Why no Xbox?

[Kosmos992k]

Is the Switch strong enough for the minimum system requirements? Will be there enough free room for later increasements of the minimum requirements or will the Switch get dropped in 4 years like with the PS3?

Switch is not strong enough. Switch is, on it's best day, with the benefit of a tail wind and a downhill slope, almost as good as a PS3 was in terms of pure computing power. If SE shoehorn FFXIV onto Switch, we exchange one set of console limitations for another. Switch has more memory than PS3 ever thought of having, but it's CPU/GPU is not particularly spectacular in performance terms. the big number people like to quote about it's GPU capability is for half precision (aka 16-bit) floating point. Half precision FP operations can be used in many circumstances, but really, it's a dishonest way to measure a GPU because half precision is not the primary type of computation that is performed by games on GPUs.

Ultimately, Switch is a tablet pretending to be a console, when it's actually more closely related to the Nvidia Shield which has better clocks and memory.

[NaesakiAshwell]

-snip-

Be careful saying the Switch ain't great Kosmos, you never know were the Super Ultra Mega Nintendo fans are hiding and they never take kindly to people telling them that the things they buy aren't the best thing in the universe D:

*hands you the Nintendo Protection shield and proceeds to panic before hiding in a bunker.*

[era1Ne]

I don't want an switch port, if this would hold the vision of Yoshi and his team back for 4.X or even beyond, but this is a decision only they can make. For an handheld the console ist decently powerful.

Switch is not strong enough. Switch is, on it's best day, with the benefit of a tail wind and a downhill slope, almost as good as a PS3 was in terms of pure computing power. If SE shoehorn FFXIV onto Switch, we exchange one set of console limitations for another. Switch has more memory than PS3 ever thought of having, but it's CPU/GPU is not particularly spectacular in performance terms. the big number people like to quote about it's GPU capability is for half precision (aka 16-bit) floating point. Half precision FP operations can be used in many circumstances, but really, it's a dishonest way to measure a GPU because half precision is not the primary type of computation that is performed by games on GPUs.

Ultimately, Switch is a tablet pretending to be a console, when it's actually more closely related to the Nvidia Shield which has better clocks and memory.

I wouldn't rule this out completely, because MMO are very, very RAM and CPU dependent and those parts are much stronger in the switch than the ps3 was. RAM would be the biggest boost the switch has over ps3. The GPU is better aswell even in dock mode then the ps3 gpu. Could it run Heavensward? Yes imo, but we don't know the bottlenecks of the updated engine for stormblood, so nobody can really comment on that one before the stormblood release. So while i can understand your concern about the switch beeing not good enough or holding ff14 stormblood back and your comparison to shield, i don't undestand your ps3 example, because the switch is more modern and better in cpu, ram and gpu.

[Kosmos992k]

I don't want an switch port, if this would hold the vision of Yoshi and his team back for 4.X or even beyond, but this is a decision only they can make. For an handheld the console ist decently powerful.I wouldn't rule this out completely, because MMO are very, very RAM and CPU dependent and those parts are much stronger in the switch than the ps3 was. RAM would be the biggest boost the switch has over ps3. The GPU is better aswell even in dock mode then the ps3 gpu. Could it run Heavensward? Yes imo, but we don't know the bottlenecks of the updated engine for stormblood, so nobody can really comment on that one before the stormblood release. So while i can understand your concern about the switch beeing not good enough or holding ff14 stormblood back and your comparison to shield, i don't undestand your ps3 example, because the switch is more modern and better in cpu, ram and gpu.

Trying to compare a Tegra (what's actually in the Switch) against the PS3 architecture is a real apples to oranges comparison. In a straight nuts and bolts comparison, PS3 is more powerful in computing terms, but less flexible because it's memory starved. Switch's CPU is not more powerful than the one in a PS3, but it's GPU is roughly on par with the RSX - although as it's a more recent design it has the edge over RSX. Now, before Nintendo fans get all defensive on behalf of Nintendo and Switch, remember we're comparing a hand held tablet device against a bespoke console design.

BTW, Switch upclocks itself when docked, so the GPU actually runs faster while docked, your post implies the opposite. The biggest advantage Switch has is the obvious one, memory. In all other respects of hardware performance it's approximately on par with PS3 when docked.

The truth is Nintendo Switch is underpowered compared to Nvidia Shield, and certainly doesn't come close to PS4 even. It's a handheld device that's about as powerful as an 11 year old video game console (PS3), and that's not too shabby for a hand held device. But, it's not an MMO machine.