‘It wasn’t overly challenging’ - Three Switch 2 developers on making games for Nintendo’s new console

Civ VII's Switch 2 handheld graphical performance is likened to that of a ‘mid-tier PC’

Civilization VII Switch 2 screenshot: Firaxis Games, Take Two Interactive - via Nintendo.

I saw a lot of games running on the Switch 2 on Wednesday, and saw even more announced via the morning’s Nintendo Direct. So, I wondered, how powerful is it? And what’s it like creating a game for it?

I got some answers.

At the showcase, not far from where Nintendo had set up stations to run Metroid Prime 4 Beyond and Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour, I found some systems running the Switch 2 version of the recently released strategy game Civilization VII. That game already runs on PC and other consoles, including the original Switch, where it operates at a very low spec.

On Switch 2, it ran nice and snappy. It looked sharp, too.

The horsepower of Switch 2 made the Civilization VII graphics team “extremely happy,” Dennis Shirk, executive producer for the Civ franchise, told me.

“We were able to make this look like a mid-tier PC, because it's got enough power.”