When the original Switch came out almost eight years ago, almost no one realized they wanted console-quality games on the go. Turns out we did, and the Switch became Nintendo’s best-selling console. Five years after the launch of the Switch, Valve gave PC gamers a way to play these games anywhere with its Steam Deck Gaming Handheld. With the Switch 2 revealed this week, it’s possible that players will get all of this in one package – if Nintendo allows it.
The Switch 2 could become the ultimate all-in-one portable gaming device. It has the potential to play other console games and PC games while remaining the only device capable of playing Nintendo games. The only obstacle is Nintendo’s insistence on keeping its ecosystem closed and unnecessarily complicated.
That’s right, we don’t know much about the Switch 2, since it was only revealed on Thursday. However, there are some things we are sure of. The first is that it will be more powerful than the original Nintendo Switch. To what extent we don’t know, but if it’s anywhere near the power of the Xbox Series S or Steam Deck, it can play virtually every game on the market and probably every new home console game or PC over the next few years. .
This would mean a big step forward: the original Switch was on par with a PlayStation 3 when it released in 2017, so it couldn’t handle most of the big so-called “AAA” games that could be found on the market. Xbox, PlayStation or PC.
But it doesn’t stop there. Thanks to the advancement of cloud streamingThe Switch 2 could also play a multitude of games from day one without needing any developers to port their games. You have Xbox Game Pass which allows subscribers to play Xbox games on their phones, tablets and other portable gaming devices streaming through a browser. So no need for an application, just access a browser and that should be enough to play Xbox games on a Switch 2.
This is also the case for GeForce now. It’s a streaming service for playing PC games via the cloud, and it also works with a browser.
This means that by simply having an easily accessible browser, a Switch 2 owner could potentially be able to play hundreds of Xbox games with Game Pass and thousands of games with a GeForce Now subscription. This is in addition to all Switch games available through backward compatibility and all future games for the Switch 2.
A potential library like this could easily give the Switch 2 one of the largest libraries available for a console, and it would include something that other consoles and handheld gaming devices don’t have easy access to: Nintendo games .
However, this will only happen if Nintendo allows it, and the Mario creator is not in the habit of facilitating third-party involvement in the company’s ecosystem. Nintendo just doesn’t want to make things easier if it requires the use of more than the bare minimum of technology – or poses a threat to its family-friendly reputation.
That’s why it offers Switch Friends codes, instead of just sending invitations to friends, and Online voice chat only available via app. Nintendo is also a very protective company towards its hardware, hence its constant litigation against Switch emulator developers.
There is extraordinary potential with the Switch 2 that could allow Nintendo to dominate the entire gaming industry and not just consoles. But maybe Nintendo just doesn’t want to give up all control.
