4K Nintendo Switch Expected In 2019
A 4K Nintendo Switch rumor surfaced recently. There have been varying opinions about upgrades for the portable console. In the past, Nintendo executives have suggested that the Switch will avoid 4K and VR upgrades. However, modders have discovered a secret VR Mode that could indicate that the Asian gaming company’s stance may have changed.
Sony and Microsoft implemented some much-needed upgrades to their consoles when they released PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X. Gamers speculate that Nintendo will do the same with the Switch. Recently, Marcus Sellars, a known leaker, released information stating that the Asian gaming company might be planning to release a 4K Nintendo Switch in 2019.
According to GameRant, Sellars leaked Nintendo’s plans to release an upgraded version of the Switch early next year with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and 4K resolution. Sellars adds that exclusive games will be released on the upgraded Switch, like Resident Evil 2.
It must be noted that the validity of the rumors has been questioned. Sellars’ track record for leaking rumors is not perfect. So, basing the truth of the rumor on Sellars alone may not be wise. Furthermore, past comments Nintendo executives have made about 4K resolution do not support Sellars’ leak.
Nintendo executives Reggie Fils-Aime and Philippe Lavoue talked about 4K resolution and VR mode for the Nintendo Switch in the past. At E3 in 2017, Fils-Aime–the President of Nintendo America–told The Verge that the 4K audience is too limited for the Switch. Based on Aime’s comment, Nintendo’s strategy is to attract a mainstream audience with affordable products.
“Going against a more limited consumer pool, a higher price point, requiring investments in other ways–4K TVs, what have you–is a strategy that for us, candidly is a bit too limited,” he said.
Nintendo Switch – 4K 8GB Console Update In 2019? *Rumor*
Watch My New Video Here: https://t.co/En0RxUhNAR#NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/5j4oferGiS
— SuperMetalDave64 (@SMetaldave64) August 19, 2018
Lavoue, the General Manager of Nintendo France, echoed Aime’s thoughts in a later interview with Les Numeriques.
“As for 4K, should we invest in a technology that is not widely adopted?… Should we invest before the consumer had adopted the technology?… If we do the same things as others, we are doomed to die because we are smaller than them,” Lavoue said.
The opinions of Nintendo executives do not definitively make a 4K Nintendo Switch impossible, however. Lavoue, who has been with the Asian gaming company for seven years, also expressed doubts about VR headsets in general. He questions the technology’s ability to attract the public, reported WCCFTech.
However, Nintendo as a whole didn’t seem to share Lavoue’s sentiments about VR for the Switch. The Asian tech company’s stance on VR mode was revealed when modders, OatmealDome and random, discovered VR functionalities on the Switch, reported Tom’s Hardware.
The modders’ find suggests that Lavoue and other Nintendo executives may have differing opinions about the Switch’s future. If VR is a possibility, then 4K may be one, too.
