Nintendo European Research & Development (NERD) is looking to hire a Game Tech Engineer to join the team. However, However, the listing has caught people's eye as the future employee will be targeting both "current and next-generation Nintendo platforms". (Thanks, GoNintendo!)
The job seeks someone to fill an engineer and research-based position which looks to "explore, define and implement software solutions" in performance implementation, real-time rendering, C/C++ development, and low-level optimisation. Specifics include cross-platform development, Network programming, code base interactions, and game engineer architecture.
In the middle of the Position Responsibilities section, under the bullet points, the job description clearly states that the role will be working with more than just the current generation of consoles:
"The goal will be to aim for and go beyond state-of-the-art solutions in these fields, targeting current and next-generation Nintendo platforms. It will be necessary to collaborate with game developers to bring new
technologies to the market."
Of course, it's all incredibly vague — Nintendo hasn't even announced its next console yet, after all — but with the Switch now over six years old, many are speculating over the future for the Big N. NERD's job position has only fuelled speculation, and with the subsidiary's specialisation in tech, it would likely be a big help in next-gen console development.
NERD is responsible for working on the emulation software used in the NES and SNES Classic. Known as 'Mobiclip' and 'Actimagine' before being bought by Nintendo in 2011, the subsidiary — which is based in Paris, France — developed video codec technologies that have been used in GBA, DS, and 3DS games such as Fire Emblem Awakening and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.
In terms of the Switch, NERD worked on the Nintendo Labo, was responsible for the emulation of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and developed heart rate detection in the Joy-Con for Ring Fit Adventure. It's also responsible for much of the emulation used throughout Nintendo Switch Online.