Nintendo has removed all mentions of the Switch 2’s VRR functionality from its North American and Japanese websites. This seems to suggest that the Switch 2 will not support VRR at launch, though Nintendo has yet to comment on the situation.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) technology dynamically adjusts a display’s refresh rate to match in-game FPS. This reduces the intensity and frequency of “screen tearing,” a visual artifact that occurs when refresh rate and frame rate are desynchronized—if you’ve got at game at 45FPS while your monitor runs at a steady 60Hz, the monitor may receive more than one frame each cycle, and it will attempt to draw both of these frames in one pass, creating a visual “tear.”

On April 2nd, Nintendo confirmed that the Switch 2 will support VRR in both handheld and docked mode. This is fairly unsurprising, as the Switch 2 supports 120Hz gameplay, and screen tearing is far more apparent when running at a high refresh rate. But the decision to quietly remove every mention of VRR from several Switch 2 landing pages is pretty unusual.

I strongly doubt that this feature has been removed from the Switch 2. Again, VRR is bog standard for a console that maxes out at 120Hz. However, it’s possible that a bug or software kerfuffle has reduced Nintendo’s ability to ship the Switch 2 with VRR at launch—if the dock uses HDMI 2.0, for example, there may be issues when converting the USB-C DP signal to HDMI (Nintendo hasn’t clarified whether the dock is HDMI 2.0 or HDMI 2.1). In any case, I’m not sure why Nintendo would have any trouble with VRR in handheld mode, so docked mode seems to be a more likely source of problems.

I should also point out that Nintendo totally flaunted USB-C spec requirements with the original Nintendo Switch. It’s fair to assume that the Switch 2 uses an equally non-standard USB-C implementation that may generate errors when dealing with VRR in docked mode. This could at least explain Nintendo’s sudden heel-turn on VRR—the consequences of straying from USB spec may not have been immediately obvious to the company. Of course, I’m just spitballing. I have no way to confirm whether any of this is true.

And, in any case, Nintendo has not commented on the VRR situation. For all we know, the company may be adjusting its websites in an effort to curb customer confusion—maybe Nintendo is worried that people will mistake “VRR” for “VR,” or something. (I realize that this is a ridiculous example, I’m just trying to illustrate the speculative nature of this story.)

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I should also point out that only the U.S., Canadian, and Japanese Nintendo websites have removed “VRR” from their Switch 2 landing pages. The UK website still mentions VRR, as do others. North America and Japan are two of Nintendo’s biggest markets, so maybe it’s just a symptom of priorities.

The Switch 2 is scheduled to launch worldwide on June 5th. But North American pre-orders are paused as Nintendo evaluates the potential impact of President Trump’s erratic tariff policies. Like most companies, Nintendo appears to be unsure of how things will shake out, so it has refrained from commenting on a potential Switch 2 price hike.

Source: Oliver Mackenzie via TechRadar