DF’s Richard Leadbetter Expects 9th Generation Games Coming To Switch 2 To Run At 30 FPS

Richard Leadbetter of Digital Foundry shared an interesting opinion when it comes to his expectations for the Switch 2.

In a blog introducing the latest episode of DF Direct Weekly, he said this:

“I’d expect to see Switch 2 announced soon and it’ll certainly be interesting to see third-party developers break cover with product announcements. If you watch the video above, you’ll see that ballpark GPU performance can run a great many games at highly respectable quality levels – and I suspect that based on my projections, a vast array of PS4-era ports will appear in addition to Nintendo’s first-party fare – and I wouldn’t rule out ray tracing support in certain games. I’d also expect current-gen titles targeting 60fps to somehow find their way across to Switch 2, likely running at 30fps instead. The next few months should prove fascinating.”

The video he is referring to is one we have also brought up a few times. Leadbetter estimated the Switch 2’s potential performance with the closest match he could find to the Nvidia SOC’s power, with an Nvidia GPU in a laptop. As we also discussed then, that mobile Nvidia GPU is up to the task of running the latest games, including highly demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077.

However, in many cases, including Cyberpunk 2077, there were specific scenarios where the Nvidia GPU falters. Leadbetter argues in this blog that this is where the custom work that Nintendo and Nvidia put into the system, and the custom work that developers will also put into their ports to the Switch 2, will make sure that those issues are addressed.

Leadbetter also explained the factors that led to him to making these admittedly conservative estimates. Aside from doing the testing using a proxy Switch 2 in an Nvidia GPU laptop, he also lent weight to kopite7kimi’s rumor that the Switch 2 will be using a Samsung 8nm Ampere SOC. He also pointed out that even as we know that more powerful chips were available for the original Switch, it turned out to be a popular console, with cash cows with long tails that its console peers would be right to be jealous of.

Leadbetter argues that Nvidia’s technology on the Switch has held up quite well, and the same will likely be true of the Switch 2. On our end, we have been reporting on ports of 8^th generation and 9^th generation console games that could be ported to the Switch 2, and they run the gamut from Elden Ring to Monster Hunter Wilds to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. So there was circumstantial evidence that games this new would also be arriving to Nintendo’s next platform. As to whether Nintendo discreetly has some other tricks to the Switch 2 we don’t know about, to improve performance or add another unexpected novelty, we will simply have to wait and see.