CD Project Red has confirmed thaton the Nintendo Switch 2 NVIDIAS DLSS technology-and that in both handheld mode and in the dock. This makes it the first known launch title for the new Nintendo console that relies on machine learning. DLSS should help to achieve an appealing image quality with a stable frame rate despite limited hardware performance - a decisive advantage for graphic -intensive games such as cyberpunk 2077. Digital Foundrydealt with it closer.
DLSS, but still with an old model
According to the CDPR, the Switch-2 version DLSS uses in all four modes that the game has to offer, i.e. each in performance and quality modes in handheld mode and in the dock. According to Digital Foundry, DLSS is an essential tool, especially for modern games such as Cyberpunk 2077, which would hardly run smoothly with native resolution. It allows rendering with lower resolution, which is then scaled up by a neural network. This is made possible by the Nvidia tensor cores installed in Switch 2, which are designed for machine learning.
In the Dock, Cyberpunk 2077 offers two graphics modes: a quality mode with 30 FPS and a performance mode with a target of 40 FPS at 120 Hz image edition. Both variants therefore rely on a target resolution of 1080p, whereby the actual internal resolution is dynamically adjusted and then scaled up via DLSS. In handheld mode, the game also uses DLSS, whereby the output resolution in performance mode drops to 720p, the quality mode remains at 1080p-each with targets of 30 or 40 fps.
According to the CD Project Red, the dynamic resolution ranges in an extreme case from 540p to 1080p in docked, in handheld mode it even goes down to 360p. According to the technology experts, these low output resolutions explain why visible podium patterns were visible in some scenes of the trailer - something that should actually prevent DLSS. Probably, unlike on the PC, the post-processing content in the lower resolution is also rendered here, which in turn can affect image quality.
In addition, CD Projekt Red also seems to rely on the older CNN-based DLSS model, not on the newer DLSS 4 transformer version, as current analyzes suggest. This could be related to the limited resources of the Switch 2 because the new model requires significantly more computing power. Nevertheless, the implementation of DLSS on a mobile Nintendo console is an important technical step.
The current state of knowledge around Cyberpunk 2077 on the Switch 2 is based on a seven-week-old version that Digital Foundry was able to try out at the Nintendo event in London. The performance also seemed unbalanced in places, with noticeable performance slumps in open areas. But since there is still some time until the launch on June 5, 2025, the technology experts expect CDPR to further optimize the game. As a benchmark title, Cyberpunk 2077 will show what the Switch 2 can do technically - especially in interaction with DLSS.
