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The Nintendo Switch Pro Will Do 4K Gaming – With A Twist…
Will the Nintendo Switch Pro do 4K gaming? Yep – but not like you think. Here’s everything you need to know about the new, incoming Nintendo Switch Pro’s gaming capabilities…
The Nintendo Switch Pro is poised to get a release later this year; production is said to be starting in July with a release date scheduled for September/October 2021.
We’ve already covered what’s happening with the Nintendo Switch Pro’s display – it’ll be an OLED screen made by Samsung.
In order to earn its “Pro” branding, the new console, however, will need to core improvements under the hood, and one of the most asked for features on a new Switch console is 4K gaming.
How 4K Gaming Will Work on Nintendo Switch Pro
The jump to 4K on the Nintendo Switch Pro might seem bonkers, considering the current Nintendo Switch struggles to hit 1080p at the best of times and that it is limited to 720p in handheld mode.
Still, that didn’t stop it from earning the title of the fastest-selling console of all time. No mean feat, considering the competition, past and present, that the Switch went up against.
But 4K is coming to the Nintendo Switch Pro, just not how you’d imagine. Back in 2020, Nintendo began asking its developers and game publishers to make their titles 4K ready.
And the reason for this was the release of the Nintendo Switch Pro in 2021. But how will the Nintendo Switch Pro handle 4K?
According to sources, the Nintendo Switch Pro will use a new custom NVIDIA chipset that will also leverage the company’s DLSS AI upscaling techniques – the same tech used inside the NVIDIA Shield.
Upscaling, Not Native 4K Gaming…
NVIDIA’s DLSS AI upscaling techniques will bring 4K gaming to the Nintendo Switch Pro in docked mode via upscaling, not native 4K. This is far less power-intensive than running native 4K and has pretty impressive results.
There has been plenty of talk about this technology online, its potential for the Switch Pro and for mobile gaming in general, as well as how it is currently being used for PC gaming.
The reason I’m excited about DLSS is remarkably straightforward. We want to push visual features to the next level with technologies like real-time ray tracing, but we don’t want to lose too much performance for the privilege. Fundamentally, why use GPU resources to paint every single pixel when AI upscaling can ‘infer’ a lot of those pixels instead?
Wolfenstein Youngblood and other freshly baked DLSS titles are showing some remarkably impressive results and the tech has a lot of potential. If the performance uptick is substantial and the quality is there, it could also be deployed in a mobile device where compute resources are extremely limited.
Richard Leadbetter, EUROGAMER
Furthermore, industry insider NareDrake reckons that there will be a slew of Nintendo Switch Pro exclusive games – games that will not run on the current Switch console.
This has not been confirmed, however, though given the Switch Pro’s new technology, the theory doesn’t seem too far fetched. Exclusive titles will also help drive adoption too.
Production on the Nintendo Switch Pro is set to begin in July, followed by a release date sometime in September/October 2021 – just in time for Christmas.
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