So, one thing that happened yesterday is the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey Cloud version on Switch in Japan. That happened before with Resident Evil 7. In both cases cloud versions of popular games available only in Japan. And it got me thinking...
Why do two completely different companies Cloud versions of their games for Switch and both only in Japan. Resident Evil is kinda big in Japan, it makes sense, but Assassins Creed is actually not Japan centric and would do so much better in the West. Also Capcom is a japanese company, so building this up in Japan makes sense, but Ubisoft is a western company, why don't they put their servers in the US and europe? Maybe, because they aren't setting up the servers, maybe because Nintendo does.
This is what I thought: These announcements seem kinda random, if you look at it from the single companies. But if Nintendo is behind that, it all makes sense. If Nintendo is building a cloud gaming service, they would start in Japan. They would test it first with some popular games. They develop their own games all directly for Switch, so it makes sense to ask 3rd-parties. So these two games could be a test how the thing works out. Both technically and sales-wise. And if it works, maybe Nintendo extends it world-wide and opens it up for a lot of games.
This could be a game-changer. I think a lot, that the current model for Switch works well for Nintendo - at the moment. But the offering of home console games on the go will fade if PS5 and Scarlett release. No way Switch can keep up with that processing power. I thought that maybe Switch will fade in sales after that or can change it's style to focus more on handheld experience and keeps alive with unique games. But if they indeed plan a cloud gaming service this looks entirely different. Then they could offer the PS5/Scarlett games still on Switch - as cloud versions. That means the late generation strategy would be much stronger as without such a thing.
Well, it's all speculation on my part, based on two random games. What do you think?
