Some other details surface, as well
In the week following Nintendo’s reveal of Doom coming to the Switch, we’ve gotten a bunch of info about the specifics of how large it will be and how it will perform. While we already knew the game cart wasn’t going to include multiplayer, we now know exactly how big that extra download is. If you happen to go physical and actually want to enjoy fragging your friends, make sure to set aside around 9 GB for the download.
Apparently the game is going to ship on a 16 GB cart, meaning developer Panic Button (who is handling this port in lieu of ID Software) somehow compressed the game down to a fairly manageable size. I’m guessing this has to do more with visual assets not being at full HD (1080p) resolution, but maybe Nintendo is lending some of their wizardry to third-parties.
As for how well the game will run, the target framerate is going to be 30 FPS. I’m not surprised at that statement, seeing as how the Switch isn’t a technical powerhouse. It’s mostly impressive that Doom is even functional on a Switch in a form that resembles the other console versions, so I’m sure people will be okay with that. I don’t know if I could handle the game running at half speed, but I’m also not the target audience for this conversion.
About the framerate, Bethesda told Glixel, “The game and rendering technology underlying Doom is extremely scalable. In bringing Doom to Switch, we targeted outstanding visuals at a solid 30 fps and by maintaining a consistent 30 fps, the experience remains consistently fluid and smooth. We’ve been thrilled with the feedback that Doom is among the very best looking and performing games on Switch.”
Why the multiplayer has to even be separate, I’m not quite sure. The game could just ship on a 32 GB card and contain everything, but that might possibly drive the cost up (damn you, Switch tax!). I’m mainly just shocked that if you go digital, you can actually fit the entirety of Doom on your Switch with a little room to spare. How’s that for optimization 2K?!
‘Doom on Switch’ Runs at 30FPS, Multiplayer Download is 9 GB [Glixel]