| FarleyMcFirefly said: Nintendo went from their worst generation at the time (Gamecube) to their best generation ever (Wii). They went from their best generation for both consoles and handhelds to their worst generation ever. They have bounced back big time with the Switch. Even if Nintendo has another terrible generation, they have proven that they can bounce back from that in a big way. Even if Switch's successor sells worse than Wii U, Nintendo should NEVER go third party IMO. |
You are absolutely right. However, unfortunately there is always the same cycle of arguments when it comes to Nintendo consoles. It has been like this since at least the Gamecube days:
Past Nintendo console has failed: "Nintendo consoles don't sell, Nintendo MUST go third party. Their games don't matter anymore."
Nintendo's current console fails: "Nintendo NEEDS to go third party, otherwise they'll be doomed".
Nintendo console underperforms: "Nintendo SHOULD go third party" (add token "for the sake of the customers" or "if their next console fails" argument here).
Nintendo console sells decently: Basically silence. The console sells ok, but doesn't pose a threat other players in the market, so people don't care much.
Nintendo console is a Smash hit: "The console sells well, but third party games don't sell on Nintendo consoles!"
It's always the same circle, right now we're in "smash hit" territory and suddenly we have all these discussions about third party sales on Switch and how third parties just "can't" sell well on Switch or how it doesn't make sense for third parties to make Switch exclusives. It's been like that since the Gamecube - that's almost 20 years of the same circular arguments. Strangely enough, these arguments hardly get brought up with other consoles even though the PS3 had a bad launch, the PSP sold very small amounts of software (attach rate was below 1.0 in Japan for some time because of piracy), the Xbox One underperformed and the PS Vita flopped. (I'm not arguing we should bring these arguments up, by the way. Both Sony and Microsoft have the potential to sell a ton of hardware and software in each generation, just like Nintendo does).
