The Nintendo Switch is undeniably a great little piece of kit, its ability to go from big TV gaming to a portable wonder is fantastic. The console has been a very welcome edition to my gaming line up since I acquired one 2 years ago, the line up of games is not half bad either.
When games such as the Witcher 3 and Overwatch were announced for the console, it was mind blowing that this little piece of machinery could house such extensive games.
Then sadly, we realise the compromise is found within the graphics and other compression tricks. Though it might be a stripped back version of the “full games”, it is still in essence running a game like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on a handheld console.
The issue we then face is obviously, how does the Switch stay relevant in the world of NVidia 3080’s, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series of consoles?
The most recent Nintendo Direct Mini shows us potentially what could be a great work around for the console and its potential limitations.
The ability to cloud stream games to the console instead of the hardware having to support something more graphically intensive. This will potentially provide something that is less demanding of the hardware requirements of the Nintendo Switch.
Right now you can download a trail version of the Remedy Studios game Control, essentially you download a launcher for the game that allows you to stream it to the Switch. The trial will ask if players what to try the higher graphical version or a higher performance version.
The game then will give players roughly a 10-minute preview of the game, then will give players the option to buy a pass to stream the entire game.
The idea I feel could work for the console, but there are a few drawbacks. The game requires a constant internet connection, there is a statement to read before playing the game that highlights what happens if your connection drops.
I have Virgin Media in the house and can run the game rather smoothly, but I have yet to test it in a Wi-Fi setting that has a slower connection.
On my third playthrough of the trial, I was in a queue to get onto the server for the trial. This could be either more traffic than anticipated, or this could mean that the streaming service has piqued a lot of attention and people are willing to try it out.
The game was choppy on the third attempt and did downgrade some qualities of the game to make for a more optimal experience. The downgrades it introduced I was not able to tell on Handheld mode anyway, apart from a drop in frame rates at some moments, but nothing to make the game unplayable.
The idea is out there now for developers to potentially get more intensive games onto the Switch. This service could lead the way for larger bodies like Rockstar or CD Projekt Red to get their larger games on the Switch without too much compromise.
The question about servers will have to be considered, will there constantly be servers for the rest of the console’s lifespan dedicated to streaming these titles?
I do believe this is an answer to the Switch and its reduced graphical and processing compacity to the other platforms out there. As we go forward, we can only wait and see who else brings some big games to the table for the Switch to deal us in the coming years.
Let us know what you think about cloud streaming and the Nintendo Switch in the current gaming market.
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