When a video game company launches a new system, it doesn’t take them long to start working on the next one. That might seem a bit counterproductive because things can change technology-wise over a couple of years, but it’s what happens. That’s not to say that the companies start building the new console right away, but rather, they plan for what could come next based on what’s available and what people think of their current system. For the Nintendo Switch many fans and critics are curious about the system’s successor. There are plenty of rumors about what could happen with it, and many are speculating about the technology that could be in it.
In a video posted by ModernVintageGamer, who also happens to be a developer for NightDive Studios, they went into detail about the potential tech parts that could go into the Nintendo Switch’s successor. But unfortunately, they found that the new system might not allow backward compatibility based on the available parts.
They don’t say that blindly but cite an NVIDIA chip the Switch uses called the Tegra X1. The chip is a key part of the Switch, and should it be removed and upgraded with the next Nintendo system, the games you play on Switch can’t be played on the follow-up system without serious reprogramming.
Later in the video, MVG gives options on how Nintendo can work around this problem, but the answers may not help in the long term. We say that because some of the solutions could raise the price of the Switch successor by a substantial amount, and as we all know, most console developers try to get the price of their hardware as low as possible. After all, the lower it is, the more likely people will buy it on day one.
There is another thing to look at here, and that’s simply that Nintendo may not care if Switch games can play on its successor. For a stretch of three systems, Nintendo was indeed the “king of backward compatibility,” but that streak was broken with the Switch. The console broke the CD chain and went to small cartridges, making it so you couldn’t play Wii U games.
That may have been a reason why the system had so many Wii U ports, and many people bought those Wii U ports.
So whatever the successor may be, Nintendo may not focus on backward compatibility. Only time will tell.
