Most definitely. Zelda TotK is the late-in-lifetime masterpiece — we are ready for the next generation.
One problem Nintendo faces here is that last time they had Nvidia Tegra, a chip that didn’t really find any other use at scale so Nintendo could source it for pennies. AMD owns the console grade SoC market, and won’t be selling Ryzen 8000 series for cheap — maybe Nintendo could again source something from the previous generation to keep the BOM down?
I think the more severe issue here is that an architecture change would make the new device incompatible with the Switch. So they should preferably stay with something arm-based that can ideally mimic the original SOC closely.
Plus Nintendo usually has long partnerships with hardware partners. From GameCube to Wii U they used IBM’s PowerPC processors, and it was a long period of time. In 2016 Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang praised the partnership with Nintendo, expecting it to last “last two decades”. Nintendo also wants the next-gen transition to be as smooth as possible, retaining Switch’s massive user base. Therefore the company’s next console is likely having an ARM SOC made by Nvidia; anything else would be a suicide mission for them.
Most definitely. Zelda TotK is the late-in-lifetime masterpiece — we are ready for the next generation.
One problem Nintendo faces here is that last time they had Nvidia Tegra, a chip that didn’t really find any other use at scale so Nintendo could source it for pennies. AMD owns the console grade SoC market, and won’t be selling Ryzen 8000 series for cheap — maybe Nintendo could again source something from the previous generation to keep the BOM down?
I think the more severe issue here is that an architecture change would make the new device incompatible with the Switch. So they should preferably stay with something arm-based that can ideally mimic the original SOC closely.
Plus Nintendo usually has long partnerships with hardware partners. From GameCube to Wii U they used IBM’s PowerPC processors, and it was a long period of time. In 2016 Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang praised the partnership with Nintendo, expecting it to last “last two decades”. Nintendo also wants the next-gen transition to be as smooth as possible, retaining Switch’s massive user base. Therefore the company’s next console is likely having an ARM SOC made by Nvidia; anything else would be a suicide mission for them.