Warframe, the free-to-play action role-playing game from Digital Extremes, stands at a crossroads as the gaming world evolves with new hardware. Tired gamers looking for a version of the game on the Nintendo Switch 2 will have to hold their breaths for now. Digital Extremes is keen to bring their massive universe onto Nintendo’s fresh console but development is taking a hit due to a key issue: they don’t own Switch 2 development kits.
Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair confirmed that his team is highly interested in making use of the capabilities of the Switch 2 for a proper version of Warframe, as reported by Eurogamer. The strategy is straightforward: offering major improvements over the existing Switch version, with wildly improved loading times and otherwise better performance by increasing the console’s high-speed cores. However, these optimizations are contingent upon receiving the necessary hardware, which has yet to be delivered to the Canadian studio, despite the console being on store shelves more than a month now.
This delay is not all theirs. Digital Extremes is among a rising cohort of devs, such as Ant Workshop and Fellow Traveller Games, that have been faced with issues in obtaining Switch 2 dev kits. Nintendo appears to have a backlog in rolling out these valuable tools. Meanwhile, Warframe players will be able to play with the current Switch model thanks to the backward compatibility feature of the Switch 2. But occasional start-up issues on the new hardware have been reported, hinting at a need for a standalone version.
Digital Extremes is hard at work on these performance issues, as well as prioritizing the importance of a native port that will be able to fully utilize the capabilities of the Switch 2. As a live-service title on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and iOS, and with a version in development for Android planned for Fall 2025, Warframe’s expansion has been an integral part of its plan. A version optimized for the Switch 2 will ultimately surface, but that’s beyond Nintendo’s influence.”.
