Minecraft

With Minecraft launching on the Switch there has been complaints that Minecraft only runs at 720p there, but is there a noticeable difference?

I think it’s time we had a talk. I recently read an article about Minecraft coming to the Nintendo Switch. I always like when a game can come to a new platform so that more people can enjoy it and as of May 11^th Minecraft can be enjoyed on the platform. The issue came later when I saw many people complaining that only runs in 720p. After digging deeper, it seems that the power of the Switch isn’t to blame but unforeseen technical difficulties with the game. It’s understandable if some un-explainable bug tanks the performance at 1080p and since the game runs at 60fps at 720p one would think that it wouldn’t be that bad.

It is after all Minecraft. Trust me. I have a nice curved 1080p monitor. I have played Minecraft in 480p all the way up to 1440p on multiple different setups. Unless you are using a really high-resolution texture pack then there is no difference. Even with the texture packs, I haven’t noticed a difference in what resolution I’ve played at. Some games just have that art style where no matter what resolution nothing changes and this is one of them. Maybe if you have a huge fifty plus inch 4K television then it might look weird but the biggest screen I’ve played Minecraft on was in a college congregation room and it was a little over fifty inches.

With PC games it can be a little more complex. You have different graphical settings along with resolutions to tweak the game to either run better or look better. Obviously, the ideal would be somewhere in the middle. As I mentioned before, Minecraft really doesn’t change much from one resolution from to another; while most other games at 1080p on medium settings looks a lot like a game running at 720p on very high settings. While most people know the specifics of how resolutions and graphical settings work, the real question is will Minecraft ever get the bump up to 1080p? Even if it is only achievable while it is docked it may actually help. I don’t have a Switch to test it but the theory is sound.

I’m not sure if it would be possible on the Nintendo Switch to patch the game so that it runs in 1080p. I know certain PC games sometimes get free DLC that are basically graphical improvements. Either way, Minecraft is a tremendous game and it’s nice to see it finally come to the Switch. It is available now for around $40 USD currently. I am not sure if it’s any cheaper to get it digitally but this is how it lays right now.