Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2. That feels strange to write, considering the game barely runs on the PS4 and Xbox One – even the Phantom Liberty DLC completely skipped those consoles. But it turns out, getting it to work on the Switch 2 wasn't difficult.
"We really thought it was going to be more of a challenge," says Charles Tremblay, VP of technology at CD Projekt Red in an interview with IGN. "But in the end, not that much."
Rather than assigning another company to develop this port, like CDPR did with Saber Interactive and The Witcher 3 on Switch, "it was way easier to have a very super small team working end-to-end with Nintendo, rather than delegating the process," explains Tremblay.
"One of the struggles" Tremblay notes is the architecture differences between the Switch 2 and PC hardware Cyberpunk is built for. Now, one of the console's cores is used for both the operating system and other operations such as decompression, "but, otherwise, I think it was surprisingly fast to get the game running on the platform. We were all super impressed," Tremblay says.
"It was very difficult for the previous generation of consoles," Tremblay admits. "I think I will say that the most difficult problem was the mechanical hard drive, which is one of the things that’s very important not to have." Instead, the Switch 2's microSD Express storage system "is great," says Tremblay, and "the Switch 2 has more RAM" than last-gen consoles, too.
Cyberpunk 2077's performance mode aims to hit 40fps, which isn't the 60fps a lot of us are used to, but it's pretty impressive nonetheless. "I think that on the handheld device, I think the experience is very good," Tremblay says. "I think the experience that we have, that is way different than other platforms, with the gyros, the Joy-Con, the mouse support. I think the whole package in general, I think it's quite good."
IGN reports you can use motion controls with the Joy-Con on Switch 2 or turn the right controller into a mouse, whether you're playing docked or in handheld mode. There's also cross save, so you play on your PC or more powerful console at home and then play on your Switch 2 when you're travelling. "It's a system seller for me, for sure," says Tremblay.
If that's got you excited for the upcoming console, check out all the confirmed Switch 2 launch games that will be coming with it later this week.
