Switch Pro apparently canceled even before it was officially revealed
The oft-rumored Nintendo Switch Pro apparently existed at one point but has since been canceled, at least according to industry insiders.
For some time now, rumors have been circulating that Nintendo was working on an enhanced Switch version with more powerful specs. Some of these rumors eventually panned out as the Switch OLED model, but rumors of a more powerful model persisted even after that was released. (Read: Possible Switch Pro details leaked)
Now it seems that this more powerful “Switch Pro” was in the works, but has since been canceled. This is according to Digital Foundry‘s John Lineman who had corroborated details about the of-rumored Switch upgrade with multiple developers.
“From what I can understand from talking to different developers is that there was some sort of mid-generation Switch update planned at one point, and that seems to be no longer happening,” said Lineman during a recent DF Direct.
While it’s not confirmation from Nintendo itself, Lineman is known for having connections with industry insiders—insiders who seem to be telling him the same thing.
That the erstwhile Switch Pro was canceled may not be surprising for those familiar with Nintendo. The Kyoto-based company tends to focus more on innovative features when updating its hardware over pure computing power.
In addition, the company tends to see little competition in the portable game space where its competitors have tended to flounder. That said, the rise of portable PC gaming devices, such as Valve’s Steam Deck, does raise the question of whether the relatively underpowered Switch can continue to keep up with today’s more demanding games.
That said, the Nvidia leak from earlier this year did hint that the company was working on something Nintendo-related that would include support for its technologies such as the resolution upscaling DLSS. So perhaps the Switch Pro was canceled in favor of something else that Nintendo is cooking up.
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