So far, the Nintendo Switch has got off to a fairly positive start in the world of video games, in part down to the stellar reception of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but there have been a few teething problems here and there. One issue that some users have been struggling with is the occasional frame rate drop, and a potential cause for this problem has now been identified - the way that the Switch searches for Wi-Fi signal.

According to reports, the Switch completes a scan for new Wi-Fi signals periodically, which seems to put an additional strain on the console's processor. This would explain why those using the console have occasionally seen frame rate drops while playing games, seemingly regardless of the situation that they are in with the game they are playing.

In particular, evidence from a Switch user and an as-yet-unnamed third party developer, as discussed with Nintendo Life, points towards this Wi-Fi auto-connection process being behind the frame rate problems. Although this search is meant to be done in the background, it's clear that is is affecting actual gameplay.

Thankfully, there does seem to be a fix in place of sorts. By turning off the Wi-Fi Auto Connect option in the System Settings of the console, the frame rate issues appear to go away. Meanwhile, enabling Flight Mode will also work, although this option will not work when the console itself is docked.

There has been much speculation as to why these frame rate problems have been occurring for some users, with some suggesting that the Switch's relative lack of power might have been behind these issues. However, it seems as though - at least according to reports - it is instead this Wi-Fi scanning that is causing these problems, which will hopefully prove to be an easy fix through an update from Nintendo. According to the same unnamed developer, this firmware update is already in Nintendo's plans.

This is not the only problem that the Switch has had at launch, however. The system's Joy-Con controllers have had sync issues, with once again wireless connections being seen as a potential cause for the problems. However, thankfully the majority of Switch owners have been using the console without any issues, and that these launch bugs are able to be solved before too long.

Source: Nintendo Life