Switch can't handle Final Fantasy's Luminous Engine
Meanwhile, Furi dev says Switch port will depend on "a good enough framerate"
Developers have been exploring the limitations of Nintendo Switch in order to judge whether to bring their games to the popular new platform.
Most notably, the Square Enix team behind last year's Final Fantasy XV has been investigating whether it can bring the epic RPG to Switch - but has found that the console is unable to "bring the most out of" its proprietary Luminous Engine, DualShockers reports.
The game's director Hajime Tabata clarified that he was not saying anything negative about Nintendo's device, merely that it was unable to support the optimised version of the high-end engine that powers the title on Xbox One and PS4. Instead, his team has been trying out Unity and Unreal Engine 4 on Switch and notes that these perform well.
Square Enix recently announced Final Fantasy XV will be heading to PC in early 2018 in full Luminous Engine-powered glory, with a simplified and cartoony Pocket Edition heading to iOS, Android and Windows 10 devices by the end of the year.
Tabata's comments followed a tease during Gamescom that FFXV might be released for Switch in future. If so, Square Enix is more likely to port the Pocket Edition than create a brand new Nintendo-specific version.
Final Fantasy XV has been a hit for Square Enix, selling 5m units in a single day at launch. The publisher has previously said it needs 10m sales to recoup investment, so it's understandable why the publisher might consider bringing it to more platforms.
Meanwhile, Montpellier-based developer The Game Bakers has also been speaking out about the Switch's power.
Also talking to DualShockers about the possibility of bringing its retro shooter Furi to the console, the studio has said it "would love to make that happen" but they "would need to secure a good enough framerate first." Furi runs at 60fps on PS4, Xbox One and PC, but the team was unclear whether this was possible on Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo's hardware has been less powerful than that of its rivals since the launch of the Wii, which limits the ability to directly port titles from other consoles to Nintendo devices. Instead, developers have to judge whether the audience available warrants the creation of a separate version of their game or something new entirely.
With 1.5m units already sold in Japan and a strong line-up for Christmas, it may be that Nintendo Switch makes this easier for studios to justify going forward.