Something genuinely interesting has come up regarding Cyberpunk 2077 for the Nintendo Switch 2.
We reported yesterday on some preliminary details forthe Switch 2 version of the game. While the game does look good, Jason Schreier revealed that the game runs at a maximum of 40 FPS. Now before we keep going, we do want to explain something about 40 FPS. While the conventional wisdom is that the higher the framerate, the better, there is actually a case for 40 FPS being a ‘sweet spot’ for console games.
Digital Foundry made the case for this themselves in their performance review for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on the PlayStation 5. With a VRR enabled 120Hz screen, players can get the most out of the game on the console. At 40 FPS, and on a 120Hz screen, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart performs at a rate of one frame refreshing every 33.3 milliseconds.
Because of this, players can get smooth framerate with better quality than is available on 30 FPS. But then, the PlayStation’s resources are also freed up to enable other visual effects, particularly ray tracing. As Digital Foundry argues, the higher framerate and increased visual effects combined is a better experience than having to choose between quality or performance.
Nvidia confirmed that the Nintendo Switch 2 also has VRR support in the form of G-Sync. So, while we will still have to wait until June to see if developers can pull this off, it is possible to get the same 40 FPS, 120Hz, best of both worlds setup possible on the Switch 2. With all of this said, we got even more information from Good Vibes Gaming that puts all of this in a new light.
As they explained in this video preview, the build that CD Projekt RED brought to show floors for press and content creators was only the result of seven weeks of work. This was corroborated by Gene Park on Twitter, but we do have GVG’s Brandon Miracle to thank for getting this on record. Considering that Cyberpunk 2077 is a Switch 2 launch title, one can only imagine how much farther they have progressed for the version we will get then.
CD Projekt RED also told Brandon that they are targeting that Performance Mode to work at 40 FPS, with the exact same VRR setup that we described just above. This is all certainly exciting stuff, because even if the Switch 2 isn’t quite as powerful as the PlayStation 5, the software and hardware technologies Nvidia provided is allowing the handheld to get much closer to it than we all expected. There will also be a quality mode that they expect to run at between 25 to 30 FPS.
So those gamers who want to put the Nintendo Switch 2 through its performance paces already have a few games to watch out for. It goes without saying but this is once again another indication that we may have just seen the return of parity between the three console makers.
