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Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:

Switch is not the 3DS, it's selling as well at $300 as 3DS did at a $170. There's a lot of interest in various hardware revisions of the original Switch.

As for "they won't have any more system sellers after year 3", even if that were true, a Switch 1.5 in 2020 and every 2 years thereafter doesn't solve that anyway.

The Switch is selling because it's *not* the 3DS. It is not some low level game machine that relies a lot on kids. By going higher tier with the Switch you have a more compelling product that's resulting in better sales. 

If you do the whole "lets just ride this platform into the ground until it's badly outdated" thing that's not going to work for the Switch. Switch is a different kind of platform from the DS/3DS/GB lines, if Nintendo tried to make a "4DS" today it probably wouldn't even hit 50 million. Reason being smart phone games have really cannibalized the kids and budget market. The 3DS still has some sway there, but it's a small market. 

The higher end market is where it's at for Nintendo, that's where you have a device that does things you can't really get on a smartphone or tablet and they need to keep IMO at least a 1 generation gap minimum between the Switch the other home consoles. If you let Sony/MS stretch it to 2 generations difference, the gap is too large and the Switch will lose credibility as a hybrid console and really just be a glorified portable that has a TV out. So when Sony/MS go to PS5/XB2, Nintendo needs to introduce a Switch that is in the PS4/XB1 tier at least. 

Otherwise the Switch brand is going to lose luster, it's not going to work as a "well now it's a cheap little Game Boy type thing!". 

I do agree that the whole generational arch in sales is an outdated concept. That it would be better for Nintendo to release new hardware on a regular schedule, like Apple. Though I don't consider the idea of "outdated visuals" to be the driving factor so much as consumers wanting new hardware instead of old hardware. The new hardware has to have some sort of meaningful upgrade, and the easiest thing to do is update the nVidia chipsets... a benefit that Nintendo would be foolish not to take advantage of. Apple has managed it more than sufficiently, and gaming isn't even the primary application of their iOS devices. You hit the right term when you said Nintendo needs to keep their product a compelling purchase. And were I in the market for a new video game console: a Switch 2 with the latest in nVidia technology to me sounds a lot more compelling than the Switch that came out in Winter 2017. Especially if I know the games will perform better on it, and it will be supported longer than the older Switch model.

They can also do the price shift thing, where they drop the price of the old one, and maybe raise the price of the new one by a small amount. This works A LOT better than selling a new model from scratch that costs 25% more than the last one.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.