Despite it being a reasonably popular feature of the Wii U, Nintendo has confirmed that its new Nintendo Switch console will not offer dual screen gaming.

In its reveal trailer for the Switch console, Nintendo didn’t actually explicitly show anyone using the tablet as a second screen during console gameplay, but it did state we hadn’t seen everything yet.

Since the Wii U Gamepad offers players a second screen for supplementary game information when the console is in use and an entirely separate gaming screen when it isn’t, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable to speculate that this would be a feature available on the portable Switch.

Switch, not split

Apparently, though, it won't be a feature as Nintendo has confirmed to Polygon that “Nintendo Switch is dedicated to deliver a single-screen experience, on whatever screen you might choose.”

This is likely due to the fact that the tablet device is the core of the Switch console, which has to be stored in a dock in order to be played on a larger television screen. This might stop gamers enjoying the unique but often under-utilised dual screen experience offered by the Wii U, but it does allow them to continue play outside of the home.

At the very least, this is one of many questions fans have about the Switch console answered. Nintendo has said that while it plans to reveal more information about the console before launch, we shouldn’t expect to hear much more until 2017.