Elden Ring on Switch 2 is no disaster but Nintendo allows negativity to spread

Elden Ring character staring menacingly as he holds a glowing flame in his hand
It’s undeniably good news but how come Bandai Namco wasn’t the one to share this? (Bandai Namco)

New reports claim Elden Ring’s Switch 2 port is actually perfectly fine, as another publisher makes a mess of promoting Nintendo’s console.

Last month, there was quite a stir when first-hand impressions of Elden Ring on Nintendo Switch 2 suggested it was suffering from poor performance, particularly in handheld mode.

It didn’t help that publisher Bandai Namco reportedly forbade Gamescom attendees from sharing footage, which seemed to confirm a problem, especially as the Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy 7 Remake saw a much more positive reception.

With Star Wars Outlaws also reportedly running poorly on Switch 2 it seemed to paint a worrying picture of Nintendo’s third party support for the console… except in reality both games run perfectly fine.

Over the weekend, Nintendo Life was able to share footage of them trying out Elden Ring on Switch 2 while attending PAX West, noting that the demo they tried was a notable improvement over the Gamescom version.

Although not without some dips, they report that the game was able to maintain a consistent 30 frames per second, which brings it in line with other versions of Elden Ring on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

YouTuber ThunderStash Gaming, who also attended PAX West, has further corroborated this, sharing footage of Elden Ring running in handheld mode and praising it despite it being an unfinished version of the game.

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In both videos, the game does appear to be running stably. Considering PAX West took place only a week after Gamescom, it’s clear that Gamescom attendees were playing an older, less optimised version.

Why Bandai Namco would act so foolishly – not only by showing an outdated version but failing to address the issue publicly – is unclear but they’re not the only ones at fault when it comes to the Switch 2.

Almost exactly the same thing happened with Star Wars Outlaws. Its Switch 2 version was also playable at PAX West, but a viral Good Vibes Gaming video described its performance as ‘rough’.

However, upon the game’s launch, it was discovered that the game runs fine on Switch 2. Although, again, neither publisher Ubisoft nor Nintendo made any effort to correct the negative commentary that sprung up around the game.

Good Vibes Gaming ended up deleting its video and uploaded a new one, alongside an apology, though it’s unclear whether they got information wrong or, like Elden Ring, they had played an older, less optimised build.

With Ubisoft and Nintendo saying nothing, it fell to outlets like Digital Foundry (which described the port as ‘amazing’) and ordinary players to point out that the game actually runs surprisingly well – especially as it, unlike Elden Ring, is a current gen-only game.

Whereas past Nintendo consoles often received inferior versions of high-end PlayStation and Xbox games (if they got them at all), the Switch 2 has so far proven itself very capable, with prominent third party games like Cyberpunk 2077 running surprisingly well.

These ports have set a good precedent for future examples. Not just games already announced for the Switch 2 but also rumoured ones like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Resident Evil 7.

And yet Nintendo is doing nothing to promote this positivity. Indeed, by failing to say anything, or keeping a tighter leash on Ubisoft and Bandai Namco, they’re allowing the narrative that the Switch 2 is underpowered to propagate.

On top of that, Nintendo has done nothing to demonstrate exactly how powerful the Switch 2 actually is, with not so much as a tech demo to its name.

Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza both started out as Switch 1 games, as did Metroid Prime 4, and there’s no indication of when any first party title might be released that attempts to push the new console harder, in terms of its technical capabilities.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour barely counts, with its tech demos presented in the most sterile and uninteresting way possible. It’s certainly no Nintendo Land, which did a fantastic job demonstrating the Wii U’s capabilities.

Although the Wii U also had separate tech demos as well, created for E3 and other press events – as have all other Nintendo consoles through the years.

Considering how overbearing Nintendo can be it’s shocking that they’ve allowed two major publishers to make their console look bad in public. Especially as both companies made essentially the same mistake, one after the other.

Other publishers have been more sensible, although ironically EA swung too far in the opposite direction, claiming the Switch 2 port of EA Sports FC 26 is comparable to the PlayStation 5 version – which almost certainly isn’t true.

But that only underlines how little real information there is about the Switch 2 and what it’s capable of. Until there’s multiple clear examples of it flexing its power, many are going to continue to assume it’s less powerful than it actually seems to be. And you would’ve thought Nintendo would try to avoid that.

EA Sports FC 26 screenshot of two defenders holding back an attacker
Nintendo getting the same EA Sports FC game as PlayStation and Xbox is a big deal though (EA)