Nintendo on Switch’s technical performance

A couple of key people at Nintendo have weighed in on Switch’s technical performance, and whether it’s adequate for developers in 2023.

Switch is over six years old at this point and while many games are still being made. However some have experienced hiccups when it comes to performance – or frame rate specifically.

Ko Shiota (director, senior executive officer) and Shinya Takahashi (director, senior managing executive officer) both weighed in during Nintendo’s 83rd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Takahashi believes it’s not lacking and pointed to how limitations can lead to “some interesting content”. Shiota also mentioned how Nintendo has “used various methods to overcome performance barriers”.

Shiota and Takahashi’s full comments can be read below.

Takahashi: As a game software developer, if you ask me whether Nintendo Switch has sufficient performance, I would not say it is lacking. However, game developers generally want more, and will always want to incorporate a lot of elements that exceed the hardware limitations. Since the Famicom era, we have worked on how to fit these elements inside a framework with certain limitations, and our job is to figure out how to create a fun game within these constraints. I believe that some interesting content are created as a result of accommodating the limitations and we have actually been able to make this happen.

Shiota: We have been developing Nintendo Switch software for a long time and have used various methods to overcome performance barriers. Even now, the system developers are listening to game developers and continuously implementing initiatives to increase the smoothness and longevity of Nintendo Switch software development.