The power of Nintendo Switch would probably won't match with the hyped that it gets ahead of its pre-market debut in January 2017. The device is much less powerful than Xbox and PlayStation, which are currently taking dominance in the console gaming market. Whether it has what it takes to rescue the failing legacy of its sibling Wii U, it would rest on luck rather than performance.
The VentureBeat reported that the upcoming Nintendo Switch will be powered by the outgoing Nvidia's last generation Maxwell Tegra graphics chips and not the upcoming and more powerful generation Pascal architecture. The one teraflop Maxwell graphics processor is no match to Xbox One with 1.3 teraflops, standard PS4 with 1.8, PS4 Pro with 4.2, or the beastly Project Scorpio with a massive 6.0 teraflops.
Coming out in the tech market with inferior power than its rivals is a great risk for the Kyoto-based company. The premiere Pascal graphics processor won't be available in time of the March 2017 release of Nintendo Switch. In the battle for graphic supremacy, Nintendo Switch does not stand a chance against Xbox or PS4 consoles. But it still has the power to play games like Skyrim and NBA2K sans high-end graphics processors.
But rather than engage in power showdown, the Japanese company will likely cast it bets to the millions of fans of Nintendo games out there whose craze from the revivals of classic games Pokemon Go and Super Mario are far from over. Its mini console, the Nintendo NES Classic Edition, is faring well and remains the most sought item in the gaming market today. Nintendo is apparently creating a platform for the revivals of its games that have the loyal following for decades of existence. "If Nintendo gets traction with this, we forecast they will ship 5 million Switches by the end of 2017," said Jon Peddie. He is an analyst at market researcher Jon Peddie Research and a long-time graphics expert.
Nintendo Switch will be unveiled in Tokyo on January 13. The event will be simulcast via live streaming to New York City. Its global tour will start in New York (January 13-15), followed by Toronto (January 27-29), Pax South in San Antonio (January 27-29), Washington (February (10-12), Chicago (February 17-19), San Francisco (February 24-26), Los Angeles (March 3-5), Pax East (March 16-18) and SXSW (March 16-18). Nintendo America and Nintendo UK are now giving preview tickets to selected My Nintendo members to witness the event.