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JWeinCom on 02 August 2023
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Wman1996 said:

Hopefully nothing.
The Super Famicom/SNES may have decreased sales from the Famicom/Super Famicom but a lot of that was because of the strengths of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
I know we're in a much different era now but pushing a bunch of new ideas or gimmicks for Switch 2 is a huge risk. VR is just about the only thing that makes sense, and it should be separate from the console. Sony was smart to never include VR with each PS4 and PS5, and Nintendo should follow suit. Release Switch 2 as is and have VR a separate purchase.

Sure it's a risk, but I think you have to have something new to entice people, and I don't think better graphics will be enough when visuals were not a major selling point to begin with for the Switch. Plenty of people will have had enough fun with the Switch to upgrade, especially if the games are good, but I think something new would be needed to maintain or eclipse the current level of success.

VR is a technology that a lot of people I think would like to try, but just not at 300+ dollars. It wouldn't have made sense for Sony to include VR with PS4 and 5, because that would have meant at least a 600 dollar pricepoint. The Switch already has VR ready controllers and its own screen so you just have to add a few dollars worth of plastic. I think to the average consumer, the value added is going to far exceed the cost.

Machina said:

Interesting thought experiment/prediction. My initial reaction was that VR seems a bit too tech intensive and niche, but you make a good point about it not needing to have high specs at all - Nintendo has often had great success with generation old specs, so why not do the same with VR? And if anyone's going to get the mainstream to go crazy for VR it'd be Nintendo.

I wonder if Nintendo in a way was testing the waters with VR/MR - in the form of Labo and Mario Kart - with a view to its next home console. But all of those games sold poorly - the first Labo only shipped 1.42 million last we know, the others didn't even hit 1 million, and Mario Kart: Home Circuit didn't fare much better at 1.58 million, despite having the Mario Kart name attached at a time when the franchise had never been more popular. Those results might lead one to the conclusion that it's too risky and more likely to lead to WiiU-style sales than anything else... or another conclusion could be that for VR to work it needs to be the almost sole focus of the console and especially its PR from day one.

Did those games sell poorly though? 

If you compare Mario Kart Live to Mario Kart 8, sure. But, this was a game you play with an RC car and have to set up a track around your house for. Clearly that's something that's only going to appeal to a fraction of MK8 owners. What is a reasonable expectation for something like that? I have no idea. Intuitively I think 1.5 million is kind of good, but I don't know much about the RC car market. I don't see a lot of good comparable here. Similar for Labo. It's I'm pretty sure the only video game where you assemble a controller out of cardboard, so I just don't know how to make an estimate of what success is in that context. 

I don't think either of these products are a good predictor of how a VR Switch would do. And I don't think it would need to be the sole focus. Similar to how the Switch can do motion controls, and has a few fairly successful motion controlled games, but that's not the focus. I would say VR should be a bigger focus because I think it has more potential as a selling point, but I don't think it would need to be the main or sole focus. One or two major VR titles a year, VR mode in other games where it makes sense (i.e. Prime 4 but not Metroid Dread 2), and some smaller titles (like a VR Wario Ware), would probably me enough. 

Last edited by JWeinCom - on 02 August 2023