Summary
- Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 console may feature Nvidia's DLSS upscaling tech, aiming to run games at higher resolutions.
- Third-party games would also be easier to port to the console.
- The company is expected to announce the successor to the Switch by March 2025.
Nintendo has recently filed a patent for the Switch 2 that mentions support for Nvidia's DLSS upscaling, confirming an important feature that was mentioned in previous reports about the upcoming console. The Nintendo Switch is reaching the end of its lifespan, with fans anticipating the day that the Japanese company announces its successor in 2025. While the Switch 2 console has been rumored for a long time, Nintendo confirmed it would make an announcement in 2025 about the console, though concrete details about it have been kept quiet.
Rumors and speculation have surrounded the Nintendo Switch's successor console ever since its initial announcement, resulting in a lot of information being thrown around that it is difficult to determine whether is accurate or a fabrication. One of the more consistent rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2 is its supposed support for AI upscaling, specifically mentioning Nvidia's DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), which would allow the hardware to run its games at a higher resolution. Supposedly, the Nintendo Switch 2 demo at Gamescom featured this in action, where it was able to run the Unreal Engine tech demo of The Matrix Awakens. Thanks to Nvidia's upscaling, the graphics were apparently on par with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Switch 2 May Not Be As Powerful As Rumored
A new rumor indicates that the eagerly awaited Nintendo Switch 2 may not be as powerful as some previous speculation may have led gamers to believe.
A new patent filed by Nintendo claims that the Switch 2 will use DLSS-style upscaling. According to a post made by Laura Kate Dale on BlueSky, the patent lists an example in which the system can be used to "reduce overall game sizes" to fit them onto "smaller capacity physical media," such as Nintendo Switch cartridges. She adds that games that have native 4K textures might require a 60 GB download, but a 1080 native version might only need 20 GB, making it able to fit on a Switch cartridge, which has a max of 32 GB. As such, the game can be 4K upscaled using the hardware in real-time.
The Switch 2's Upscaling Could Benefit Third-Party Games
Perhaps the most interesting piece of this, after a lengthy read, is that one example use case given is explicitly to reduce overall game sizes, to fit a modern game onto "smaller capacity physical media", e.g. Switch carts, which get exponentially more expensive for larger cart capacities. — Laura Kate Dale - LauraKBuzz (@laurakbuzz.bsky.social) 2025-01-01T13:41:57.130Z
The example given is that a game witth native 4K textures might need a 60GB download, but a 1080 native version might only need 20GB (which would allow it to fit on a 32GB Switch Cart, the current max size Nintendo produces for Switch 1). The idea being to do a 4X upscale on the device in realtime. — Laura Kate Dale - LauraKBuzz (@laurakbuzz.bsky.social) 2025-01-01T13:43:37.650Z
A big focus is on developers who can provide their own training data images generated from higher internal resolution builds of the game, to improve the accuracy of the upscale for their specific game. Very much feels like "use the other versions you're making to help train your Switch 2 upscale" — Laura Kate Dale - LauraKBuzz (@laurakbuzz.bsky.social) 2025-01-01T15:56:54.421Z
Lots of focus on "If you're already making a 4K version of your game, use screenshots of that to help Switch 2 know what it's ideally aiming for, to improve the quality of result when we try to upscale your low resolution Nintendo build". — Laura Kate Dale - LauraKBuzz (@laurakbuzz.bsky.social) 2025-01-01T15:58:37.289Z
Dale speculates further on the Switch 2's potential usage of DLSS, saying that her understanding of the patent is that it will create a system that will make it easier to port third-party games onto the console. She predicts that if developers are making 4K versions of their games, then screenshots from that can be used to help the Switch 2 learn and improve the quality of the graphics when it gets ported to the system with lower quality resolution.
Leaks of the Switch 2 console itself were prevalent throughout December 2024, including photos of what the system apparently looks like. While there were a lot of accusations about it being AI-generated, a deep dive supposedly confirmed that many details were correct. Fans will still need to wait until later this year for Nintendo to make an official announcement about the Switch's successor.
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console launched in 2017, capable of being played in handheld mode or docked to a television. The Switch Lite, a handheld-only model, followed in 2019, with an OLED refresh coming in 2021.
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