What should Nintendo do with the Switch?

[mirbrownbread]

I don't think Nintendo aims to compete with the Steam Deck at all. They're clearly winning the portable gaming market, so them doubling down on the "portable" aspect with the Lite was both smart and expected. It is an even cheaper, even cuter console that also fits in your pocket - but can also play BotW, The Witcher 3 and Doom Eternal (somehow). The Deck is all in on that "hardcore" gaming pretext, offering big numbers and shooting for the highest performance numbers possible. Way, way different than what Nintendo is doing.

So, if they were to really "do" anything about being at the top of the market, it must be something akin to producing new exclusives that they can sell both to the 90s kids who are now parents and their toddlers...

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

The fact that the new Pokemon game sold like gangbusters despite its performance issues is a reminder at just what kind of market we're dealing with.

Nintendo, Pokemon, Mario, Animal Crossing, etc- this is family entertainment, casual gaming. Convenience and accessibility rule.

This all reminds me of how music fans used to worry about physical media vs digital, or the quality of headphones, lossy compression, stereo equipment, etc. Those debates are effectively over because convenience won, and only the niche/hardcore can go off on our own as hobbyists.

Similar with games: most people probably just wanna play the nice games and the Switch still does that.

It is interesting that the reviews for both Bayonetta 3 and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet "blamed" the old Switch hardware. I just don't get it- these games are designed for the Switch! If anything, new games for the "old" console should run even better because devs are expert on it now, no?

If the complaint is that the hardware "limits" devs- I'm sorry, just no, come on- you develop anything on the platform you're targeting, like anybody else in any creative or production environment, gtfo with that noise.

I put my Switch Lite on ebay because I'm going to move to Steam Deck. That is personal preference (I don't have another gaming PC but I still want to revisit my Steam library and I don't care about any more Nintendo exclusives). 12 bids in one day. New ones are going for around the same price as the newer, more powerful GameBox Series S. My nieces and nephews are still fighting for turns at the controls. Nintendo has absolutely zero reason to release a new console any time soon.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Allow their games to sell at a discount. I'm not paying more than 30 CAD for a game, so I'm not getting a Switch.

 

[mirbrownbread]

The fact that the new Pokemon game sold like gangbusters despite its performance issues is a reminder at just what kind of market we're dealing with.

Nintendo, Pokemon, Mario, Animal Crossing, etc- this is family entertainment, casual gaming. Convenience and accessibility rule.

This all reminds me of how music fans used to worry about physical media vs digital, or the quality of headphones, lossy compression, stereo equipment, etc. Those debates are effectively over because convenience won, and only the niche/hardcore can go off on our own as hobbyists.

Similar with games: most people probably just wanna play the nice games and the Switch still does that.

Your observations are on point, though I have to notice that a system that stutters with most games can't be a "convenient solution" to anyone, even to moms that would've continued playing Candy Crush if it weren't for the Switch. But I totally agree that it's inexcusable that developers can't seem to optimize even the Switch exclusive titles.

Personally, I'd choose a game that has deep systems and it's fun over a title that's all looks. Alas, I postponed trying Skyrim for like 5 years just to make a point that Dark Souls is infinitely better (they released almost at the same time), besides being much tougher on the eyes. So, a lower-res Bayonetta 3 that won't step on its own toes is an easy fix in my eyes - but most users expect more bang for their buck...

Also, I think many Nintendo fans buy games just because they're popular and hope there'll be a patch that will boost the framerate at some point down the lane...

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I think Nintendo should give a bunch of them to sulphur crested jerkbirds to see what happens.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Your observations are on point, though I have to notice that a system that stutters with most games can't be a "convenient solution" to anyone, even to moms that would've continued playing Candy Crush if it weren't for the Switch. But I totally agree that it's inexcusable that developers can't seem to optimize even the Switch exclusive titles.

Personally, I'd choose a game that has deep systems and it's fun over a title that's all looks. Alas, I postponed trying Skyrim for like 5 years just to make a point that Dark Souls is infinitely better (they released almost at the same time), besides being much tougher on the eyes. So, a lower-res Bayonetta 3 that won't step on its own toes is an easy fix in my eyes - but most users expect more bang for their buck...

Also, I think many Nintendo fans buy games just because they're popular and hope there'll be a patch that will boost the framerate at some point down the lane...

There is another argument to be made in which Nintendo enforces a quality standard on games that come out, especially ones that carry their biggest exclusive brands, that requires the titles on the system to run and perform at a certain level. Microsoft and Sony have this and supposedly Nintendo does too, at least they did when I worked for Activison in the Technical Requirements Group. Each company provides publishers a list of "rules" that basically set a standard of performance and interaction with the console in order to be approved for release on a given console.

For example games had to respond immediately when someone presses the dashboard button on the controller regardless of what's happening in the game. Any lag could make the console look bad and they would reject a game that locked up that dashboard feature. Sharing progress on profiles was also a big one. In the 360 days if your game didn't boot players back to the title screen when a profile change happened, it would fail because Xbox didn't want people cheating achievements. Also things like crashes. Crashes were a huge deal and 1 crash could fail your game immediately

I've crashed 11 times during my pokemon scarlet playthrough.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Until the hardware shortage gets resolved, I don't see them releasing a new Switch. People still can't get PS's so why would Nintendo upgrade when they don't have pressure to do so and have plenty of incentives to sit on what they have?

