Introduction

A few weeks ago, I talked about the rumored features of the Nintendo "Super" Switch and how the platform may fare. DLSS 2.0 may be a huge factor as it can make Switch games look great while also maintaining 60 frames per second performance. Earlier today, Takashi Mochizuki published another article on Bloomberg on the "Super" Switch, particularly on its hardware.

The most interest parts of the article are the "Super" Switch implementing DLSS, sporting a more powerful CPU and more RAM, and potentially selling for $349 or $399.

The Price

I think it would behoove Nintendo if it cuts the price of the normal Switch to $249 and sells the "Super" Switch at $349. Believe it or not, the Switch has not received a single price cut ever since it launched back in 2017. And Nintendo has had little reason to do so as the system has been selling like hotcakes. In fact, as of the end of last year, it shipped around 80 million units and is on track to easily surpass the Wii.

The other reason why I think $349 would be better is because of the Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. The former sells at a MSRP of $299 while the latter sells at $399. Selling the "Super" Switch at the same price of the PS5 Digital Edition doesn't sound right as the latter will likely be way more powerful. I would take a gander that the Series S will be more powerful than the "Super" Switch, too, so I just don't see the value proposition at $399.

DLSS Rumor is "Corroborated"

The rumors about the "Super" Switch featuring DLSS did not come from Mochizuki's previous article, but rather an alleged insider from a video game forum. Not all rumors are created equal, especially when it comes to "insider" information from a forum. There have been plenty of times where alleged insiders claim things that did not come true.

To see Mochizuki claim that there will be DLSS adds more smoke to the potential fire as Bloomberg is not the type of outlet to just report any rumors willy-nilly. Granted, his sources are unnamed, so we should still take things with a grain of salt.

That said, I think these rumors have credibility. If you follow the GPU and game consoles markets, then you should be able to put two and two together.

Proxy Wars: AMD's Super Resolution vs. Nvidia's DLSS and The "Super" Switch vs. The PS5 + Xbox Series S/X

Currently, Nvidia is the only company who is implementing upsampling technology to their graphics cards. While DLSS 1.0 didn't look particularly good with what it appeared more to be a vaseline filter, Nvidia greatly improved the image quality with 2.0. AMD is hoping to launch their DLSS competitor later this year on their graphics cards: FidelityFX Super Resolution.

There are still very little information on how Super Resolution technically works and how it will fare against DLSS. Even so, it's in Nvidia's interest to stay on their toes and stay one step ahead of AMD. The RDNA2 cards bring competitive rasterization performance against the Ampere series. For instance, the 6700XT is just a tad bit slower than the 3070 at a slightly lower MSRP (though supply issues have made the MSRP moot).

However, AMD's desktop cards aren't Nvidia's biggest threat; it may be the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X, both of which use the RDNA2 GPU architecture. By the time AMD launches Super Resolution, there may be somewhere between 30 to 40 million PS5's and Series S/X's combined. Add the desktop RDNA2 userbase on top of that, there will theoretically be a large "Super Resolution-capable" userbase. This will influence how developers will prioritize their resources. Why forgo the opportunity to cash in big with that many gamers in possession of "Super Resolution-capable" machines?

Enter the "Super" Switch, which will utilize an upgraded Nvidia chip to power the system. The Switch has proven to be an extremely popular system with 80 million shipments as of the end of last year. There are multiple upcoming games that will move system sales like Breath of the Wild 2, Pokémon Legends, and Splatoon 3. This would be a great opportunity for Nvidia to expand its "DLSS-capable" userbase. If the "Super" Switch becomes super popular, then developers will more likely spend resources on DLSS to earn money from the large userbase.