New Nintendo Switch to Feature DLSS, 4K Output

Abhinav Raj, Writer
@uxconnections

Nintendo’s next-gen hybrid console will reportedly feature 4K video output, OLED display and Nvidia’s AI-powered Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology

Nintendo’s answer to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X may arrive with Nvidia’s ground-breaking Deep Learning Super Sampling technology—a move that could potentially give Sony and Microsoft a run for their money. 

According to a report from The Verge, the new Nintendo Switch will hit the market this holiday season with a revamped Nvidia chip supporting its proprietary AI-powered graphics enhancing gimmick—DLSS, a 7-inch OLED display, native 4K display output on TVs, along with major CPU and graphics processing enhancements. 

DLSS has been a major X-factor behind Nvidia’s GPU sales since the ray-tracing enabled RTX 20-series came out in early 2019—and largely remains so; simply because the chipmaker’s arch-rival AMD is yet to roll out an answer to its AI-powered visual fidelity enhancement. 

The Switch would be the first handheld console fitted with an Nvidia chip—teasing potentially ground-breaking enhancement in the graphics processing territory. 

“The graphics boost is a direct shot at core gamers who want to play the next Breath of the Wild, Pokemon, or the new Monster Hunter in the best quality,” commented Michael Prefontaine, lead developer at the Silicon Studio Corp—a renowned video game developing studio based in Tokyo.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 31.18 million copies worldwide. (Image: Sara Kurfess on Unsplash)

Analysts speculate the new Switch would be priced at least fifty or one hundred dollars above the 2017 and the 2018 “red box” variant, set at $399. According to Bloomberg Intelligence expert Matthew Kanterman, Nintendo could justify a price increase of a hundred dollars as the next variant hits the market. 

The new Switch would be the final major entry into the ninth-generation market of video game consoles—and with its rivals PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X facing a global stock shortage, Nintendo could effortlessly turn tip the scales in its favour by ramping production and hitting the market hard and fast. 

The consistent release of quality titles has garnered a loyal fanbase for Nintendo, and an expanding, curious market to conquer. The Game Award-winning title Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the 2020 life-simulation game Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 22.85 million and 31.18 million copies worldwide, respectively, as of December 2020, bringing the two into the league of top 20 best selling video games of all time. With newer titles for hotly anticipated video game franchise like Pokemon in development, the sales figures are only set to rise for Nintendo.  

The new Switch is going to be the love child of Nvidia and Nintendo—featuring the best of both worlds. The leap between 1080p to 4K will be enormous and feel as such thanks to DLSS, and if the past is any testimony to the future, Nintendo will leave no stones turned in rolling out quality titles. 

But will a graphical improvement alone be worth the switch?