I get that a late 2023 launch is appealing, but every time I think about how they’re going to get sufficient quantities of hardware out in time with low defect rate and good home screen interface. As well as shift development over to the new console quickly and successfully so there’s a big early hit and something else appealing at launch. Then court and assist third party support and a solid pipeline of 2024 releases afterwards in a situation with shortages likely affecting first run and how work from home will continue to function. There just seems to be a level of luck involved, and low margin for error to make it happen that I wonder if a company like Nintendo would be willing to take a risk.
Third parties will want details about timing and plans for launch that I’m not sure Nintendo will be able to give in mid 2022 when they’re helping them get set up with new dev kits.
It’s not easy. They could risk screwing things up in a rush. Or they could take it slow for a bigger launch, at the risk of letting handheld PC gaming devices get established and provide more competition.
I think about the logistics like the timing of when they can get their new support studios up to speed for next console development. I don’t think I am correct about details and I may be wrong, but I want people to understand why some don’t see a 2023 launch as being as feasible as others.
It’s not all about me wanting slightly better hardware or wanting to milk another three million out of Nintendo Switch hardware sales.
Edit: A lot of my hesitancy is based around Nintendo only just finalising the concept for the Switch successor during the past month, alongside witnessing how much slower these things move than many consumers would like.
Ah well, at least Switch can still match a lifetime of Wii U sales during 2023 if the successor does take a few more months than what people expect.
Last edited by ireadtabloids - on 02 January 2022
