Nintendo Revises Switch 2 Product Info; VRR Support Scrubbed from Some Official Sites

[T0@st]

Digital Foundry's Oliver Mackenzie and a member of the Resetera video game discussion forum have alerted the wider community to a small change within the text on several of Nintendo's Switch 2 product web presences. Mackenzie's social media post included a comparative screenshot; showing before and after conditions; Digital Foundry's Canadian correspondent provided comment: "some weird stuff going on at Nintendo. Looks like they've changed their US website to no longer mention VRR support for TV play? Only HDR and 120 Hz support get a call-out." Additional press coverage has put spotlights on Nintendo's Japan and Canada websites; both regional offices have scrubbed "VRR" (variable refresh rate) from Switch 2 promotional material. At the time of writing, Nintendo of Europe and UK's hardware feature sections still showcase an unadulterated description: "bring games to life with a larger 1080p screen—or connect to a TV and play in up to 4K resolution. Support for HDR, VRR, and frame rates up to 120 FPS let you enjoy brilliant colour, clarity, and smooth gameplay."

Video Games Chronicle and a few other news sites have reached out to Nintendo for comment regarding this confusing situation. The Switch 2 maker is notorious for its guarded stance when discussing technical details—as evidenced recently, by a top employee deflecting responsibility in NVIDIA's general direction. Mackenzie reckons that VRR support—when paired with compatible televisions and monitors—could be added post-launch (June 5). It is possible that Nintendo's engineering department has removed this feature from its day one bag of tricks. Meanwhile, the Switch 2's surprisingly capable integrated display is expected to arrive without any technological compromises.



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[MrDweezil]

Meanwhile, the Switch 2's surprisingly capable integrated display is expected to arrive without any technological compromises.

What's that supposed to mean? Its not a 3D 85" 16k 1000hz display, so there are definitely technological compromises.

 

[T0@st]

What's that supposed to mean? Its not a 3D 85" 16k 1000hz display, so there are definitely technological compromises.

A lot of journos expected them to cheap out and ready the thing with a lesser LCD panel. Not much to it.

 

[bonehead123]

And so it begins.....

1st was a delayed launch date, now this:

Noninetendo finding even MORE ways to shave a few more pennies off their build costs, and screw the end users in the process....

"could be added "post launch"

yea, right, uh huh.......just after a bunch of FOMO suckas that don't pay close attention to the tech news go & buy it in it's gimpied state...and god only knows what kinda hoops they will have to jump through to get what was promised to them from the beginning

 

[Tartaros]

Almost anyone says it doesn't matter what shady shit Nintendo does with the Switch 2, it will sell like hotcakes. I'm not so sure anymore, as time passes, there are more and more sliminess oozing out Nintendo. We'll see, but if console companies keep doing this stuff as economic prospects get worse, next gen could be a disaster for them.

 

[chrcoluk]

The price could kill it, consumers arent as flexible as these companies think, if they couldnt get it down to close to switch 1 price it shouldnt be released, but maybe I am wrong will see.

 

[rv8000]

The price could kill it, consumers arent as flexible as these companies think, if they couldnt get it down to close to switch 1 price it shouldnt be released, but maybe I am wrong will see.

Obviously it sucks that it is expensive as it is (soon to be more probably), but expecting it to cost the same as the original switch 8+ years later with the current world economy is impossible. Thought process behind this doesn’t make any sense.

On topic:

Removing VRR would actually be the worst possible change they could make…

 

[Visible Noise]

Almost anyone says it doesn't matter what shady shit Nintendo does with the Switch 2, it will sell like hotcakes. I'm not so sure anymore, as time passes, there are more and more sliminess oozing out Nintendo. We'll see, but if console companies keep doing this stuff as economic prospects get worse, next gen could be a disaster for them.

What, exactly, shady shit has Nintendo done?

 

[slyphnier]

Obviously it sucks that it is expensive as it is (soon to be more probably), but expecting it to cost the same as the original switch 8+ years later with the current world economy is impossible. Thought process behind this doesn’t make any sense.

