The tech experts at Digital Foundry have revealed the final tech specs for Nintendo Switch 2, and with it claimed that the GameChat feature has a “significant impact” on system resources to the point where developers are said to be concerned.
During last month’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo revealed the Switch 2’s GameChat functionality, triggered by a press of the C button on the new Joy-Con.
Players can watch each other enjoying the same or different titles and, with the help of a camera, even see each other. It’s made all the easier by a built-in microphone that is shown to be relatively reliable regardless of each player’s gaming environment. The C button’s chat menu aims to be an all-in-one multiplayer feature that could result in Nintendo’s most successful online push in decades.
Digital Foundry said Nintendo provides developers with a GameChat testing tool that simulates API latency and L3 cache misses that the real world GameChat system incurs on the system. This means developers can test this without needing active GameChat sessions running.
DF is now left wondering whether game performance for the end user is impacted by having GameChat on or off. If GameChat resources are within the system allocation, it shouldn’t make any difference. However, given Nintendo provides GameChat emulation tools, the suggestion is there is a hit of some description that developers need to test for.
As Digital Foundry put it: “We’ll be interested to see how GameChat may (or may not) impact game performance as this does seem to be an area of developer concern.” We won’t know for sure until Switch 2 comes out on June 5.
Meanwhile, Digital Foundry revealed the Switch 2 final tech specs. Switch 2 Memory System Reservation is 3GB, with 9GB available for games. For context, the Switch 2 has 0.8GB Memory System Reservation and 3.2GB available for games. That’s a significant chunk of the Switch 2’s resources that games do not get. As with all consoles, Switch 2 developers don’t get access to the full GPU resources, with some reserved by the system.
Switch 2 features a 7.9-inch wide color gamut LCD screen that is capable of outputting at 1080p (1920×1080). This is a big upgrade from Switch 1’s 6.2-inch screen, the Switch OLED’s 7-inch screen, and the Switch Lite’s 5.5-inch screen.
There is also support for HDR10 and VRR up to 120 Hz, which means games can jump up to 120fps if they and your setup allow it.
Slotting the Switch 2 to its new dock will allow games to be played in 4K (3840×2160) at 60fps or 1080p/1440p (1920×1080/2560×1440) at 120fps. We know these higher-end graphics are made possible by a “custom processor made by NVIDIA.”
Digital Foundry’s specs reveal, which is well worth a read, reveals much more.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
