With the announcement that the Kingdom Hearts series is coming to Switch via cloud gaming, now seems to be a good time to discuss the development of cloud gaming on the Switch, how it is strange, messy and technically insufficient but also why it’s necessary.
Let’s start by discussing the Switch in the modern day. First off, there is absolutely no doubt that the Switch has been a successful console. It recently surpassed the lifetime sales of the Nintendo Wii as well as the first PlayStation console, continues to outsell all modern consoles combined on a weekly basis and has been a strong vehicle for the incredibly strong sales figures of nearly all of Nintendo’s games. However, it is a relatively weak system that saw numerous games struggle to be ported in the eighth generation of consoles, let alone games developed for the ninth generation. Cloud gaming theoretically allows the Switch to run games that its hardware couldn’t run natively. However, there are a few problems presented by this solution.
Cloud gaming on the Switch is run by a company called Ubitus and works by running the games on their servers which are then transmitted to the player’s Switch. Their input is then transmitted back to the servers and the cycle continues. However, this is where we meet our first few problems. With the time it takes to transmit information back and forth between the Switch and Ubitus’ servers, you start to notice input lag, i.e., the time taken between when you input a command and when command takes place. However, it’s fair to note that this is a problem that has been pretty universal when it comes to cloud gaming, something that was also notable with Stadia, so it’s not fair to single cloud gaming on the Switch specifically when it comes to this issue.
What the Switch cloud gaming service can be blamed for is its poor performance. Digital Foundry recently ran a series of tests on several games running on Switch’s cloud gaming service and found that most of the games were heavily compressed, running at an uneven 30 FPS and some even featured visual glitches. Supposedly unrestrained by Switch’s hardware limitations, it’s truly bizarre how poor many of the visuals look and how unsteady the framerate is.
I presume a lot of these decisions were made with the intention of reducing the data going back and forth. This is understandable as one of the most appealing aspects of the Switch is its portability, an aspect that I admit I seriously underestimated. However, playing games on Switch via cloud is tricky enough when the Switch itself is wired directly to the internet, never mind the idea of trying to play these games portably. Additionally, some people have been wondering about the future of these purchases. If they buy the game now, in many years time when the servers are taken down or used for something else, will that mean that they will no longer be able to play the game?
I’ve been pretty negative so far about cloud gaming on the Switch but you may’ve noticed that I described the service as “strange but necessary”. That’s due to one simple reason, the vast majority of these games are entirely incapable of running on the Switch natively. However, this service allows these games to run in some form of capacity. Having a poor option may be better than having no option at all but, if this is something Nintendo wants to do, they should look into further refining the service. Let me know your thoughts on the strange but necessary cloud gaming on Switch, whether you’ve ever played a game on Switch via cloud, what your thoughts were on it, if you think that it’s better than no option or if you think it isn’t acceptable in this state and any additional information you have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.