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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Was the Switch Nintendo Shooting for the Fences or did They Know that it Would be a Huge Success Prior to Launch?

 

During the Development of the Switch:

Nintendo was in control t... 20 74.07%
 
Nintendo was not in contr... 7 25.93%
 
Total:27

I was fairly active on these boards following Ninty back in 2014-2017 and I remember the general feeling of hopelessness that existed in Nintendo's circles during this time.  The general consensus was that Nintendo got "lucky" with the Wii and "caught lightning in a bottle" with a gimmick but that Nintendo's home console market was still on an inevitable decline with every subsequent generation.  The Wii U clearly did not go as planned for Nintendo resulting in major cuts in yearly sales forecasts, damage to investor confidence as well as Iwata taking personal responsibility for the failure with a 50% pay cut, selling of the Mariners, etc.  Furthermore, it really looked like the dedicated handheld market was doomed with the smartphone gaming craze (in retrospect, this was more of a bubble, but this wasn't apparent at the time) and the 3DS sales really started to prematurely lose steam in 2015-2016 (a lot of people were predicting earlier on that it would get to 80M).  All of this gave credence to the narrative that the company was majorly on the ropes prior to the launch of the Switch and that there was no clear way for them to regain a strong foothold in their traditional console markets and that they need to go third party the way that Sega did.

My question is this: was Nintendo in control when they released the Switch and showing us what they are really capable of when they try hard or was this just a wild swing for the fences that resulted in a grand slam?  Was the Switch something that Nintendo carefully crafted and knew would likely go on to sell in excess of 100 Million units in its lifetime prior to release or was this a shot in the dark like the Dreamcast where it was the company's last ditch effort at the home console market with plans in mind to go third party while feigning confidence for investors?

When I first saw the reveal of the Switch I was really worried that it didn't have a gimmick or something that, in recent history, Nintendo needed for their platforms to sell well (Wii, DS, 3DS).  That said, the Switch ended up being the perfect device at the perfect time.  It's hard to get inside Nintendo's head about what they were thinking when they released this.  I mean, the concept was so polished and modern and is very different from any of their recent hardware releases that are awkward (but sometimes in that charming Nintendo kind of way that people like).  It was also impressively fast for a mobile device in 2017.  The last time Nintendo tried do something with cutting edge hardware was the Gamecube which just fell flat on its face in terms of presentation and appeal.  The Switch nailed both the hardware as well as the presentation in being a slick, attractive and modern piece of hardware that people actually enjoy carrying around.  The Switch really harkens back to the 80's when Nintendo was seen as being on the forefront of technology and mass appeal.  I just wonder if Nintendo really had confidence in themselves to be able to pull this off with the Switch.  It really has been much a more revolutionary and impressive piece of hardware than the Wii (a gimmick that really came off as luck) or the DS (Nintendo just better leveraging a market that they already had control over).  Was the Switch Nintendo getting off of their lazy butts for the first time in 30 years and showing us what they can do when they are serious, or was it them just desperately trying something radically different and striking paydirt in a revolutionary way?



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What? The title is insane.



LudicrousSpeed said:

What? The title is insane.

Does it make more sense now?



Wii was a fluke
Wii/DS were gimmicks
Smartphones gonna kill HHs
Lazy Nintendo
Nintendo gonna go 3rd party

Wii wasn't a fluke, it was a carefully planned attempt to disrupt the gaming industry.
The "gimmickless" Switch has touchscreen/stylus, motion controllers and split controllers just like Wii/DS. Built-in 2P and the ability to play HH on TV/portability are gimmicks too.
The only thing that can kill Nintendo handhelds is a Nintendo hybrid.
Lazy Nintendo made WiiU games that went on to sell 20-40m+ when released on Switch. Their 1st party output is unparalleled.
Nintendo didn't go 3rd party, Sony and MS did.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane OP.



Nov 2016 - NES outsells PS1 (JP)

Don't Play Stationary 4 ever. Switch!