On topic:

Removing VRR would actually be the worst possible change they could make…

i think VRR is just to complicated,
first they need to make sure VRR works for its own display, then they also need to make sure VRR works for external display usage
putting *small notice like its only works bla-bla-bla.. will just add more critics than any good

sony bravia TV promising VRR support on their TV since like 2003 line-up iirc, and just read what people get, half-working VRR

steamdeck VRR also hit & miss

 

[THU31]

Switch 2 is using HDMI 2.0, right? VRR requires HDMI 2.1.

And while it could be done with G-SYNC (this is supposedly what's being used with the portable display), the TV would also need to support G-SYNC (the LG C9 OLED supported this over HDMI 2.0, newer models use 2.1).

Weird choice by Nintendo, especially at such high price, as it also prevents people from using 40 FPS modes on 4K 120 Hz TVs (you could do it at lower resolutions, but that might impact image quality, depending on what type of scaling is used).

 

[Bruno_O]

Switch 2 is using HDMI 2.0, right? VRR requires HDMI 2.1.

And while it could be done with G-SYNC (this is supposedly what's being used with the portable display), the TV would also need to support G-SYNC (the LG C9 OLED supported this over HDMI 2.0, newer models use 2.1).

Weird choice by Nintendo, especially at such high price, as it also prevents people from using 40 FPS modes on 4K 120 Hz TVs (you could do it at lower resolutions, but that might impact image quality, depending on what type of scaling is used).

vrr can be done over hdmi 2.0

s2 will probably have vrr on its own screen only, at least during launch

 

[THU31]

vrr can be done over hdmi 2.0

As far as I know, not with the official spec. The screen needs to support whatever VRR the output device is using. Xbox One X supported FreeSync, but you needed a monitor that supported that, I don't think there were any TVs with such a feature.

Consoles are designed mainly with TVs in mind, so pretty much the only way to get VRR is to use HDMI 2.1 (or G-SYNC for TVs that support that, like LG OLEDs).

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

What, exactly, shady shit has Nintendo done?

Nintendo hating their Super Smash Bros Fans

Nintendo hating their Pokémon fans when fan made games were a thing.

Nintendo putting a 10 million dollar fine on a Nintendo Switch hacker when the hacker was selling modded Nintendo Switches. The person already went jail for damn near 4 years and Nintendo being a petty bitch, fined him $10 million which up to 30% of his income has to go to it.

Nintendo taking down YouTubers that are just showing Nintendo games on Android handhelds as Emulation is NOT illegal like Nintendo fanboys and apologists make it out to be. The channels are actually showing their own copy of the game they purchased.

I have a list of shady shit Nintendo has done and WILL continue to do. This is coming from a former Nintendo “good little boy”

steamdeck VRR also hit & miss

One of the main reasons why I love my ROG ALLY.

 

[R-T-B]

the LG C9 OLED supported this over HDMI 2.0, newer models use 2.1

Actually though the C9 and B9 both just use bog standard hdmi forum vrr internally.

HDMI forum vrr was officially introduced in hdmi 2.1 but it was based on several earlier hdmi 2.0 "hacks" that basically got put into the standard.

 

[john_]

What, exactly, shady shit has Nintendo done?

Are you really going to defend Nintendo, just because the SOC is made by Nvidia?

Oh....that's beyond funny.

 

[Visible Noise]

Nintendo hating their Super Smash Bros Fans

How so?

Nintendo hating their Pokémon fans when fan made games were a thing.

Same, Pokémon fans a very excited right now.

Nintendo putting a 10 million dollar fine on a Nintendo Switch hacker when the hacker was selling modded Nintendo Switches.

Nintendo isn’t an authority that can “put on” a fine on anyone. Any fines would have been levied by a court.

