Does Nintendo Switch 2 have ray tracing support? Possibilities explored

The Nintendo Switch 2 was revealed to the public in detail at the Nintendo Direct event on April 2, 2025. The company talked about new features like GameShare and Backwards Compatibility but didn't mention anything about ray tracing. We were left in the dark when it came to ray tracing support on the new Switch 2.

Previously, a source from Famiboards leaked some key details and renders of the Switch 2. The post was quickly taken down, but Mister Sheeple, a Redditor, managed to grab a few screenshots before it happened. That leak indicated that the Switch 2 chipset will have dedicated ray tracing cores for processing ray tracing effects RT GI or RT Reflections in games. However, it was a complete no-show at the event, leading to confusion about whether the Switch 2 supports it.

In this article, we will analyze the whole situation and discuss if the Nintendo Switch 2 could possibly include hardware support for ray tracing.

Note: This article is based on leaks that are subject to change. Readers are advised to take the information presented herein with a grain of salt.

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Presence of ray tracing in the Nintendo Switch 2: Possibilities explored

Nintendo Switch 2 hooked to a TV (Image via Nintendo)

Nintendo didn't reveal exactly which Nvidia chip it used for the Switch 2. However, previous leaks suggested that the chipset inside the new Switch 2 is the Nvidia GMLX30-R-A1, which includes both the CPU and GPU on a single package. The GPU is said to be based on the Nvidia Ampere architecture, which includes ray tracing capabilities.

If previous leaks are to be believed and Nintendo didn't change the chipset at the last moment, then the Switch 2 should have ray tracing support at the hardware level. However, since Nintendo focuses less on the graphical aspects of a game and more on the gameplay aspects, it is possible that the company didn't think ray-tracing was big enough to be shown off at the event.

Nintendo could leave it up to the developers to decide if they would like to implement it, which would be the right thing to do. However, the complete no-show of this feature does cast some doubts. It is also possible that the ray tracing implementation in the OS is not ready, which would explain why Nintendo didn't reveal it. If that's the case, the company could later deliver it through an update. After all, why would Nintendo keep ray tracing in the hardware and not use it?

Therefore, chances are that ray tracing is present in Switch 2, but Nintendo is not ready to showcase it yet. Perhaps, more information will come to light when the Switch 2 launches later on June 5, 2025.

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