According to a well respected source, the ‘good news’ is that the Nintendo Switch will have 4GB of RAM. Emily Rogers, who’s known on Twitter as ArcadeGirl64, has been the source for many other Switch rumours that turned out to be true so there is every chance she is correct on this count as well.
https://twitter.com/ArcadeGirl64/status/792616520308314112
That’s only half of the RAM available in the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and that could be a huge problem. Multi-platform developers have just got rid of last gen and now work with 8GB of memory as standard, having to re-engineer games to make them fit in the half the memory will be a big, and expensive task, and could mean that once again Nintendo have shut themselves off from third party support.
If you are wondering why they have not included 8GB of memory – after all, the difference in price between 4GB and 8GB standard PC memory is only about £30 – then think again. The Switch is portable console with mobile artchitecture and therefore cannot use standard, cheap , PC RAM.
Source: Twitter
bunimomike
If it was 4GB “available” that would be far closer to the other consoles but a total of 4GB? Hmm… not good news.
Also, “Siwtch”? That the Welsh version? :D
Tuffcub
Shush
The Lone Steven
Nah, it’s the Tuffcub probably wrote this whilst drunk version.
Tuffcub
I very rarely drink these days as two pints and I’m anybodies (or dancing on a podium without a shirt).
So you couldn’t be me wrong. Ha.
The Lone Steven
Were you drunk when you typed that? ;)
The Lone Steven
Ninty, you haven’t learned have you?
You can’t do underpowered consoles if you expect to be on the same level as the others. 8GB is what it should have been instead of 4 and I won’t be surprised if we see a repeat of the Wii U.
bunimomike
Thing is, do they expect to be on the same level? The Wii certainly wasn’t but sold like hot cakes.
This time around, if they want great third party support then the console, itself, had better be utterly incredible with it’s versatility or it’s doomed.
Starman
Sounds like it’ll be the first 2013 console to release in 2017.
camdaz
“I have some good news” I don’t think so.
Anything that makes it more difficult/expensive to port games to switch is not good news. I think a lot of people will put off buying it until they find out how much third party support it has.
Avenger
You’ve got to remember that the RAM in current consoles has quite a sizeable proportion reserved for the OS, and also that it is shared between the CPU and GPU elements on the APU.
We don’t know if this 4GB RAM is shared or dedicated, neither do we know just what the resource budget is on game development. It may sound bad, but actually we need more facts.
bunimomike
I was thinking this but the tweet mentions “in retail units” which leads me to believe it’s “in total”. If so, challenge on. :-\
If not, it’ll be fine I’m sure.
TSBonyman
Perhaps one of the wide range of add-ons is a ram expansion?… O.o
Matthijs
Now the real important bit is; is the ram shared with the gpu or does it have dedicated vram. If so it is great news if not, well, 4gb is just bonkers isn’t it…
Kennykazey
PS4 offers 5GB for games. If Nintendo can keep their OS portion at 1GB or less, then it’ll be a 2GB difference. Given the weaker hardware (Switch is half handheld after all) and supposed 720p screen, we’re likely to see lower resolution textures and such, which’ll massively reduce the footprint.
Dragon Age Inquisition and Metal Gear Solid 5 were also released on last-gen systems. With less than 0,5GB of memory. If that can be done, I don’t see why the Switch can’t get ports of PS4/Xbone games with some milder cutbacks. I expect it’s going to be far more limited by GPU, cartridges and internal Storage, than RAM.
Tuffcub
Its not so much that it can’t be done, it’s that it has to be. Devs now face the prospect of producing:
PS4 version and Xbox Version – roughly similar.
PS4 Pro version and Scorpio Version – again, close ish – and adding stuff is easy
Switch version – more compression, removal of stuff, only 720p.
Unless Switch sells gazzilions then financially it makes no sense making Switch versions.
Kennykazey
I believe that is a separate issue. One Switch would face no matter the RAM.
TSBonyman
I just remembered the cartridges – could it be that cartridge games will use their own discreet memory in addition to the console’s built in ram? Or would that even be possible?
Kennykazey
Technically, I suppose it could be possible. Think of how Windows can use part of your harddrive when it runs out of normal RAM.
But it would probably be more efficient to use part of the SD card or internal storage.
It’s all very unlikely to happen though.