But we can even skip that “minor“ detail and go strait to yes, Nintendo is just as entitled to financial restitution as you would be. Poor little modder boy doesn’t get a pass because “reasons”. Maybe he should have gotten a better lawyer. Or, you know, not breaking the law in the first place is usually a pretty smart move.

Nintendo taking down YouTubers that are just showing Nintendo games on Android handhelds

Oh no, Nintendo wants to control how its intellectual property is displayed. The horror!

Are you really going to defend Nintendo, just because the SOC is made by Nvidia?

Are you going to stop asking dumb questions?

The answer both our questions is “No”.

 

[Vayra86]

But we can even skip that “minor“ detail and go strait to yes, Nintendo is just as entitled to financial restitution as you would be. Poor little modder boy doesn’t get a pass because “reasons”. Maybe he should have gotten a better lawyer. Or, you know, not breaking the law in the first place is usually a pretty smart move.

They may feel entitled to it, but the fact is their protection of IP has been pretty rigid, and I think people are at liberty to have an opinion on that. I also think differently about companies that do or don't chase every last penny and/or ignore moral high ground in doing so. Most modding and content is really not going to touch Nintendo's bottom line at all.

In the same way opinions differ on how companies perceive modding; and its very natural gamers take a stance on how and why they like or dislike such companies.

This defines our gaming markets more than you think. The legal approach is just one way to look at it - a very rigid one I might add - and isn't really in your or anyone's benefit. One might even wonder if Nintendo benefits. Its just a very stiff corporate way to look at your IP, and Nintendo is known for that.

 

[Tartaros]

Nintendo hating their Super Smash Bros Fans

Nintendo hating their Pokémon fans when fan made games were a thing.

Nintendo putting a 10 million dollar fine on a Nintendo Switch hacker when the hacker was selling modded Nintendo Switches. The person already went jail for damn near 4 years and Nintendo being a petty bitch, fined him $10 million which up to 30% of his income has to go to it.

Nintendo taking down YouTubers that are just showing Nintendo games on Android handhelds as Emulation is NOT illegal like Nintendo fanboys and apologists make it out to be. The channels are actually showing their own copy of the game they purchased.

Plus:

Never having their first party games on sale.

90 buck game price point.

Not showing the prices in the Direct because they knew they had to be hush hush or people would revolt even more.

Saying Switch 2 it was going to be full retrocompatible, now it's depending on the developer.

Gating performance patches as DLCs.


They are indefendible, I'm sorry.

 

[Darc Requiem]

Nintendo hating their Super Smash Bros Fans

Yeah I'm going to have to push back on this one. Smash fans screw themselves. Panda Global negotated an official tournament series for Smash that fell part because Smash TOs sabatoged it. It was so bad that it basically sunk Panda Global. Their reward for trying to help Smash was their oblivion. The Smash community is incredibly toxic. There is a player/youtuber named Technicals that was made persona non grata for exposing shading behavior and pedophiles in the scene. TLDR: The Smash community is toxic, self destructive, and justifiably attracts the hate they get.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

How so?

Shutting down tournaments because "we dont want smash to be competitive". Even before it was well known how atrocious the fanbase is Nintendo was being a dick when no other fighting game

Same, Pokémon fans a very excited right now.

Wat? Are you agreeing with him or nintendo here?

Nintendo isn’t an authority that can “put on” a fine on anyone. Any fines would have been levied by a court.

But we can even skip that “minor“ detail and go strait to yes, Nintendo is just as entitled to financial restitution as you would be. Poor little modder boy doesn’t get a pass because “reasons”. Maybe he should have gotten a better lawyer. Or, you know, not breaking the law in the first place is usually a pretty smart move.

He already paid his dues by serving 4 years in jail. To tack on an additional $10 million fine placing a permanent 30% penalty on his income for life is petty beyond belief.

Oh no, Nintendo wants to control how its intellectual property is displayed. The horror!

This doesn't change the fact they act like dicks. Sega, Sony, Ece, have fan games of their IPs made and dont start swinging ban hammers. Why would you attack your fanbase for keeping your IP relevant?

