Bethesda really dropped the ball with Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch 2. The company released the Anniversary Edition on Tuesday, and it was plagued with bugs and performance issues that players weren't expecting from a 2011 game launched on a 2025 console.
While the original Nintendo Switch had outdated hardware that caused many third-party game ports to run poorly, like Hogwarts Legacy and Ark: Survival Evolved, that shouldn't be the case on the Switch 2. The new console can run Cyberpunk: 2077 at 40 frames per second and Red Dead Redemption at a stable 60, so running Skyrim shouldn't be an issue. That's why players having trouble with the game are blaming Bethesda, not Nintendo, for the rough Anniversary Edition launch.
Skyrim's performance on Nintendo Switch 2 is awful
Skyrim players faced all kinds of issues when running the game on the Switch 2. One fan reported on Reddit that they had up to 250 ms of input delay in handheld mode. Another player confirmed the massive delay and added that they can't run the game past 30 fps.
Ironically, those who had in-game issues were the lucky ones. Others who had Skyrim's Switch 1 physical edition had to perform some complicated game library management just to run the Switch 2 upgrade. That upgrade is free for those who already own the Switch 1 edition, but these players were being asked to pay for the upgrade when trying to install it. They eventually found a fix that involved removing their cartridge and deleting all game files to reinstall Skyrim and be able to unlock the Switch 2 upgrade.
Players believe Bethesda will mess up Fallout 4's release on the Switch 2
Since most Skyrim issues on the Switch 2 point to problems on Bethesda's end, fans are worried that the company's next Switch 2 release, Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, will be just as plagued with bugs.
This Fallout 4 edition was released in November 2025 on PC. It brought crashes and glitches along with the upgrades. Players who could previously run the standard Fallout 4 version were unable to open the game, or use mods that used to be compatible. Many other fans who installed the new Creations Bundle, a pack of 150 premium mods included in the upgrade, also had their games broken. It was so bad that this pack still has a mere 20 percent positive reviews on Steam a month later.
Considering the Fallout 4 version set to release on the Switch is exactly the buggy Anniversary Edition with the broken Creation Bundle, Switch 2 players think the Skyrim release is another reason to believe Fallout 4 will see a rough launch on Nintendo's new console. And once again, because of Bethesda.
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