A producer behind EA Sports FC 26 has discussed the Nintendo Switch 2’s power, as a port of Star Wars Outlaws is described as ‘rough’.
The power of the Nintendo Switch 2 was a prominent talking point prior to the console’s launch, but now it’s released, the system’s capabilities are at least relatively clear.
Based on the performance of third party titles, the Switch 2 is comparable to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series S in terms of power – with games like Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and Split Fiction all coming with some slight compromises in comparison to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions.
However, considering the console has only just launched, it’s uncertain how far it can be pushed, especially as all the first party Nintendo games this year started life as Switch 1 titles. It’s also unclear how much a lack of devkits (the modified consoles needed to make games) may be be holding back third party developers.
Certainly the quality of third party support we’ve seen so far has been highly variable, with ports of Elden Ring and Final Fantasy 7 Remake being at opposites end of the spectrum, based on early previews.
While different games are more demanding than others (Elden Ring was never very well optimised, on any format) a producer behind EA Sports FC 26 has muddied the waters with some bold claims about the Switch 2 version.
Speaking about the performance of EA Sports FC 26 on Switch 2 in an interview with Game Rant, line producer Andreas Wilsdorf said it is ‘basically’ at the same level as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions.
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‘In general, the Switch 2 was really exciting,’ Wilsdorf said. ‘Being on the platform with [EA Sports] FC this year, the performance is what really excites us. It is on parity, basically, with what we see on PlayStation 5 and Xbox. Again, it’s a handheld console, but the first time I played with it, I was really impressed.
‘Then, we also saw it working on the simulation and the times it takes to simulate the season and so on, which was very, very close to what we saw in PlayStation and Xbox devkits. That’s really impressive.’
The comparisons to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X feel very disingenuous, considering what we know already about the Switch 2’s power, but we’ll have to see whether it does match up when EA Sports FC 26 launches later this month on September 26.
To bring the Switch 2 third party dream crashing back down to Earth, early reports suggest the port of Star Wars Outlaws is in a ‘kind of rough’ shape.
According to YouTuber GVG, who went hands-on with the Switch 2 version at PAX West, Ubisoft’s open world Star Wars romp ‘runs pretty poorly’ on the console. ‘I don’t think I’ve even seen the worst of it yet,’ GVG founder Steve Bowling said, who described the frame rate as dropping ‘below 30 fps’ at ‘several points’ during the demo.
Notably, Ubisoft didn’t allow the outlet to capture any footage, which is a worrying sign considering the game launches in a few days, on September 4, 2025.
While this doesn’t bode well for future Switch 2 ports of current gen titles, if it is a case of developers being inexperienced with the hardware, there’s a chance things could improve in the years to come, as is often the case with Nintendo consoles.
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