Nintendo Switch news: hybrid console is less powerful than Sony's PlayStation 4

A lot has been said about the groundbreaking concept that Nintendo is introducing via the Nintendo Switch. Although the device is certainly unique such that it allows for multiple ways of gaming whether in-house or on the go, questions about the console's power still loom. As it turns out, the Japanese tech company settled on less powerful schematics in order to rush it into production.

Two anonymous sources for GamesBeatt confirm that the Switch is outfitted with "Nvidia's last-generation Maxwell graphics-processing architecture," which is a custom Maxwell Tegra. This puts the console less powerful than Sony's existing PlayStation 4 (PS4) but still able to cater to realistic games' graphics such as "Skyrim" and even "NBA 2K" as advertised on its debut trailer.

Nintendo was supposed to be using Nvidia's newly launched Pascal chipset but with it only being announced earlier this year, the tech company decided to settle on the Maxwell Tegra just to get Switch out of their gates. As it turns out, the Kyoto-based giant was more concerned about making sure that they are the ones to debut the hybrid console concept. Furthermore, it needs something to take over the sales failure that is the Wii U, which is set to be phased out soon.

"If Nintendo gets traction with this, we forecast they will ship 5 million Switches by the end of 2017," Jon Peddie, analyst at market research company Jon Peddie Research and a long-time graphics expert, told the media outlet when asked about the probability of the specs downgrade affecting the console's sales.

"I don't see Nintendo's strategy as a risk," he added citing that it is often a mistake to put Nintendo with Sony and Microsoft in one category and compare them. "Nintendo has a niche in the affordable, accessible product, and performance is never a leading criteria for them. It is gameplay and immersion. They are never a technology pioneer. Trying to compare Nintendo to Sony is like comparing a Volkswagen to a Corvette. It's a facetious and fallacious analogy and a discredit to fans who love Nintendo."

The sentiment about Nintendo separating itself from other high-end consoles is mimicked by President of Sony's Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, when the exec was asked about Switch in a separate conversation with Digital Spy.

"I think they're going to cover a new market for themselves," he said referring to the difference in demographics that Sony and Nintendo are seemingly targeting with their latest as well as upcoming releases.

Just this latter half of 2016, Sony has rolled out two new consoles, the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro, plus the belated addition of the VR-specialized headset, PS VR.

The Nintendo Switch is tipped to pack in the sales power once it finally hit the shelves sometime in March 2017. More details regarding the console are expected to be released next year with Nintendo's press-only event to be held in New York on Jan. 13, 2017.