Despite saying that they would look into making AUTOMOBILI Projekt a possible release on Nintendo’s NX (at the time) and scuttling the Wii U version of the game due to the title not hitting their desired performance benchmarks, Slightly Mad Studios now seems to be walking back on even considering launching Projekt AUTOMOBILI 2 na Nintendo Switchu.

Red Bull interviewed creative director Andy Tudor from Slightly Mad Studios, who explained where the studio stood in terms of releasing the game on the Switch, saying…

“In terms of Nintendo Switch, I can say probably that Project Cars franchise will not be coming to Nintendo Switch currently,” said Tudor. “Similar to the Wii U, it looks amazing. I’ve held it in my hands, and the concept of taking it on the go, yeah, I totally agree: we’re all gadget freaks, so we kind of want to, but equally I just don’t think it’s going to be possible.”

Tim VVV cites the previous issues that Slightly Mad Studios had with putting AUTOMOBILI Projekt on the Wii U, and how the hardware limited what they could do with the software, opting to cancel the game on the Wii U instead of down-scaling it for Nintendo’s console.

While that argument might make sense in theory, in practice it’s complete hogwash since the Nintendo Switch has so far been benchmarked to run games with similar performance to Xbox One titles while docked. Xbox One open-world games are either 720p at 30fps or 900p at 30fps, like Mass Effect: Andromeda or Technomancer. Legenda o Zelda: Dah divljini is 900p at 30fps on the Nintendo Switch. Forza 5 is 1080p at 60fps on the Xbox One. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe is 1080p at 60fps on the Nintendo Switch.

Hypothetically, if they can run Projekt AUTOMOBILI 2 on the Xbox One, I have no idea why they can’t run it on the Nintendo Switch?

One issue that could be hampering them from exploring that option is the undocked mode. When undocked the GPU’s power output is cut by 60%. They could be at a standstill with the undocked mode, not willing to optimize for such a drastic change in performance. It would seem like lowering the resolution, turning off the shadows and limiting the light effects would be sound compensation, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Projekt AUTOMOBILI 2 is due for release later this year for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The Nintendo Switch is due to drop on March 3rd.