Switch 2 has been ready for years, but Nintendo has good reason to wait to release it

If you think that Nintendo Switch 2 has been talked about for years, you are right. Truth be told, the rumors about it date back to a time when the Japanese manufacturer was thought to be secretly preparing a Switch Pro, which ultimately turned out to be Switch OLED, with no improvements made to its hardware other than the ‘display’. . However, persistent rumors were already claiming that the console would be powered by the T239, an SoC manufactured by Nvidia.

What will happen today, years later? The answer comes to us from a leaker called Moore’s Law is Dead, who managed to contact three sources at Nvidia to get back to this information. But nothing seems to have changed at this level at Nintendo. According to the leak, the hardware part of the Switch is ready ” for a long time “, and all that remains is to choose a release date for the console. So why does the manufacturer take so much time?

Nintendo Switch 2 will launch with a processor that’s several years old

Indeed, at the time of this writing, Nintendo Switch 2 was expected to be released in March 2025, whereas it was originally planned to be released in late 2024. Additionally, since Moore’s Law is Dead, the issue of robustness of the T239 processor also arises. sources agree that this is the chip that will still be found in the console. Additionally, one of the sources claims that Nintendo has the option to choose a newer chip, or even a chip from AMD, as PlayStation and Xbox have done. However, several reasons may explain Nintendo’s decision.

First, one of the sources states that the T239 will come with the 8nm Samsung node, which is one of the most affordable on the market right now. “It is not expected to be as competitive as more modern nodes from a capacity perspective in the next few years.” He adds that Moore’s Law is Dead. Therefore, this choice will allow Nintendo to maintain a relatively low price while providing superior performance over the first Switch. This is probably why Nintendo chose the Ampere architecture (RTX 3000) over the Lovelace architecture (RTX 4000).

Additionally, one of the sources states that the processor Nintendo has chosen provides access to various options in terms of LPDDR5 RAM, including 8 GB, 12 GB and 16 GB, but we do not know which of these three options at the moment. The Japanese manufacturer made its choice. Obviously, this decision will also have an impact on the final price of the console. Finally, Moore’s Law is Dead, explaining that Nintendo decided to strictly delay the release of Switch 2 in order to sell off stock of the current generation with the release of its younger sister.

You understand that Nintendo will probably not update the hardware of its console, which we have known since 2021, so first of all to maintain the competitive advantage in the price of its console. Additionally, Moore’s Law is Dead predictions said the Switch 2 could be marketed between $349 and $499.

The question of power remains. Will it be obsolete when Switch 2 launches? Not necessarily. First, Nintendo will continue to release console-exclusive content, which will actually be optimized for the latter. We also expect the Switch 2 to be more powerful than the Steam Deck, thanks to the 8 A78C CPU cores and GA10F GPU mentioned in a previous leak. Add to that Nvidia’s DLSS, which should be compatible with the console, and gamers probably won’t have to worry about the console’s performance – at least in its early years.