Switch Pro could get a few exclusive game releases.

Over the last year or so, there’s been many rumors floating around about a new Switch revision. It’d be the second one for Nintendo’s hot system, with the first being the handheld-only based Switch Lite. Many have dubbed it the Switch Pro, and rumors and whispers say it could be going into production as early as June of this year and that it could even have games exclusive to it (ala the Nintendo DSi and New 3DS revisions in the past). Now there’s more to throw onto the pile about it having DLSS.

The most recent talk is the Switch Pro will have a bigger screen for handheld mode that’s still 720p as well as the ability to go 4K while docked. One would assume that means the dock itself would be doing the heavy lifting there, which may be the case, but according to known insider/leaker NateDrake on the ResetEra gaming forums, who has been someone at the forefront of these rumors, it may not be the only thing. They were asked about this and in response to a question relating to DLSS clarified that it would not just be the dock, saying, “Hardware based, so, yes, the SoC. It won’t be handled by the dock.”

If you’re unfamiliar, DLSS is short for deep learning super sampling and is a technique Nvidia has been using. In a nutshell, it uses AI to upscale lower scale images without sacrificing framerate. It’s hard to say what that could mean here until we get our hands on the Switch Pro, but for instance, a game that runs sub-720p in handheld mode like the recent Switch port of Apex Legends, could be upscaled without losing framerate in theory.

As always, take these rumors with a grain of salt, especially since a Switch Pro has not even been officially announced. If all this is accurate, it does look like the Switch Pro could be a decent step upward for the now 4 year old hardware. Time will tell, so keep the patience.

Nintendo’s Switch is now entering its fourth year on the market, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The company has hit the bullseye it seems with the hybrid system. There’s also persistent rumors that a new revision of the system is coming, that many are currently dubbing the ‘Switch Pro.’ The system will potentially come out this year and see some upgraded specs, and if new rumors are to be believed, some exclusive titles.

On the ResetEra gaming forums, an alleged insider going by Dark Cloud said that the Pro would have some exclusive titles. He’s an unknown name, but another user by the name of NateDrake backed up his claiming, saying, “There will be some select exclusives, especially from third-party partners. May not be a big number of them, but I know of at least one.” NateDrake has been known to leak legitimate information in the past.

As always with leaks from insiders, take it with a grain of salt. However, there is precedent here, as both the upgraded revision for the DS and the 3DS (the DSi and New 3DS, respectively) did actually have exclusive features and titles, with maybe the most notable being Xenoblade Chronicles 3D for the New 3DS. However, it was ultimately a small group of titles. And, of course, this Switch Pro hasn’t even been officially announced, so we’ll have to wait for that before jumping too far ahead of ourselves.

Nintendo’s Switch system has now been on the market just over 4 years, and has been a massive success for the company up and down. There has also been rumors floating around for the better part of a year now of a new version of the Switch, not really a full successor as much as an upgraded version of the current hardware. Well, we still don’t know anything official about this device, but today we have more rumors, including one that indicates it could be coming soon.

Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki issued a new report on this Switch Pro. It largely lines up with previous rumors that we’ve been hearing, specifically that the game will have 4K output while docked as well as an OLED screen. Mochizuki does narrow a few details down, saying that the screen with be 7 inches and still remain 720p. He also said the mass production on the device could start as early as June, which could indicate the plan is to release this for the holidays.

As always with reports like this, we have to mark them as rumors, but Bloomberg and Mochizuki have been reliable in the past and he was actually the first to leak the Switch Lite, Nintendo’s handheld-only revision of the hardware. At this point it feels like there’s a lot of smoke around this Switch Pro, or whatever it’ll be called, for their not to be any fire and Nintendo has always been known to do multiple upgrades to their handhelds. The wait is on for something official at this point.

Published: Nintendo to buy rigid OLED display panels from Samsung Display for a new Switch model planned this year, people familiar with the matter say. 7-inch, 720p. Mass production as early as from June. With @soheefication (1/2)https://t.co/YKsKxMP6yI

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) March 4, 2021