Well, considering that during its development, most of the staff were walking around, using the phrase "For Iwata!" as motivation... I'd say they were swinging from their heels.



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Nobody can be absolutely sure about sales. Even Sony cannot be sure about sales even with their impressive past record. Nintendo should've been positive about combining HH and home consoles but I think they've even been shocked by the sales.



 


 

Considering Kimishima predicted it to sell about as well as the Wii I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing. That said they still were worried that it could bomb, since they said in 2017 they were "relieved" that it sold well.



Microsoft called Nintendo and laughed at them for how badly Wii U sold. Offered Nintendo money to buy them and Nintendo said ok fine but only if the NX sells worse than Wii U ok! Microsoft said DEAL! Knowing NX was going to be a Wii U-Mii! Nintendo was SHOCKED that the Switch didn't fail even tho they thought it would suck as well! Microsoft was so angry they said fuck your Mario Odyssey we got Super Lucky's Tale! Then Xbox One was poo so Microsoft bowed to Nintendo, begged to be forgiven and handed them Cuphead,Ori, Lucky's Tale! Then they became super good friends and like every WWE Royal Rumber they teamed up to take the Big Show out! BIG BAD SONY!


True story. What my uncle who works at Nintendo said after snorting coccaine.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Okay, follow me down the rabbit hole.

After the success of the Wii, Nintendo read the tea leaves and understood that the popularity of the Wii was waning. It was now 2011, 5 years after the wii, and Nintendo had just put out a release saying there was no new console. With ps4 and xbone imminent, Nintendo decided they were not ready, but instead of coming out right saying they had nothing due to the exorbitant expense of what the Switch was, decided to place an interim console, IE the Wii U. 

Game production was as normal at Nintendo; mariokart, smash bros., star fox, mario maker, splatoon, they basically continued on like they were with their games. The only difference is that they didn't want to push the Wii U. They learned how to advertise from the Wii era, they knew that messaging was important. Does anyone not remember: "Wii would like to play"? Wii U was confusing, little advertisement was paid to the Wii U when Nintendo reportedly spent a billion dollars on advertisement for the Wii. Instead, the Wii U was treated by Nintendo as the redheaded step child no one wanted. The Wii U didn't get a sales slash, and as the years went by their messaging stayed confusing and in less than 5 years, the Wii U was dead at 13mill hardware.

Flashforward to 2017. BOTW was solely to be on the Wii U, but Nintendo didn't want to say it was actually being developed for the Switch. All the old games on Wii U migrated to Switch with great success overall with million seller after million seller. Ways before there was even word that Switch was over the horizon, Nintendo had already announced that their split division of the handheld and console development teams were combining to be 1 overall gaming developer. In 2016, Nintendo broke grounds to release 2 mobile games Mario Run and Pokemon Go, a thing most nintendo fans dreamed Nintendo would do. 

This is what I'm saying. Nintendo had been in control since the near end of the Wii. Wii U was a stall tactic played to make Nintendo look incompetent when making their consoles. In reality, Nintendo laid this ruse in order to have their rabid fanbase think Wii U was the inheritor of the mantle of main Nintendo console as to keep Nintendo afloat financially in the 4 years of the Wii U lifetime. Non-Nintendo fans looked at Nintendo and said they didn't want the Wii U so to keep the production cost of making Wii U stay at a limited supply. The total of the Wii U production cost, along with the total unit sold kept Nintendo in the green, a balancing act that Nintendo perfected while keeping mum until the Switch dropped. And when it dropped, it was Hirosh...Nagas...it was a big success.

Oh yeah, Nintendo was in control. Haha, NSO expansion being 50 dollars, backlash, angry fans, down votes, more angry fans. Please. These crafty toymakers are playing you. They just dropped 881 million on game development. The early adopters are the same people who bought the Wii U(Tell me I'm wrong). NSO expansion in 4 years is another Switch.  



Ouroboros24 said:

(Tell me I'm wrong)

You're wrong.