Nintendo Switch 2 could speed up game loading — here’s what we know

1 month ago 7

The Nintendo Switch 2 will most likely arrive early next year, and we're slowly getting a more complete picture of what the console will be capable of.

Specifically, YouTuber SuperMetalDave64 spotted a job listing on the Nintendo of America careers page. for an Electro Mechanical Engineer. The listing mentions desired experience with "speed signaling and power delivery" on PCB designs that contain elements of PCIe, DDR4, MIPI and SD/SD Express., which hints at someone who has experience with the new SD Express flash cards.

SD Express has existed for a few years now, but was announced after the 2017 launch of the original Switch. SD Express storage could offer speeds up to 985 MB/sec, basically SSD-like speeds in a tiny design.

At it's most basic level, if the Switch 2 does have SD Express storage, it suggests that the console will be able to run games at a higher resolution with faster loading times and snappier gameplay.

If that proves true, the Switch 2 should be able to handle big-budget ports better since most modern games at that level require at least an SSD to load assets. However, it's likely the next generation of PlayStation and Xbox will more than likely be more powerful than the Switch 2, as they are in the current generation.

We'll just have to wait and see whether the sequel to the Switch uses SD Express at all, and how, when Nintendo deigns to tell us about it.