Why go back to LCD after releasing an OLED for the Switch, surely it's better to make this one OLED rather than releasing it with LCD and then making an OLED later down the road
Because the number of people who won't buy it because of the LCD screen is smaller than the number of additional people who will buy it if it's $X cheaper at launch.
Yeah, you need a balance when launching new hardware. Most people, specially Nintendo players, don't care about OLED vs LCD that much. So, cheaper > OLED.
That being said, I am not trusting any rumours, or even checking them out, so don't know what the article says, but if they do go with LCD, this could be the reason.
I use my switch in portable mode near exclusively, 1080p SDR (and usually the games run at way lower than that) are not pretty on a 65” 4K hdr OLED tv. I think most people buy the switch because of the portable experience and rarely use it on a tv unless playing Mario party or something like that.
That may be your experience, my partner and I use it co-op on every game that has it and watch each other play singleplayer, so it's almost never out of the dock. I imagine many families with multiple kids and not enough budget to get everyone their own would do the same.
The rumor basically claims the dev kits have an LCD screen, it could be subject to change, but developers need to know how their games will look like on the screen, so if it's true the kits have this screen, then the console most likely will have it too.
Are developers that picky? If they are releasing their game on any other console or PC, the game has to look good on everything from a 2024 top of the line 5k display to a 720p LCD TV with the color saturation set to 200%.
Besides, this is a pre-release dev kit. I am sure that Nintendo cared more about nailing down the CPU, GPU, and memory. I am sure that they will send updated hardware to devs closer to release. If they suddenly switch to an OLED display, it is probably not too much work for a developer to adjust the colors in their game.
I wonder about the processor. The one in the switch was basically obsolete when shipped. I just hope they start with something fast this time if we’re gonna be stuck with it for 8 years.
Obsolete tech is cheap. They can undercut the prices of other systems despite being a much smaller company. Also, by targeting simplified graphics, they can save money on development costs.
Nintendo's strategy has been to make great games that run on modest hardware. It worked for the GameBoy line, the DS line, the Wii, and the Switch.