Nintendo likes to bully people, they always have, even in the NES days.

Are you going to stop asking dumb questions?

The answer both our questions is “No”.

Just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean their questions are dumb.

Plus:

Never having their first party games on sale.

90 buck game price point.

Not showing the prices in the Direct because they knew they had to be hush hush or people would revolt even more.

Saying Switch 2 it was going to be full retrocompatible, now it's depending on the developer.

Gating performance patches as DLCs.


They are indefendible, I'm sorry.

Also dont forget:

Refusing to admit to the joycon drift issue

Refusing to admit to their netcode issues in multiplayer games

Re-releasing games with censored content, running at a worse framerate then 20+ year old hardware and/or full of bugs (hello there Paper mario and luigi mansion 2)

Re-releasing games for HIGHER prices while introducing more bugs (pokemon diamond and pearl, luigi mansion 2 again, ece)

Embracing FOMO tactics in games aimed at children (super mario all stars).

And by far, nintendo is the worst of them all when it comes to preservation of software. They pull their hardware offline YEARS before MS or sony do and the stores are totally inaccessible so you cant download anything once they go down.

 

[danbert2000]

I was surprised that Switch 2 would support VRR on TV because of what an inconsistent experience it is on TV. Different refresh ranges, the 4K60 limit of the dock meaning the range was likely 48-60 Hz anyway, the inconsistent support for 1440p at all let alone 1440p VRR. It's all a mess. I hope they will still support it eventually but I'm not surprised they have issues launching with it. VRR is much easier when you're supporting one display. I'm guessing Nintendo may have seen what horrible flickering happens on some TVs that "support" VRR and got cold feet.

 

[Darc Requiem]

This doesn't change the fact they act like dicks. Sega, Sony, Ece, have fan games of their IPs made and dont start swinging ban hammers. Why would you attack your fanbase for keeping your IP relevant?

Nintendo likes to bully people, they always have, even in the NES days.

For the life of me, I don't understand why people keep pointing to SEGA as example of why Nintendo shouldn't be so draconian with their IP. SEGA is arguably the worse ran video game company that's still in existence. They are the prime of example of how not to handle your IP. Sega used to be the most talented game developer in the industry. They could make a top notch game in any genre and yet the could not leverage their IP for success to save their lives. At what should have been the height of their business as a console maker, they had to go 3rd party. They actually tried to sell themselves to Nintendo. Their president at the time saw that Sega was 2 billion in debt hard passed on the acquisition. That's why Sammy controls Sega now.

I have a lot issues with how Nintendo does business. Despite being the first company to venture into the online space in 1995 (Satellaview), they are the most behind when it comes to online play and infastructure, $80 games is beyond the pale at this point in time. Despite being the first console manufacture to adopt analog triggers, with the Gamecube, they've refused to use anything but digital triggers since etc. They are conservative to at fault in many regards.

All that said, Nintendo has been around since the 19th Century, 1889 to be more specific. They've rarely posted any annual losses. They know how to run a profitable business. We may not like some of their tactics but they've been around for 136 years for a reason. Do I wish they'd cut their software prices after their games have been on the market a while? Sure. Does it make business sense for them to do so? No. Mario Kart 8 still retails for $60 after being on the market for 11 years. However it's still in the top selling games for each month after all that time. Sony, MS and most 3rd party developers have trained gamers to wait 3 months and buy their games for half price.This is why MS and now Sony have had to start to put their titles on PC to cover their large budgets. They've lowered the value perception of their IPs.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

For the life of me, I don't understand why people keep pointing to SEGA as example of why Nintendo shouldn't be so draconian with their IP. SEGA is arguably the worse ran video game company that's still in existence. They are the prime of example of how not to handle your IP. Sega used to be the most talented game developer in the industry. They could make a top notch game in any genre and yet the could not leverage their IP for success to save their lives. At what should have been the height of their business as a console maker, they had to go 3rd party. They actually tried to sell themselves to Nintendo. Their president at the time saw that Sega was 2 billion in debt hard passed on the acquisition. That's why Sammy controls Sega now.

