The video discusses whether the demanding game Star Wars Outlaws can run smoothly on the upcoming Switch 2, highlighting concerns about performance issues and hardware limitations, especially with features like ray tracing. While the visual quality appears impressive, the gameplay footage shows significant frame rate drops, raising questions about the game’s optimization and the feasibility of a proper port on the console.
The discussion centers around the feasibility of running the upcoming game Star Wars Outlaws on the Nintendo Switch 2, especially given its demanding engine and cutting-edge features like ray tracing. Initially, there were questions about whether the footage shown was even from a Switch version, considering the hardware limitations of handheld devices and previous struggles with resource-intensive titles. The recent footage suggests that the game is unlikely to be running on the Switch 2, as the visual quality appears to be too demanding, with low resolution and performance issues evident in the gameplay.
The visual aspects of the footage look somewhat promising, retaining key features such as ray tracing, reflections, and depth of field, which are impressive for a handheld device. However, the main concern lies in performance, with frame rates dropping to around 19 frames per second during gameplay sequences. Although some scenes run better, the overall frame rate is inconsistent, and the footage was encoded at 30 fps, making the drops seem more pronounced. This indicates that the game is still in development and may require significant optimizations before it can run smoothly on less powerful hardware.
The speakers express curiosity about how the game’s ray tracing is implemented, questioning whether the developers have ported all the PC-based ray tracing work or created a custom solution for consoles. They highlight that the game’s reliance on hardware-accelerated ray tracing could pose challenges for the Switch 2’s hardware, which may not have the same traversal units or capabilities. This raises questions about whether the game will leverage the Switch 2’s API or use a simplified, custom approach, which could impact visual fidelity and performance.
There’s admiration for the ambition behind Star Wars Outlaws, noting that it aims to be a highly ambitious port with advanced features like ray tracing and a large open world, all early in the console’s lifecycle. The speakers find it remarkable that such a graphically impressive game, comparable to current-generation consoles and PC, might be attempted on the Switch 2. They emphasize the need for further clarification from the developers, ideally through interviews, to understand how they plan to optimize or adapt the game for different hardware platforms.
In conclusion, while the visual quality of the footage is acceptable given the compressed video, the performance concerns are significant. The speakers express interest in seeing more media and hope for potential performance modes that could improve stability at the cost of resolution. Overall, they find the project fascinating and are eager to see how the game progresses, emphasizing the extraordinary effort involved in attempting such a demanding port early in the Switch 2’s life cycle.