With the Switch going into its 5th year on the market, many have wondered what can be done to keep up the system’s momentum. This is especially true given the older technology in the system and the changes in gaming since its release. Well, thanks to an interesting license related to Nintendo Switch Sports, Nintendo may have an answer for how to keep the system going.
Twitter user @NWPlayer123 found data in the test version download of Nintendo Switch Sports that the game is using a license for AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution technology. For those unaware what that is, NVIDIA has been making waves with DLSS technology that can make games output in 4K while having a lesser resolution natively. While that tech cannot run in the current Switch, AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution can do so. This technology is actually open-source and free to use, as long as monetized projects acknowledge its use in license pages.
What this tech does is that it upscales the image to make it look sharper even at a lower resolution by running an AI algorithm that is able actually to work on most systems and a wide range of graphics cards, albeit on a game-by-game basis. Despite being AMD tech, FidelityFX Super Resolution will even run on NVIDIA chipsets and graphics cards, which means it will work well with the Switch. That said the upscaling is actually a secondary purpose, with the main benefit being that upscaling the image can allow for stronger performance and framerate while looking like it’s running at a good resolution.
See below for a video from AMD about FSR