When Switch 2 was revealed, the power under the hood of Nintendo’s new hybrid device surprised many fans and developers. CD Projekt Red even displayed the system’s powerful visual capabilities early on with Cyberpunk 2077.
Despite this, you’re still likely to hear discussions about how long Nintendo’s new device will be able to keep up with future releases and the rest of the market. While this is a valid concern, BioShock creator Ken Levine believes hardware such as the Switch 2 (and even Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine) signal a shift.
Here’s what he had to say to IGN recently about this (via Frvr):
“[Realism] doesn’t age as well as more stylistic things. BioShock still looks good, I think, because it wasn’t trying to get every nut and bolt super realistically rendered…it was more stylised.
“Look at say, the Switch 2 and [even] the new Steam Machine coming out. Those are not massive technological upgrades obviously. That wasn’t their strategy. I think, people are realising that we’ve sort of hit a bit of diminishing returns with that.”
Levine says his own company, which is currently working on a spiritual successor to BioShock known as Judas, has never really focused on “ultra realism” because it’s expensive, and as noted above, “doesn’t age as well”.
He sums it up, stating developers who have the “right art director” and the “right approach” don’t need to be on the “cutting edge of technology all the time”.
