Soundwave said:
Well you can look at it as if Nintendo's userbase for third parties then is a healthy 73 million install base (half of 146 million) all to 3rd parties with a high attach rate. That's significantly larger than XBox One or XBox Series S/X, and larger than past Nintendo systems like the Super NES. The software attach rate would also be way more favorable than a system like the 3DS, which sold about 75 million units but only 392 million pieces of software, Switch by comparison is at like 1.3 billion, so even just below half of that is like lets say 610-615 million just for 3rd parties, that dwarfs all Nintendo + 3rd party software for the 3DS (at higher console style software pricing too, another thing 3rd parties will like). That's still a lot of systems and a lot of games sold basically. Next time around too the proportion of 3rd party games being closer to 50% or better will likely impact the Switch 2 earlier in the product cycle as with Switch 1, it didn't have a ton of the better 3rd party support until later in the product cycle because Nintendo was coming in off a low point after the Wii U and 3DS (underperformed to expectations). Games like Monster Hunter Rise, The Witcher 3, Persona V, Nier Automata, Dragon Quest XI, Mortal Kombat, etc. only started appearing several years after release. EA only released the modern engine FIFA/FC Soccer last year (Frostbite Engine). Switch 2 will likely see much stronger 3rd party support from day 1, and I think the split may eventually become 60% third parties, 40% Nintendo, which is what it used to be on the SNES/Super Famicom. As I said Nintendo probably won't be able to release as many games to begin with on a yearly basis as games will be more expensive and take longer to develop with the significant leap forward in visuals. The other factor is the old 3rd party Sony dominated hierarchy is ending. Whereas in the PS1/PS2 days, Sony could lock away IPs like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid and keep them away indefinitely from other platform holders, that whole status quo is basically ending. Square-Enix is even reiterating again this week they have to get the Final Fantasy games on other platforms as soon as possible. Sega, who in the past looked off Nintendo platforms for the Yakuza series is now saying that after finally releasing an installment of the series on Switch that sales are way past their expectations. Etc. etc. Game development is so expensive that 3rd parties can't keep games locked on 1 platform any longer, even Sony doesn't want to do that anymore. The landscape is much more favorable for Nintendo now. |
I can only hope that it happens as you describe.
Because nothing's worse than having to buy a 2nd system for multiplatform games, which should have been on the 1st sys to begin with.
And yes, the 3DS wasnt exactly a good system. Not only is it one of those with the lowest unique user count
( UUC = hardware sales / avg # of systems per User ) but also very low software sales in general. The one thing that saved it from drifting into
insignificance was the cheap development. I kind of miss those $40 ~ $50 games though.
