Nintendo’s commitment to innovation is evident in its record-breaking R&D spending in Fiscal Year 2024, which ended in March 2024. The company poured a staggering 137.7 billion yen (approximately $911 million) into research and development, representing a significant 8% of its net sales for the fiscal year. This substantial investment strongly suggests that Nintendo is heavily focused on developing new hardware and software, particularly with the highly anticipated Switch 2 console on the horizon.
Rumors of the Switch 2’s development have been swirling for some time, and recent reports from component suppliers, Hosiden and Weltrend, confirm that production lines are being ramped up. This activity provides further evidence that the new console is entering or nearing mass production.
Nintendo’s investment in R&D spans a wide range of areas, including hardware, software, experimental technologies like VR and AR, Switch Online content, and network costs. One particularly interesting aspect of their investment is the focus on deep learning, a technology that Nintendo has been exploring since 2019.
Deep learning has become increasingly relevant in the gaming industry, with technologies like NVIDIA’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) gaining popularity. DLSS uses deep learning to enhance visual fidelity by rendering images at a lower resolution and then upscaling them to a higher resolution, resulting in visually stunning graphics without compromising performance.
Speculation suggests that the Switch 2 will incorporate DLSS technology, leveraging a custom NVIDIA Tegra chip to deliver 4K gaming. This would be a significant upgrade from the current Switch’s 720p resolution. Nintendo’s investment in deep learning over the past few years, both in hardware and software development, seems to point towards this technology playing a key role in the upcoming console.
While Nintendo has not officially confirmed the existence of the Switch 2, the company’s record R&D spending, coupled with the activity of its component suppliers, makes it clear that a new console is on the horizon. The focus on deep learning technology and potential integration of DLSS suggests that Nintendo is pushing the boundaries of gaming performance and visual quality with the next generation of Switch hardware.
