Overwatch’s relaunch, which has totally erased ‘2’ from its title and brought back some of the original iteration’s looser vibe, has been pretty convincing so far. Now, Season 2 has just hit alongside new DPS hero Sierra, but the accompanying Switch 2 port is, sadly, a disappointment that hasn’t quite landed as advertised.
I was expecting to write a deeper impressions piece this morning after playing a few matches. Instead, I’m here to underline how baffling, and disappointing, the game’s arrival on the Switch 2 actually is. Among the advertised improvements and new features on Nintendo’s latest console, “up to 60 FPS in both docked and handheld mode” was the main hook. The problem is… that isn’t a thing at all at the time of writing.
When first logging into the game, and after connecting my BNet account to Nintendo, I was greeted by menus that seemed smooth and crisp. Good start, though something felt off; maybe a 30 FPS cap was left in place outside matches to preserve battery life and not to overwork the hardware. Okay, that makes sense. As soon as I jumped into a live match, I gasped. Oh no…
I haven’t been able to measure Overwatch’s framerate on Switch 2, but I’m fairly sure (and most players are saying the same) it’s running at 30 FPS. It certainly is nowhere near 60, but the lack of noticeable fluctuations makes me believe it’s simply locked at 30. The resolution and visuals are clearly better than on its Switch 1 counterpart, at least, but it’s a sluggish experience because it’s lacking the key feature that a native Switch 2 port was hooked on. Hey, at least mouse support appears to be in already. That’s something, right?
Blizzard is aware of the issue and already working on a fix that shouldn’t take long to arrive, but this is the kind of massive oversight and fumble that serves the baffle and raises questions about quality assurance and pipeline. It’s an even worse version of the awful Skyrim situation (truly bad input lag coupled with an odd 30 FPS lock) back in December that’s, at least, now fixed.
I have no doubts Overwatch will run like it’s supposed to on Switch 2 a few days from now, but this is a bad look, especially at a time when negative first online reactions tend to stick around. Here’s hoping the cavalry arrives soon.