Because the support of fan games has NOTHING to do with sega's mismanagement, perhaps? One of the biggest reasons Sonic still has a following today is the fan games helping to keep it alive while Sega was putting out trash.

Sega nearly went under because they plagued the market with silly console addons instead of focusing on good games, undercutting two console generations by launching their successors early (the 32x and the saturn) and spent the 2000s releasing utter trash. Had they crushed fangames and acted like nintendo.....they would have simply had even fewer sales as a whole generation grew up without good Sega games to pump their interest.

I have a lot issues with how Nintendo does business. Despite being the first company to venture into the online space in 1995 (Satellaview), they are the most behind when it comes to online play and infastructure, $80 games is beyond the pale at this point in time. Despite being the first console manufacture to adopt analog triggers, with the Gamecube, they've refused to use anything but digital triggers since etc. They are conservative to at fault in many regards.

Especially when games like MK8 have produced over $4 BILLION dollars in revenue for nintendo, they really cannot justify this $80-90 game BS. It's not inflation, it is pure, unfiltered greed.

All that said, Nintendo has been around since the 19th Century, 1889 to be more specific. They've rarely posted any annual losses. They know how to run a profitable business. We may not like some of their tactics but they've been around for 136 years for a reason. Do I wish they'd cut their software prices after their games have been on the market a while? Sure. Does it make business sense for them to do so? No. Mario Kart 8 still retails for $60 after being on the market for 11 years. However it's still in the top selling games for each month after all that time. Sony, MS and most 3rd party developers have trained gamers to wait 3 months and buy their games for half price.This is why MS and now Sony have had to start to put their titles on PC to cover their large budgets. They've lowered the value perception of their IPs.

Sure, they're a business and have to make money, but there is a distinct difference in Nintendo's behavior now VS a decade ago when Iwata was in charge. They have become much more oriented towards milking consumers VS producing good experiences, and eventually this will backfire.

 

[Darc Requiem]

Because the support of fan games has NOTHING to do with sega's mismanagement, perhaps? One of the biggest reasons Sonic still has a following today is the fan games helping to keep it alive while Sega was putting out trash.

Sega nearly went under because they plagued the market with silly console addons instead of focusing on good games, undercutting two console generations by launching their successors early (the 32x and the saturn) and spent the 2000s releasing utter trash. Had they crushed fangames and acted like nintendo.....they would have simply had even fewer sales as a whole generation grew up without good Sega games to pump their interest.

We just disagree on this one. Sega completely mismanaged the Sonic IP. Churned out mediocre after mediocre entry. Sonic went from going toe to toe with Mario and carrying the Genesis/Megadrive to success out of Japan to being an also ran. Fans were literally capable of making a better Sonic game than Sega and they leaned into that. I'll give them credit for recognizing that but they were in the situation due to mismanaging the IP. People forget that their was 3D Sonic in development for Saturn that got canned because Yuji Naka didn't want Sega of America making a Sonic game. And that was an internal Sega project. What do you think would have happened to an outside fan project at that point in time.

Sure, they're a business and have to make money, but there is a distinct difference in Nintendo's behavior now VS a decade ago when Iwata was in charge. They have become much more oriented towards milking consumers VS producing good experiences, and eventually this will backfire.

Iwata, unfortunately, is a unicorn when it comes to CEOs. That guy was a treasure. Can you imagine any other CEO working OT after hours coding a game to ensure it makes it's release date? Iwata was developer and despite his promotion to head of Nintendo, he never forgot that. He was literally dying and still showing up to work. They don't make many people like him and Masahiro Sakurai. RIP Satoru Iwata.

 

[_roman_]

-- Very nice quality management and engineering department. A product is developed and later features are removed. This was not obvious at the end of the design phase and testing phase. *sarcasm*