What are your Expectations or Wishes for the new "switch" 2021 ?

[Mnementh]

RolStoppable said:

Fight-the-Streets said:

The common argument against a substantially beefed-up Nintendo Switch is that there's no reason for it, 3rd party games aren't driving Switch sale (look at the charts, basically only Nintendo games are in the top-ten consistently) and Nintendo games themselves don't need the extra power as their strong points are fun, good gameplay and art designs based on creativity rather than technology. The argument thus goes further that even if after the release of PS5/Xbox Series S/X when less and less 3rd party AA-AAA ports will drop to the Switch, it doesn't matter because Nintendo only needs first party and indie games. So far, when an AAA game was ported to the Switch, it made Nintendo smile but ultimately, they don't require them!

I disagree with the above argument because Nintendo always talks about expanding the demography: games that attract more girls/females, non-gamers, senior people, etc. In fact, to expand and maintain new demographics is one of Nintendo's main business strategy. There are so many different demographics or to put it more accurately, player types, so that there are thousands of different reasons why a certain player type is buying a console or not (yet). It is one of Nintendo's core ambition to find out why certain player types haven't bought the Switch yet (leaving economy aside, of course if the Switch would be only $50 many would buy it even if they didn't even want one).

It just so happens that one very important and lucrative (because they usually spend lots of many for gaming products) player type is the so called (hard)core gamer. This is a very technophile player who wants to play his/her games in the best possible way. Therefore, naturally, this type of player is gaming on high-end PC and/or on the technically best available console(s). Naturally, this type of player probably will buy a PS5 and or an Xbox Series X at one point. But a Nintendo Switch? Not so much. unless portable gaming is important for them.

How can Nintendo catch these (hard)core gamers? Well, if the new Nintendo Switch is getting a substantial upgrade, so that 3rd party AA-AAA ports will become easier to make and will run and look generally good, Nintendo will get their attention and if they make enticing marketing campaigns they can bring them in. Of course, the question remains, why should they buy inferior ports of games they already have on their beefy PC and home consoles? Well, it's because the laziness of lying on the couch or bed while playing a fantastic AAA game is just too attractive. People are lazy! It's no secret. It's a strong selling point to sell laziness. Especially, adults in their 30' and 40' just appreciate it if they can come home after all the stress and just lay back and immerse themselves into a fantastic world.

I will never agree that 3rd party AA-AAA games aren't important for Nintendo. They always were and they always will be important for any console maker and streaming provider!

That's just wrong. Sony, Microsoft and AAA third parties have found that the only way to make that demographic lucrative is by slapping additional fees on just about everything. Online multiplayer costs nothing on the PC, but a paywall is mandatory to have a chance at profitability with such a console. Third party games are full of microtransactions, DLCs and commonly release with 3+ editions. The latest initiative is the rise of the cost of the base game by $/€10.

This is what puts the wants of core gamers and the so-called hardcore gamers at odds with each other. If Nintendo chased after hardcore gamers, it would be very detrimental for their business because core gamers would turn away in disgust at the new pricing structures to finance all the nonsense. One key aspect of the appeal of Switch is that much of the game industry bullshit gets left out.

While it's factual that Sony has had much higher revenues than Nintendo, it's also factual that Nintendo has earned higher profits than Sony. That's why it's short-sighted of you to only look at money spent by customers when it's equally important to consider the money spent by manufacturers. What Nintendo has done is and will be more lucrative than Sony's approach, so advocating for Nintendo to pursue a direction of less profits is, quite frankly, stupid of you. As is your closing paragraph, because you proclaim that you will deny reality.

You are falling for the bullshitting of the 'AAA'-industry if you believe all the DLC, microtransactions, ultimate editions and whatnot is to finance the games. At the same time they extract increasing amounts of money from the customer (as is evident in the growth of the industry as a whole), they fire workers and make more and more cost cutting things. That is why you have more multiplayer, because single-player usually needs more handcrafted content which is more expensive. That's why you have more run-of-the-mill missions and content, because it saves money to copy the content and just change the level of the enemies and recombine some other visuals (not make new ones for the mission, no, recombine other visuals already existing). The result is something like Marvel's Avengers, very much a game that just simply is repeated content. But still they want more money. That is not to finance the games, it is to finance the CEOs and shareholders.