Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Reserved for modern gaming discussions.
User avatar
Atarifever
Posts: 461
Joined: April 12th, 2015, 5:55 am

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby Atarifever » February 27th, 2017, 8:23 pm

scotland wrote:
I am unsure what the future of Nintendo handhelds are.

I feel the same way. The only system to sell more units in 2016 than 2015 was, of all things, 3DS. Pokemon Sun and Moon were the best selling Pokemon games in the last decade. Pokemon had 2 spots on the December NPD top 10 during the all important Christmas season. All of that makes it seem as if there is still life in the ol' 3DS yet, so one has to wonder what Nintendo does with that, obviously still successful, leg of their business. It'll be hard to give up on it if the Switch moves only Gamecube or, worse, Wii U numbers. However, the whole point of Switch was to be able to stop splitting their development time between two pieces of hardware. Add to this that their mobile games kind of compete with their own portable market, and it looks like a bit of a difficult decision in their future. If I were them, I'd keep trickling games out for 3DS just in case I needed to backtrack and make a 4DS eventually.

User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby VideoGameCritic » March 27th, 2017, 9:29 pm

I think I might have hit the nail on the head with this one (the Switch being a hit). I'm not always right, but I think I usually am.

I feel like the video game industry (especially Microsoft) has been very self-serving in this generation. They assume gamers will "roll over" for whatever draconian schemes they concoct in the name of "progress".

I think the Nintendo Switch is kind of a throw-back, which is exactly what people were looking for. Old-school fun they can enjoy with friends.

eneuman96
Posts: 326
Joined: April 13th, 2015, 11:16 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby eneuman96 » March 27th, 2017, 10:14 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:I think I might have hit the nail on the head with this one (the Switch being a hit). I'm not always right, but I think I usually am.

I feel like the video game industry (especially Microsoft) has been very self-serving in this generation. They assume gamers will "roll over" for whatever draconian schemes they concoct in the name of "progress".

I think the Nintendo Switch is kind of a throw-back, which is exactly what people were looking for. Old-school fun they can enjoy with friends.


I'd hardly call the Switch old school considering it is still an unmistakably contemporary system (downloadable games, motion controls, it'll have paid online service in a few months, etc), not to mention most of the people who have already bought one (myself included) are already die hard Nintendo fans. Zelda is enough to tie us Nintendo faithful over for now, but a lot of people are still on the fence if not outright unconvinced. Most non-Switch owners are under the impression that Zelda is the only game worth playing on the system (not even slightly true in my opinion, but I digress) and would rather hold off until Super Mario Odyssey comes out in December.

Voor
Posts: 1555
Joined: April 14th, 2015, 8:08 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby Voor » March 27th, 2017, 10:41 pm

Interesting, my brother got a Switch and BotW. I asked him if he plays on the TV or the screen, and he says he plays it on the screen about 60% while in bed.

Then he said "this is nice....I wish other consoles had that option."

That may be what Nintendo is after: to have the portable option as a new "standard" for consoles. Years ago, this wouldn't have worked, but in the mobile age, you're a dinosaur if you're tied down to a TV.

Sonicx9
Posts: 1818
Joined: April 27th, 2015, 6:37 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby Sonicx9 » March 27th, 2017, 11:37 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:I think I might have hit the nail on the head with this one (the Switch being a hit). I'm not always right, but I think I usually am.

I feel like the video game industry (especially Microsoft) has been very self-serving in this generation. They assume gamers will "roll over" for whatever draconian schemes they concoct in the name of "progress".

I think the Nintendo Switch is kind of a throw-back, which is exactly what people were looking for. Old-school fun they can enjoy with friends.


Critic, be aware there is one game that requires internet to start, more info here: viewtopic.php?f=134797&t=15597

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby scotland » February 7th, 2023, 12:49 pm

A 2023 update, but while Switch sales are dropping pretty fast, it has sold 122.5 million units since its 2017 launch. It is now the 3rd best selling video game console of all time (Behind the PS2 and the Nintendo DS family of handhelds - each of those are about at 155 million, so it is a distant 3rd)

Points of interest are how amazingly disappointing the WiiU was, and yet the Switch is a full throated evolution of the idea. The 3DS sold respectfully, but still far less than the GBA, so this combination of handheld plus home console design has done well by Nintendo. Many homes have multiple Switches, like they had multiple DS or GBAs in the past. Handhelds have always sold more than home consoles for Nintendo (even the Gameboy sold about 2x the number of NES units sold)

User avatar
Atariboy
Posts: 956
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:07 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby Atariboy » February 7th, 2023, 2:22 pm

scotland wrote:A 2023 update, but while Switch sales are dropping pretty fast, it has sold 122.5 million units since its 2017 launch. It is now the 3rd best selling video game console of all time (Behind the PS2 and the Nintendo DS family of handhelds - each of those are about at 155 million, so it is a distant 3rd)


Is it slowing fast?

I'm not familiar with sales statistics in these post-Steer days, but I did read news in recent days that Nintendo has let suppliers know that they're ramping up Switch production this upcoming fiscal year compared to 2022.

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby scotland » February 7th, 2023, 5:31 pm

I think I read that year over year sales are down (except for the new OLED model), that Nintendo's holiday sales didn't meet forecasts, and they've lowered 2023 forecasts. It is a 5 year old system now. It did benefit from pandemic sales (and difficulties in getting rival consoles).

Steer. Those were some, lively, conversations about Nintendo.

User avatar
Atariboy
Posts: 956
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:07 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby Atariboy » February 7th, 2023, 7:46 pm

It sounds like they're blaming component shortages for that and are actually planning to produce more for the 2024 fiscal year (that starts on April 1st) than they did the previous year.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/20/2356 ... p-shortage

They obviously can't keep this up forever as you've said, but it appears like they're banking on Tears of the Kingdom to give the Switch at least one more big year before the inevitable Switch 2.

User avatar
m0zart
Posts: 50
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 5:20 pm

Re: Nintendo Switch: Boom or Bust?

Postby m0zart » February 20th, 2023, 3:38 pm

scotland wrote:Steer. Those were some, lively, conversations about Nintendo.


It’s interesting to go back and see how much most of us underestimated the appeal of the Switch. I can say that as I was one of them. Besides the NES and the Virtual Boy, the Switch was the only system I didn’t purchase at its release.

As for Steer, I don’t miss that guy at all.


Return to “Modern Gaming”