‘Not True’ states Nintendo on 4K Switch Pro dev kit reports
Nintendo denies the existence of a 4K-equipped Switch dev kit.
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Is a new, 4K Nintendo Switch Pro in the works? Bloomberg reports the existence of developers having received a 4K-capable Nintendo Switch dev kit. Specifically, the report states that 11 companies including Zynga have access to make 4K Nintendo Switch titles. This comes hot on the heels of a significant amount of rumors surrounding a ‘Nintendo Switch Pro’ console, which were seemingly quashed when Nintendo announced the upcoming OLED model of the Switch. However, the saga hasn’t ended yet.
We’ve previously reported on the existence of the Nintendo Switch Pro, so it’s not completely unsurprising that it’s still coming. The Nintendo Switch was based on the Nvidia Tegra X1, which was first released in 2015, with the Nintendo Switch released in early 2017, in some ways the original Nintendo Switch, and now its bigger brother the OLED Switch came out with pretty dated hardware. In a sense, it was always an inevitability that Nintendo would want to refresh the hardware on their incredibly successful console. The Nintendo Switch Pro has also been pipped to be equipped with a new Nvidia DLSS-capable chip, meaning that reaching higher resolutions will be significantly less work thanks to Nvidia’s investments into machine learning. Digital Foundry has previously explored how DLSS on a Nintendo Switch might work and is well worth checking out.
With that said, seeing a 4K-equipped Nintendo Switch Pro dev kit isn’t too surprising. Usually, console dev kits house a little bit more power than necessary for purposes of getting early code running on systems, but to output at a significantly higher resolution than the normal console does is almost unheard of. What is surprising is to hear that dev kits are out and in the wild, since the 4K Switch Pro has seemingly been delayed from a 2021 release thanks to the global semiconductor shortage and COVID-19.
Is the 4K Nintendo Switch Pro real?
According to various reports by Bloomberg, the 4K Nintendo Switch Pro is real. So, hear us out here: The relatively underwhelming OLED Switch model is a stopgap for Nintendo to have a hardware launch for Holiday 2021 while the ‘real’ upgrade was pushed back. It’s just the story that makes the most sense, especially when corroborating all of the information that has trickled out over time, there’s just too much evidence now to deny the existence of the fabled 4K Nintendo Switch Pro. Yet, Nintendo vigorously denies Bloomberg’s report.
Equally, Nintendo contacted Bloomberg to say that the report was inaccurate, but did not specify exactly what pieces of information were false. Also, it’s not like Nintendo has not pulled this corporate line before when details of new hardware come out. They’ve done it with the New 3DS and the Nintendo DS Lite in the past, so it’d make sense that they seek to protect the profit and sales of the upcoming OLED Nintendo Switch this holiday by staying tight-lipped about any further announcements regarding hardware.
