Summary
One mobile gaming enthusiast has recently managed to getThe Witcher 3: Wild Huntrunning on a smartphone. They did so by emulating the Switch version ofThe Witcher 3, with the end result of their efforts being described as a “fully playable” experience.
While cutting-edge console emulation is normally at least several generations behind the very latest consoles, the Switch is a major outlier in this respect. Due to Nintendo’s decision to equip it with the Nvidia-made Tegra X1, which was considered a fairly standard mid-range mobile system-on-chip in 2017, Switch emulation didn’t have to start from scratch. The niche has instead immediately benefited from the already high level of understanding of Nvidia’s mobile architecture at the time. While emulation itself is legal,Nintendo is still quite diligent about cracking down on emulatorssuspected of facilitating piracy, though that has done little to stop Switch emulation from progressing at a steady pace.
The Witcher 3 Pictured Running on the OnePlus 11
Yet another testament to that trend now comes in the form of a report from Reddit user ROGUE-Pamu_Love, who has recently been successful in getting theSwitch version ofThe Witcher 3to run on a smartphone. Specifically, the fan used the 16GB RAM variant of the OnePlus 11, a 2023 flagship powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. Among other advantages, the OnePlus 11 chipset is significantly more energy-efficient than the Switch SoC, on top of being roughly 3.5 times more powerful, going by the raw number of floating point operations per second.
While using teraFLOPS to compare performance across different chip architectures is a deeply flawed methodology, the OnePlus 11 SoC is apparently superior enough to emulateThe Witcher 3, which the user reported was “fully playable” in both Suyu and SudachiSwitch Android emulators. Granted, not everyone might agree with their definition of “playable,” as the screenshots they shared appear to show the game running at half its native Switch resolution, which was already fairly low and blurry to begin with. Nevertheless, the player reports that the latest versions of Suyu and Sudachi runThe Witcher 3without crashes and at a stable frame rate.
Emulation aside,The Witcherseries has so far been treated to seven mobile spin-offs, the first of which was released in 2014. And while most of those games have been shut down as of early 2024, even more might be coming in the foreseeable future, withCDPR confirming it’s currently actively pursuing new mobile gaming opportunities.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
WHERE TO PLAY
You are Geralt of Rivia, mercenary monster slayer. Before you stands a war-torn, monster-infested continent you can explore at will. Your current contract? Tracking down Ciri — the Child of Prophecy, a living weapon that can alter the shape of the world.PLAY AS A HIGHLY TRAINED MONSTER SLAYER FOR HIRETrained from early childhood and mutated to gain superhuman skills, strength, and reflexes, witchers are a counterbalance to the monster-infested world in which they live.Gruesomely destroy foes as a professional monster hunter armed with a range of upgradeable weapons, mutating potions, and combat magic. Hunt down a wide variety of exotic monsters, from savage beasts prowling mountain passes to cunning supernatural predators lurking in the shadowy back alleys of densely populated cities. Invest your rewards to upgrade your weaponry and buy custom armor, or spend them on horse races, card games, fist fighting, and other pleasures life brings.EXPLORE A MORALLY AMBIGUOUS FANTASY OPEN WORLDBuilt for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth, and complexity. Traverse a fantastical open world: explore forgotten ruins, caves, and shipwrecks, trade with merchants and dwarven smiths in cities, and hunt across the open plains, mountains, and seas. Deal with treasonous generals, devious witches, and corrupt royalty to provide dark and dangerous services. Make choices that go beyond good & evil, and face their far-reaching consequences.
