In early September, a report claimed that Nintendo showed off tech demos of the Switch 2 to developers behind closed doors at August's Gamescom 2023 show. Today, new emails obtained by The Verge reveal that Activision-Blizzard was one of the third-party developers briefed on Switch's upcoming successor last year.
The internal emails from late 2022 show several Activision-Blizzard executives, including CEO Bobby Kotick, discussing specifications for an unnamed new system referred to as "Switch NG". While much of the information was redacted, the emails indicate that the performance level of the new console would be on par with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.
Whether this refers to the base Xbox One and PS4 models or the enhanced PS4 Pro and Xbox One X variants is unclear. However, given Activision Blizzard's prior output for those consoles, the company felt it could create "something compelling" for the new console - provided it received early access to development kits and prototyping hardware.
In the leaked document, Nintendo wrote:
Given the closer alignment to Gen8 platforms in terms of performance and our previous offerings on PS4 / Xbox One, it is reasonable to assume we could make something compelling for the NG Switch as well. It would be helpful to secure early access to development hardware prototypes and prove that out nice and early.
The briefing comes amid Microsoft's pledge to keep Call of Duty games on Nintendo consoles for the next decade should its Activision-Blizzard acquisition close. During FTC antitrust trial proceedings earlier this year, Kotick also acknowledged missing opportunities to bring the franchise to the Switch. However, Xbox gaming chef, Phil Spencer, hinted that Call of Duty may not look amazing on Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch 2 will reportedly also feature 12GB of RAM. This is three times more than the original Switch, which had to make do with 4GB of RAM. Also, it is more than the Xbox Series S, which gets 10GB of RAM.
Details regarding the Switch successor remain scarce, but it's speculated to launch in late 2024. However, a preview could happen before that, similar to the original Switch, which was first previewed in 2016 and released in 2017.
Source: The Verge
21 Comments - Add comment