Eagle367 said:
It amazes me how Nintendo continuously shows that weaker hardware and somewhat bad graphics do not affect their sales at all yet people keep insisting that somehow stronger hardware will be good for them. The problem we have is you are thinking like it's a PS or Xbox console and not like a Nintendo console. And we are thinking of it as a Nintendo console and trying to see how Nintendo will do things. Looking at their past, their own statements, their current leadership, etc we have no reason to believe that anything earlier than 2024 is even being entertained at Ninty right now. Of course situations are dynamic and things can change but right now I see no evidence of a switch 2 releasing in 2022 or early 2023 that will benefit Nintendo in any real way. Regarding switch pro having exclusives and then being the main device or something, I don't see Nintendo doing that. The way the console market works and how people are hardwired is that hard resets happen. That means if Ninty or the other makers don't have the hardware reset, they won't experience the sales boom they do with a new console. Also any bad reputation from the base model carries over. Case in point is Xbox X and Xbox one. Xbox X didn't sell as well due to the reputation of One even though it was a huge update specs wise. XSeX is an opportunity to reset everything and create a new better narrative and hence sell more. The marketing benefit of a new generation has been too beneficial for these companies. You have to make your new toy sound like a huge deal. Iterative updates like in smartphones and laptops just don't work that we'll for an entertainment device like a video game console. But if a company can market their product as a huge deal while being more iterative, well that's a challenge I'm not sure the big 3 want to accept just yet. Also it's unfair to talk about the lazy pokemon game. It would still have the problems no matter the power of switch because they just didn't polish it enough and do enough to remove all the issues. |
If we think power isn't essential to Nintendo, its even more reason to move away from hard restarts unless they have a unique concept which is demanding of a hard reset.
Honestly I'm not arguing evidence of what they will do, simply arguing that it would make sense. I'm not sure many of us suspected a hybrid system in 2017 before it was rumoured or that Nintendo would put key franchises on mobile. I still recall many Nintendo fans on here upset when they first publically announced the NX so soon after the Wii U.
If people believe that Switch 2 will introduce something distinctly new then fair enough. To me Switch 2 will be a more powerful Switch. I Suspect further USPs will come through accessories (like ring fit/VR which will be dependant on more power).
Nintendo have never had problems selling premium versions of their hardware late in a gen, the only difference now is that late gen updates carry them further into the future and will usher in way more software support and prolonged income. In the past a soft transition wouldn't make sense, this would have resulted in Nintendo creating 2 games per platform (DS/3DS) either forcibly killing an old platform or preventing a new one being effectively utilised. Instead in this age , they could easily scale games and graphical leaps are increasingly incremental. Again so why wait until the financial dip that would come with waiting until 2024/5?
Marketing wise, its entirely up Nintendo how they wish to play it. The DS Lite ushered in a new era for the DS line of products and the phat DS was quickly phased out. It was just as effective a new system launch. Since we referenced Xbox Series X, it's worth noting that MS have literally commited to supporting Xbox One for an additional 2 years. The whole industry now is fairly different from what we had 10 years ago, so I don't feel it necessary to cling to what used to be done and assume thats the only thing consumers will accept or companies will push. People on this forum also thought a PS4 Pro/Xbox One X would not happen, many argued the Switch lite defeats the point of the Switch.
I'm also curious what people think Nintendo learned from their failure transitioning from Wii-Wii U.
