How was the article?

1481780cookie-checkThe Witcher 3 On Nintendo Switch Is 540p In Handheld, 720p In TV Mode
Media
2019/06

The Witcher 3 On Nintendo Switch Is 540p In Handheld, 720p In TV Mode

The complete edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is set to launch on the Nintendo Switch for Nintendonites and Switchians in 2019. The highly celebrated action-RPG from 2015 will feature all of the previously released DLC expansion packs in one package that you’ll be able to play either on the go or from the comfort of your couch in TV mode.

The news came courtesy of the Nintendo Direct that Nintendo rolled out during the first official day of E3 in Los Angeles, California. The Direct dropped a ton of news about a bunch of new games coming to the Switch, as well as some exclusive releases set to launch later this year and into 2020, showcasing that Nintendo has a strong line-up of software for its hybrid gaming device. You can check out the 45 second reveal trailer of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition running on the Switch, courtesy of GameSpot.

Aside from the lack of proper dynamic shadows, the removal of any kind of post-processing, and the lowered polygon count for the objects and characters, the game almost looks okay on the Switch. Meh, who am I kidding? It looks terrible.

Anyway, gamers were asking CD Projekt about the game’s resolution specs for the Switch over on Twitter, and the developers were kind enough to drop the details for the portable mode and the TV mode, with the former clocking in at 540p and the latter tallying up to 720p.

To put this into perspective, the PS4 version of The Witcher 3 was running at native 1920 x 1080p, while the original Xbox One version was running at only 900p. Both games ran at only 30fps.

So between the Xbox One and the Switch version of the game (running in TV mode), there’s a loss of approximately 518,400 pixels. That’s a smaller difference between the pixel loss between the Xbox One version of the game and the PS4 version, where you were looking at a difference of 633,600 pixels being left on the cutting room floor for the Xbox One version.

So technically the Switch version will look a little less jarring if you went from the Xbox One version, compared to if you went from the PC or PS4 version down to the Xbox One version, since you’re seeing a loss of 115,200 pixels more between the PS4 version and the Xbox One version compared to the loss of pixels between the Xbox One version and the Switch version, especially in widescreen formats where the difference will be more jarring in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

No release date was set for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition on the Nintendo Switch, but it’s obviously going to be before 2019 rounds out.

(Thanks for the news tip Richard Pell)

Other Media