Switch: a multi-wave console lifecycle (prediction)

[curl-6]

Soundwave said:

curl-6 said:

Switch doesn't directly compete with PS/Xbox though; if the Switch 2 audience wants those systems they'll get them in addition to rather than instead of a Switch 2, so there is no need for Nintendo to rush out a successor to try to compete.

Also I think you're overlooking something; the whole point of the Switch was that Nintendo can focus on just one platform instead of being spread thin over two. Running Switch and Switch 2 concurrently would defeat the whole purpose of this unification and put them back where they were in 2011-2016.

There really is no development separation between Switch 1 and 2 though, that's kind of the beauty of sticking with Nvidia and using mobile components. 

There is no Switch 1 game you can make that won't be on Switch 2, those will just be then cross platform titles available for both. It'll be easy enough to make the game run at higher resolution on the better hardware, just as PC games do. 

If you're making like a Kirby platformer on Switch 1 in 2024 ... there's no reason to not have that game run on the Switch 2 at 1080p/4K as well. It would be a title for both systems. That dynamic has never really occurred widely on Nintendo systems ever before, but the Switch will be able to do it. 

So your development resources really aren't split. 

Cross-gen development between hardware of very different power levels isn't that simple though, unless you take the lowest common denominator approach of only boosting resolution, and in that scenario Switch 1 and 2 would cannibalize each other as the cheaper older system would be too viable a cheap alternative with many of the same games.