What do you want out of a Switch 3?

[Slownenberg]

Jumpin said:

A little controversial, but I’d like more frequent hardware upgrades and much shorter generations. The main reason is I’m not a big fan of buying electronics that aren’t particularly new. Let me put it this way: I’m buying a new cellphone, computer, TV, or video game console, I’d prefer it to be as new as possible. I don’t mind playing older games, but games are creativity and art with engineering just being a means to express that, hardware is about engineering intended to express the goals for playing the games, generally more power is better, smoother or more functionality is better.

I think with Nintendo outsourcing their hardware manufacturing and growing the Switch laterally every 6 to 10 years is fine, but I also would prefer vertical growth every 2 or 3 years. So, if I bought a new Switch console in 2028, 2030, or 2032, I’m getting progressively more power hardware, not just the same 2025 SoC with a 30% better battery and a premium screen, and different colours.

Part of the argument against feasibility with “gamers being too confused about multiple gems of console available” and dev support concerns have largely been settled with the Switch 2 in favour of more frequent vertical upgrades.

no. just no haha.

You're living in the wrong time of gaming if you want that. For so many reasons.

Why would you want to be a system that will only be relevant for 2-3 years instead of 10 years? Who cares if it is new lol, it is new to you when you buy it.

If anything gens are likely to be at minimum 10 years from here on out. Big AAA games seem to take like half a decade to make now. Systems are very expensive and getting ever more expensive and don't get cheaper over time anymore so affording a system that starts out expensive and only gets more expensive is very different than when a system used to launch at like $2XX and drop to $99 later on. Also diminishing returns on tech improvements from gen to gen, I mean look at PS4 to PS5, it was what like a 7 year gen and pretty dang minimal upgrade from one system to the next, and with the cost of hardware in the current AIpocalypse it returns will be even more diminished due to price constraints. Sure Switch to Switch2 was a solid generational leap, but that'll probably be the last gen leap that feels very solid in under 10 years upgrade time, and even that was only cuz they went from an affordable system to an expensive system.

And then of course the obvious thing that one of the nice things about consoles is you don't have to deal with the tons of different specs that people are playing games with. With consoles, you know if you own the system it's gonna play and play well, or if it doesn't play well that's entirely on the developers fault and generally it is common knowledge that they did a bad job.