Poor Nintendo will probably never be free of Switch VR speculation until it announces its own headset. The latest rumors suggest that could be this year.
Nintendo World Report cites multiple sources in saying Nintendo will announce the kit ‘as early as this year’. The report also claims that a small number of first-party games will get VR support. Go Nintendo then followed up on the report with its own source. The site claims that the headset will be a part of Nintendo’s Labo line of cardboard-based peripherals.
Labo was announced last year. It’s a child-friendly product line that encourages you to build makeshift controllers for specific games. That might mean that the rumored headset isn’t made of Cardboard itself but does utilize these peripherals for immersive control.
Take this all with a pinch of salt for now, but there are past stories that support the rumors. In late 2016 we reported that the company had filed a patent for a headset. Users plug the Switch console into the device much like that would a smartphone. Last year data miners also found what appeared to be a ‘VR Mode’ for the console.
Then again, there’s a lot of information that goes the other way too. We’ve reported on Nintendo executives downplaying interest in VR on numerous occasions. In fact last year the company said Labo isn’t meant to be an answer to VR on Switch. There’s also the fact that the Switch’s 720p screen and lack of six degrees of freedom (6DOF) tracking don’t make it an ideal fit for VR.
We’d love for it to be true, of course. We got a taste of what Mario Kart could be like in VR last year. It proves that Nintendo could create some amazing VR experiences.
