When the Nintendo Switch OLED was first announced, fans were baffled by the lack of support for 4K support. With the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 pushing the limits of what modern games could achieve, it made sense for Nintendo to start putting more power behind its hybrid handheld device. But despite modern trends, the new Switch OLED stubbornly stuck to its 1080p guns, and the thought of a 4K Switch seemed to vanish on the air — until now.
According to Bloomberg, multiple game developers have been given official Nintendo game development kits which offer support for “high-fidelity, 4K graphics”. That’s despite there being no official word on a 4K Switch. Reporters from Bloomberg spoke to employees from 11 different developers. One of those was Zynga, which confirmed their teams were in possession of an official Nintendo 4K dev kit, and is currently working on Star Wars: Hunters.
These kits allow developers to test and debug unfinished games on hardware that emulates the Switch console.
With no Nintendo console currently able to support 4K output, let alone rendering games at 4K, the report kicked off speculation about a potential new Switch model. While we are getting a new Switch console soon, the OLED model won’t support 4K — so naturally, many will assume these dev kits are for the rumoured “Switch Pro” which continues to circle around news sites every few months.
Most assumed the so-called ‘Switch Pro’ was the Nintendo Switch OLED model, but there’s still potential for a secondary, more robust Switch.
While Nintendo called Bloomberg’s report “inaccurate”, the article notes Nintendo refused to specify which parts of the report it disputed.
Going forward, there’s no clear answer about what those 4K development kits are for. There’s an obvious one, but the existence of yet another Switch console is yet to be confirmed by any party. Nintendo has refused to comment on multiple occasions, and developers speaking to Bloomberg also refused to speculate about the company’s future plans.
Whether a 4K Switch — or maybe some form of upgraded dock — is coming or not, expect to hear more whispers in future.