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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The current state of Nintendo - and if can they mess it up techwise or follow it up successfully

Well, with Nintendo Switch at about 80 million units sold there is no more discussion that the console is a huge success and a possible contender for best selling ever piece of hardware. That made me think of the position Nintendo has placed themselves in and how that affects the game console tech market in general (hence the post is in Gaming). Or, in other words, if they have learned from past mistakes and are able to implement much better things with the console's successor.

First thing that I think is in the positive side is the partnership with NVidia. That company provided the means for Switch to be what it became and, as everyone remembers, Nintendo kind of played on the safer side with the graphics as NVidia had more advanced tech ready when we did not know exactly what the Switch was going to be.

And that makes me think of the position Nintendo was able to get themselves into: I mean, with the hybrid's success, they could be planning a major hit successor with the tech there is nowadays and, what is better, they can easily wait another 2 or even 3 years to announce a successor, especially if a "pro" model comes this year, with a price cut on current models.

The time available, and this is the central part of my general thinking (which might have a lot of wishfulness in it), gives the company not only the time to develop a superb next gen hybrid machine but also provides the opportunity to "align" its release with when the current gen competitors (PS4s and X1s) might stop receiving support, making the transition to the next Nintendo machine way smoother since the new hybrid, we might think, could make use of tech that would allow it to manage the content available in the current competitors new machines way better than the original Switch ever could (and I'm talking of a device that lead me to play portable 2016 Doom in plane trips!).

So, what do you folks think? Will Nintendo be able to follow up with an impressive successor, without the failure fear that the success of OG Switch probably provides? Or is it gonna fumble and all those doom arguments are going to return (as they always do)? Let us hear. :) 



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Hmm well they'll no doubt release a cheaper and kid proof model.
They'll eventually put out a New Nintendo Switch type device that's a bit better built with marginally better specs. The main benefit for this is for the early adopters of the Switch to buy a new console and give Nintendo a nice pile of money. They'll probably want to make it a profitable sale rather than losing money on the consoles price.
After that they'll just move fully into digital only for all the future models and save money on the carts and so on.

The thing I'm curious about is software. Will the Switch finally get GTA, Madden, MLB or COD. And if Nintendo will try and do a Wii Sports-like game, now that Ring Fit Adventure has been an incredible success.



Nintendo biggest issue (in the past especially) they miss out of so much software, they should maybe get more studios.






I think that Nintendo could definitely follow up with the Switch. Using Nvidia and DLSS technology they could vastly improve upon image quality too while still retaining lower spec hardware for portability. However, my concerns are that Nintendo regularly sells less with successors to their consoles. Gameboy sold 118M and the Advanced sold 81M. The NES sold 61M and the SNES sold 49M. The DS sold 154M and the 3DS sold 75M. We all know what happened with the Wii and the Wii U. I'm fearful that Nintendo will either A) Avoid making a sequel console out of the drive to be both unique and avoid past failings or B) If they do make a console it will perform significantly worse than the Switch and put them in a precarious predicament. 



Soren0079 said:

Hmm well they'll no doubt release a cheaper and kid proof model.
They'll eventually put out a New Nintendo Switch type device that's a bit better built with marginally better specs. The main benefit for this is for the early adopters of the Switch to buy a new console and give Nintendo a nice pile of money. They'll probably want to make it a profitable sale rather than losing money on the consoles price.
After that they'll just move fully into digital only for all the future models and save money on the carts and so on.

The thing I'm curious about is software. Will the Switch finally get GTA, Madden, MLB or COD. And if Nintendo will try and do a Wii Sports-like game, now that Ring Fit Adventure has been an incredible success.

I doubt Nintendo is dropping carts anytime soon. Nintendo has always been slow to adapt to the future, and there will always be a market for physical goods. Especially Physical Nintendo games.

konnichiwa said:

Nintendo biggest issue (in the past especially) they miss out of so much software, they should maybe get more studios.

I'm not a fan of companies buying up studios for the sole purpose of saying "Look we have games now!" They should work on increasing the output of the studios they already have. I'd like to see them hire more people from outside the company, grow their workforce, and output more Nintendo games per year.



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Cerebralbore101 said:
Soren0079 said:

konnichiwa said:

Nintendo biggest issue (in the past especially) they miss out of so much software, they should maybe get more studios.

