After spending some time with Nintendo’s Switch 2 last week during its hands-on event in New York, I’m a little worried about its weight. Specifically, I’m worried it’s going to be less comfortable for me to hold the console in handheld mode for long periods of time like I have comfortably done with the original Switch and the Switch OLED.
The problem with these hands-on events is I’m never playing one game for long. Only one game, Mario Kart World, was set up to work in handheld mode during play, and I was able to play three or so races before my demo time ended. (The rest of the game experiences used the Pro Controller, Joy-Con, or Joy-Con in mouse mode.) The Switch 2 was also sturdily tethered to the table, with a secure bracket on its back, adding to the weight. But still, I could definitely feel the difference. Are my arms getting tired? Are they MORE tired than normal? I’m also standing, of course, and not playing while sitting — or lying on my couch, the perfect way to wile away a weekend.
After the hands-on event, I spent time looking at the spec sheets for the Switch 2, the Switch OLED, the original Switch, and the Steam Deck to figure out exactly how much more weight I was feeling. The Switch 2, with Joy-Con 2 attached, is 534 grams (or 1.18 lbs). My current preferred handheld, the Switch OLED, is 420 grams (or 14.82 oz, a little less than a pound). And the Steam Deck, which I own but kind of loathe using because I feel like it’s too heavy, is 669 grams (or 1.47 pounds).
This kind of console weight preference feels very personal, and sometimes gendered. I also am nearsighted and hold my handhelds closer to my face than many people, thus possibly increasing my arm strain. But the Switch 2 is also a device that is targeted at children, especially with launch titles like the crowd-pleasing Mario Kart franchise, so weight is probably a factor for lots of people thinking about playing one for a while.
Looking at the percentage change, the Switch 2 is 27% heavier than a Switch OLED, and only 20% lighter than a Steam Deck. That’s not nothing! I’m concerned the Switch 2 might not be as ideal for me because of that increase.
If you’re curious about the weight change, here’s a table:
There’s of course lots else to consider too. The Switch 2 is running a faster CPU and has a bigger, brighter LCD screen. There are obviously reasons it’s going to be this heavy. And while I am excited about the increased frame rate and variable refresh rate, I also want to be able t hold the dang thing for more than 45 minutes.
I asked the Switch 2 hardware developers about the console weight, and how they balance making the console everyone can play and getting in the all the technical features they want.
“We make it. We pick it up. We try it, and we make it again,” said Takuhiro Dohta, senior director for Nintendo’s Program Management Group. “There’s a lot of rinse and repeat of that. During that [process], there are then discussions and elements of the hardware, like, ‘We want a bigger screen, so this is the size we want to go with.’ or considering the feel of the controller, ‘This is how we want the controller to feel.’
“These are elements of the hardware that we have to maintain and it’s within those parameters that we start to make fine-tuned adjustments.”
After that, they rely on the staff of Nintendo to weigh in.
“At Nintendo, there are all different types of people: people who are big and strong, people who are maybe smaller and not as strong,” Dohta continued. “And so we then take that around [the] company and have them hold it and give us their feedback. And that’s how we kind of adjust.”
Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto added that once the team has settled on the size and general weight, they have lots of options to fine-tune the process, because “the lighter, the better.”
“We take different stabs at the stand shape or the shape of the console. And on the console we have different use of plastic and metal. So it’s balancing all these different factors and wants, and then balancing capabilities and performance,” Kawamoto said.
It probably won’t be clear if I find the Switch 2 comfortable enough to use until I get to spend some actual time with it in a natural setting: without a weighted tether, stretched out on a couch. But for something that could cost quite a bit, it’s worth thinking about before launch — or lifting some weights, I guess.
The post I’m worried the Switch 2 might be too heavy for me to enjoy appeared first on Polygon.
