Higher price - prices can be dropped.

Cazulaz went to smartphones - Brain Training and Nintendogs might be possible on smartphones but Ring Fit Adventure and Switch Sports aren't.

Cannibalising successor - I don't see it. All I see is a delay in upgrading. For some reason the hardcorez are already clamouring for Mario Kart 8 and NSMBUD in 4K just like when they wanted MKWii and Wii Sports in HD. It's great when people are dying for your next product 7 years before it even releases but I think Nintendo would be stupid to make MK9 and NNSMB exclusive to Switch 2. If the hardcorez want them in 4K, fine, but there's no reason why Switch's life has to be cut short instead of releasing them alongside a 1080p version for the original.

TL:DR - It's a portable PS3/360. The amount of life left in this BEAST is unprecedented. No offense but the PC, PS4 and XB1 brought nothing new this gen that wasn't possible on smartphones (in terms of success as opposed to VR). If Switch can run Fortnite, Minecraft, CoD, GTA5 and FIFA then Nintendo can keep it alive for 20 years if they wanted to. In terms of gameplay, is there anything that a Switch successor could do for Pokemon, SMB, Mario Kart, Wii Sports and Brawl that the original can't?

Considering the fact that the Switch has passed the 52 million units sold, considering it's definitely a success that keeps selling, I think this thread could have made sense a couple years ago but now it does not. Why would anyone think the Switch can't outsell the DS given what we now know?

As for saying the PS4 has brought nothing to this gen, I wouldn't go down that path if I were you.

Also I'm hungry and I don't feel like debating this for the next couple hours. Just don't go down that path ok? 

Switch will outsell the Wii easily, and at the very least be Nintendo's second highest selling "portable". DS numbers are simply a stretch for the same reason PS2 numbers are, in that they landed during a very specific time that allowed for such sales to happen.

/thread

Operating Income/Profit is the ONLY thing that matters. At the end of the day, if they have more money in their bank account by selling less but also consolidating their teams down to cost effective sizes and reducing redundancies, it's a win. Selling 100 mil of one device and one set of teams you have to pay salaries to and advertise for is better than selling 250il devices where you have to pay double on everything due to different games/markets if they have more profit at the end of the year.

Nintendo has been building towards the long game (10+ years from now) while we all obsess over the short term game. They know what's coming. Consolidation and differentiation are the only things that will keep people buying their hardware when the legion that is Microsoft/Amazon/Apple/Google has their own cloud streaming platforms. Unless Sony drastically changed their model I don't know how their gaming division can survive ten years from now. Who will want to buy a box that can only play on a TV when they could cloud stream it? I'm not speaking about now but rather the 2030-2040's when cloud gaming will actually function properly.

the coronavirus.

I think that saying it's the ONLY thing that matters is an oversimplification, but yeah, in general I think fans are much more concerned about sales records than developers.  As a fan, I'd rather see Nintendo have a smooth transition to their next console then have the Switch outsell any particular system.

Well, eventually the interest for switch from non owners will decline, even if nintendo supports it, like 3DS.
Only switch owners would buy the new games.
Also, is better to have 2 consoles selling 100 to 120M than 1 sellling 160 to 180M(that will also have more price drops).
But I see a mid ground. I see switch successor coming only in 2024 and switch having a 110 to 130M total sales.

DS has sold almost 155 million, I don't think the switch will reach that, I don't even think the ps4 will reach that, they might pass the Gameboy, maybe.

Reason is - DS was a total portable device and was backwards compatible with GB advance, there's really something that the switch cant do, close the device so the screen is protected and put it in the pocket or bag. You can always get a case for the switch, which will make it even bulkier and its not as good as just opening the screen and play, true portable device.

Also price and durability, most these portable devices are sold to parents who buy them for their kids, specially on Christmas, I'd say 75% of all portables, so it makes sense if parents want to spend less money on the gift.

Also, games for DS were much cheaper, so people could justify more a DS as they could get more games + they could run their old GB advance games.

Also, a lot of the DS market was adults/elders wanting to play puzzle games like brain training and such, so they were basically not gamers, they just wanted to play puzzles, cards and sudoku with the pen, which was perfect for that type, specially with the dual screen, the switch doesn't have that.

I remember back in the day I actually bought one mainly for that, because I never play out of the house, so my DS was a puzzle machine, but my switch I bought it as the next Nintendo home console, not as a portable.

Lets be honest, take out the puzzle market and the total portable market and market for people who want cheap games, and that means the switch will never reach those sales, because its only sold to gamers.

The switch adds the old Nintendo home console market, but most are the old fans like myself, looking at the gamecube and N64, that means around 25-30 million consoles for the fans, which most already bought one.

As one of the biggest Nintendo fans since the early 90s, I wish Nintendo would just make another powerful home console instead of a very underpowered hybrid, I already saw Breath of the wild running on a good PC with 4K and AA, it looks way better, and that's what we could be having on Nintendo consoles.

I’m not seeing any 2DS/3DS for less than $149 and that’s a 9 years old system.

So no, prices for the switch that actually switch won’t reach less than $199-149.