I'm not a fan of companies buying up studios for the sole purpose of saying "Look we have games now!" They should work on increasing the output of the studios they already have. I'd like to see them hire more people from outside the company, grow their workforce, and output more Nintendo games per year.

Well it is not about now but about the future. Especially being a game company it would help.






Doctor_MG said:

I think that Nintendo could definitely follow up with the Switch. Using Nvidia and DLSS technology they could vastly improve upon image quality too while still retaining lower spec hardware for portability. However, my concerns are that Nintendo regularly sells less with successors to their consoles. Gameboy sold 118M and the Advanced sold 81M. The NES sold 61M and the SNES sold 49M. The DS sold 154M and the 3DS sold 75M. We all know what happened with the Wii and the Wii U. I'm fearful that Nintendo will either A) Avoid making a sequel console out of the drive to be both unique and avoid past failings or B) If they do make a console it will perform significantly worse than the Switch and put them in a precarious predicament. 

Bolded: completely agree with the possibility, which is very much in line with the original post. As for the other concerns, they could be an issue, but we can sum up reasons for that not to happen now. 

From NES to SNES: Nintendo arrived way late to the party and had to play catch with the success of Mega Drive/Genesis. They had no competition in the 8bit resurgence era, which did not happen the following one. The quest is, nowadays as back at this period, Nintendo had no direct competition and it almost cost them a lot to not make the right move at the right time. And even though gaming wise I think the SNES to be the best console ever, tech wise it is far from what it could have been and Nintendo kind of cheaped out on some of the parts, and even though it was far superior in general to Sega's 16 bit machine (graphics, effects - mode 7 mainly -, and sound), in some areas it was inferior, what should have been unacceptable and I fear for what might happen if they cheap out here once again.

The GB to GBA: GBA had too small a window to try and catch the predecessor and even then sold very, very well. The rest (DS) is history and now we can see that was a correct call.

For the other cases, there are many specifics, but except for the time of the transition from NES to SNES I don't remember Nintendo being in such a favorable position moving forward.



Their next device will bomb. Then their next one will dominate globally. Such is their pattern and what I would have thought had they not merged divisions. Now we are in uncharted territory with Nintendo and I don't expect the cycle to continue.



I'm not a Nintendo expert, and I don't know a lot about business. Nintendo certainly can screw plenty of things up. They should stick to the hybrid model of the Switch. Here's what the Switch successor should be like to have a great chance of success based on Nintendo and industry trends.

Needs:
-Backwards compatibility (physical and digital) with most if not virtually every Switch game.
-A good name. Even if you keep Switch in the naming, don't pick a garbage name like Wii U. A successor being called Switch Pro or New Switch would be a bad idea because it would make it seem like a mid-gen refresh. Try names like: Switch 2, Super Switch, Ultra Switch, Flex, Hybrid
-Strong software. Though Switch has had first-party software droughts, there has still been some fantastic software. The third-party is the best on a Nintendo home console in a long time. Nintendo needs to keep that up.
-1080p screen on the handheld
-Controllers that don't drift
-A cleaner, more vibrant eShop
-4K capabilities at least for video streaming, but even for select titles in docked mode. Almost every game should be able to run 1080p60fps in docked mode.
-Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Zelda, or a 3D Mario at launch
-8 GB RAM and other specs that put it at least at base PS4 performance. Ideally it would be slightly better. PS4 Pro might be possible, though difficult. It's obviously not going to be able to match Xbox One X or Xbox Series S.
Should have
-Virtual Console or something like PS Now/Xbox Game Pass
-Dedicated servers, party chat
-Achievements system
-Themes
-Activity Log like the 3DS



Lifetime Sales Predictions 

Switch: 151 million (was 73, then 96, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million)

PS5: 115 million (was 105 million) Xbox Series S/X: 57 million (was 60 million, then 67 million)

PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)

3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)

"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima

konnichiwa said:

Nintendo biggest issue (in the past especially) they miss out of so much software, they should maybe get more studios.

If by that you mean "open new studios", by all means, they absolutely should. Hell, they should have expanded their workforce years ago, back when the DS/Wii were going strong. If they had created studios with young devs and put them to make budget games on those systems, by now they would be experienced enough to make decent A-AA releases, even big budget games if they felt daring.

But buying other's studios is not something I would really defend, mostly because I don't want the industry to gobble up itself whole, and reduce the entire market to just a dozen or so companies.



You know it deserves the GOTY.

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