Nintendo’s Switch 2 is giving this casual gamer serious cause to Assess accessibility
Consider this post complementary to the previous one published earlier today.
Earlier this week, Nintendo announced the hotly-anticipated Switch 2. The hybrid console, the progeny of the original model from 2017, costs $449 and is expected to ship on June 5. The Verge’s Ash Parrish posted a great rundown of the device’s details, particularly its nerdy and nitty-gritty technical specifications. To wit, Nintendo says the Switch 2 has a 7.9-inch LCD screen running at 1080p resolution and supports HDR10 and a 120Hz variable refresh rate. Moreover, the Joy-Con controllers have mouse-like functionality alongside 256GB of storage and a dock capable of outputting 4K video.
As someone who’s admittedly a decidedly casual gamer—albeit with three consoles: a PS5, Xbox Series S, and Mega Sg—I’ve long been curious by the Switch given its modularity and immense popularity amongst gamers and tech nerds. An OLED Switch has sat in my Amazon cart since time immemorial in part because (a) casual gamer; and (b) I wonder about the console’s accessibility. To that point, I posted on Mastodon a few days ago earnestly asking why Nintendo chose to ship the ostensibly newer and technically superior Switch 2 with a standard LCD display. Conventional wisdom dictates Nintendo would opt for OLED in the Switch 2, particularly given the company literally made a bespoke version of the original with that very display technology. But Nintendo clearly bucked convention, as IGN’s Wesley Yin-Poole reported this week the company decided to use LCD “after a lot of consideration.” Poole’s story includes comment from Tetsuya Sasaki, who serves as Nintendo’s GM of its technology development division and as senior director of its technology development department, who said in part “we took a look at the technology that was available to us now” and there’s been “a lot of advancements that have been made in LCD technology.” Sasaki’s rationale notwithstanding, it surprised and disappointed me to learn the Switch 2 omits OLED—a choice more bewildering considering my thoughts regarding fellow Japanese giant Sony’s refreshed TV lineup for 2025, also announced to much fanfare this week.
And rubbing even more salt into the proverbial wound is this post on X today from my sister from another mister in Kathryn Watson of CBS News wherein she links to a report that the April 9 date for pre-orders is being pushed back due to what Nintendo called “the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.” The company promises to give a further update on a new pre-order date “soon,” according to CBS News. This is even more confirmation President Trump’s terrible tariffs make zero sense whatsoever.
The Verge’s Sheena Vasani and Brandon Widder wrote a good explainer on pre-orders..
Anyway, back to accessibility. Nintendo’s big reveal of the Switch 2 this week has me oscillating whether I should try the new one or, in another nod to my casualness, opt for the original OLED edition. Whichever system I end up with, it’ll be a monumental decision insofar as it’s been over three decades since I played with a Nintendo system. Considering that timeframe, I’m keenly interested to see just how far accessibility in video games has progressed in 30 years. And given Nintendo is involved in the Entertainment Software Association’s new Accessible Games Initiative, it’s thus highly logical to presume the Switch 2 builds on the accessibility attributes of its predecessor.
