Nintendo's full unveiling of the Switch 2 finally answered the mystery of what the new C button was for: a new GameChat function, which will let you easily talk with friends, share your screen in group sessions, or even show your face if you purchase a camera peripheral. But the GameChat shown during the debut stream was less than stellar, with a noticeably choppy framerate. Nintendo told GameSpot in an interview that it intentionally made GameChat the smallest footprint possible, to save system resources for the games themselves.
"In order to explain this well, I think it might first help to explain about the resources the system has," Switch 2 hardware director Takuhiro Dohta said, via a translator. "So obviously, chat is meant to run and work simultaneously and coincide with the game you're playing. But we also think it's critical that it doesn't get in the way of the game that's running right now. And so we wanted to definitely make sure we do was to make sure that running game chat alongside the game doesn't result in the game experience or quality being reduced at all in any way.
"So from a system resource perspective, obviously even the Nintendo Switch had a set of system resources that it needed to tap into to run the system. And now that we have Nintendo Switch 2, there is bigger, more, basically resource budget to use. However, even with that enhanced and larger budget, we try to use as little of that as possible. And they made it happen somehow. And within that small slice of the resource budget, there's other things to take into consideration, like network systems, all that kind of stuff, and all of that taking into account is where we landed in terms of quality of the video that you saw in the footage."
Technical director Tetsuya Sasaki added that Nintendo puts a priority on making sure experiences are kept consistent between players, which led to the decision to keep the GameChat footprint small.
"As Nintendo, one thing we really put emphasis on is making sure that everyone experiences a very even experience when it comes to the quality of service that they're experiencing," Sasaki said. "And based on this emphasis that we prioritize--obviously if somebody is in a better environment, they're going to get better results in terms of their experience--but we really wanted to make sure that more than anything people had an equal or even playing field, or even experience, rather. And I think that was our priority as an entertainment company.
"And the other aspect of this is that we want to make sure that there is enough power reserved for the games themselves. And so we have a smaller area to play around in within to make sure that all these varying aspects to fit into, things like network environment connectivity. And so we landed on within this margin that we have to work within, this is a good even experience that we can provide."
Sasaki said that this consideration was especially important going forward, as games will continue to get increasingly complex and system intensive on Switch 2.
"Another important thing is that with the Nintendo Switch 2 we're going to see more and more titles come out," he said. "And again, we really want to make sure that reservation of space is going to them. And so that's another factor here for us."
Nintendo Switch 2 is coming on June 5. Preorders had been expected to begin this week, with the system priced at $450 for the base model and $500 for a bundle that includes a digital copy of Mario Kart World. However, Nintendo delayed the preorder date in light of tariffs from President Trump, saying it needs to take time to evaluate the "potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions." That suggests the price may be under review, and we could see it increase.
We're also getting more details from Nintendo developers due to interviews conducted at the reveal event. Among other things we've learned that Switch 1 games could get a boost on Switch 2 even without paid upgrades, that game key-carts won't be tied to your Switch Online account, and in case you were curious, yes Switch 2 carts still taste terrible.
We got hands-on with the Switch 2 and found it doesn't pack many surprises, but it does feel like a worthwhile upgrade to the original Switch. The debut event also had several upcoming games to try out, including the aforementioned Mario Kart World and the wildly destructive Donkey Kong Bananza.
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"In order to explain this well, I think it might first help to explain about the resources the system has," Switch 2 hardware director Takuhiro Dohta said, via a translator. "So obviously, chat is meant to run and work simultaneously and coincide with the game you're playing. But we also think it's critical that it doesn't get in the way of the game that's running right now. And so we wanted to definitely make sure we do was to make sure that running game chat alongside the game doesn't result in the game experience or quality being reduced at all in any way.
"So from a system resource perspective, obviously even the Nintendo Switch had a set of system resources that it needed to tap into to run the system. And now that we have Nintendo Switch 2, there is bigger, more, basically resource budget to use. However, even with that enhanced and larger budget, we try to use as little of that as possible. And they made it happen somehow. And within that small slice of the resource budget, there's other things to take into consideration, like network systems, all that kind of stuff, and all of that taking into account is where we landed in terms of quality of the video that you saw in the footage."
Technical director Tetsuya Sasaki added that Nintendo puts a priority on making sure experiences are kept consistent between players, which led to the decision to keep the GameChat footprint small.
"As Nintendo, one thing we really put emphasis on is making sure that everyone experiences a very even experience when it comes to the quality of service that they're experiencing," Sasaki said. "And based on this emphasis that we prioritize--obviously if somebody is in a better environment, they're going to get better results in terms of their experience--but we really wanted to make sure that more than anything people had an equal or even playing field, or even experience, rather. And I think that was our priority as an entertainment company.
"And the other aspect of this is that we want to make sure that there is enough power reserved for the games themselves. And so we have a smaller area to play around in within to make sure that all these varying aspects to fit into, things like network environment connectivity. And so we landed on within this margin that we have to work within, this is a good even experience that we can provide."
Sasaki said that this consideration was especially important going forward, as games will continue to get increasingly complex and system intensive on Switch 2.
"Another important thing is that with the Nintendo Switch 2 we're going to see more and more titles come out," he said. "And again, we really want to make sure that reservation of space is going to them. And so that's another factor here for us."
Nintendo Switch 2 is coming on June 5. Preorders had been expected to begin this week, with the system priced at $450 for the base model and $500 for a bundle that includes a digital copy of Mario Kart World. However, Nintendo delayed the preorder date in light of tariffs from President Trump, saying it needs to take time to evaluate the "potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions." That suggests the price may be under review, and we could see it increase.
We're also getting more details from Nintendo developers due to interviews conducted at the reveal event. Among other things we've learned that Switch 1 games could get a boost on Switch 2 even without paid upgrades, that game key-carts won't be tied to your Switch Online account, and in case you were curious, yes Switch 2 carts still taste terrible.
We got hands-on with the Switch 2 and found it doesn't pack many surprises, but it does feel like a worthwhile upgrade to the original Switch. The debut event also had several upcoming games to try out, including the aforementioned Mario Kart World and the wildly destructive Donkey Kong Bananza.
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