 

[mirbrownbread]

There is another argument to be made in which Nintendo enforces a quality standard on games that come out, especially ones that carry their biggest exclusive brands, that requires the titles on the system to run and perform at a certain level. Microsoft and Sony have this and supposedly Nintendo does too, at least they did when I worked for Activison in the Technical Requirements Group. Each company provides publishers a list of "rules" that basically set a standard of performance and interaction with the console in order to be approved for release on a given console.

Thanks for the behind-the-curtains insight! Also, your portfolio easily earns my respect, Sir/Madam!

Armed with that nugget of information, I can only summarize that Nintendo can act recklessly and with impunity nowadays... A flagship title crashing 11 times and it still get's released ?! Come on...

Regardless, their products are just so smartly envisioned that people are willing to look past the glaring cons. Honestly, I'm considering getting a Lite just so I can continue grinding for that Cham/Ber/Jah rune in D2R after going "to sleep"...

 

[laggyteabag]

A new Nintendo console is inevitable, but the form it will take is completely up in the air. Nintendo are unpredictable. We could get a Switch 2. We could get a more traditional console. They could make another handheld-only device. Or we could get something completely new, like some kind of VR device.

Who could really say? Nintendo are nuts.

I probably wouldn't expect anything new for a while, though. Especially as they have just released the OLED model.

For me personally, I would prefer a Switch 2, because it is the only Nintendo console that I have actually bought/liked. With that said, now that I have a Steam Deck, the Switch (even a more powerful one) is completely redundant for my use case, so even if they did make a Switch 2, I probably wouldn't be interested anyway. And because I don't really care much for Nintendo's exclusives, im not really interested in any other potential outcome, either.

They can do what they want. I am curious to see what they end up with. I probably wont get it, whatever it ends up being.

 

[Chimpzy]

Armed with that nugget of information, I can only summarize that Nintendo can act recklessly and with impunity nowadays... A flagship title crashing 11 times and it still get's released ?! Come on...

It would probably be more accurate to say Gamefreak can act with impunity, despite being a pretty mid developer with about 10-15 years of gaming tech to catch up on, because even a halfbaked Pokemon game will move millions of units. 10 mil in 3 days in this case. Money talks.

 

[laggyteabag]

It would probably be more accurate to say Gamefreak can act with impunity, despite being a pretty mid developer with about 10-15 years of gaming tech to catch up on, because even a halfbaked Pokemon game will move millions of units. 10 mil in 3 days in this case. Money talks.

When it comes to Pokemon, I don't want to be all "Quit having fun!" to the people who are obviously enjoying themselves, but 10m copies in 3 days, for a game of such questionable quality is just... sad.

I can only assume that Pokemon fans have been conditioned to have quality standards that are just rock-bottom or something, because the new ones look pretty bad by just about any measure.

They deserve better.

 

[CriticalGaming]

It would probably be more accurate to say Gamefreak can act with impunity, despite being a pretty mid developer with about 10-15 years of gaming tech to catch up on, because even a halfbaked Pokemon game will move millions of units. 10 mil in 3 days in this case. Money talks.

I remember working on the original Modern Warfare and that game was a nightmare for us because it violated or ignored a shitload of Microsoft's requirements. We were upset because the devs ignored us when we told them of the problems and they submitted it anyway.....and the fucking thing passed.

It was hugely disrespectful because it gave the devs a big head and made then thing we were useless. But MS only passed the game because it was CoD and MW1 was badass.

The very next game they tried to push through by ignoring us failed instantly.

So when it comes to pokemon the series is so huge and such an obvious easy cash maker, that Nintendo probably didnt care about the problems. Just release for holiday sales.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

When it comes to Pokemon, I don't want to be all "Quit having fun!" to the people who are obviously enjoying themselves, but 10m copies in 3 days, for a game of such questionable quality is just... sad.

I can only assume that Pokemon fans have been conditioned to have quality standards that are just rock-bottom or something, because the new ones look pretty bad by just about any measure.

They deserve better.

Thing that irks me is somewhat the opposite. I wish more people would stop being so sensational about games that have a bit of slow down or a bug or two. NOTE: the reason I bring this up is because Pokemon very clearly just got away with so many more issues in a game without people slowing down yet a game like Rune Factory 5 having a bit of slow down in the town just had that as the tag line for all the conversations about it.

 

[BrawlMan]

wish more people would stop being so sensational about games that have a bit of slow down or a bug or two.

"I don't want any bugs or slow downs in my overpriced next gen product! "

That's the problem: it's a two-way street. Expectations or perceived expectations, to match said expectations or perceived expectations.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Thing that irks me is somewhat the opposite. I wish more people would stop being so sensational about games that have a bit of slow down or a bug or two. NOTE: the reason I bring this up is because Pokemon very clearly just got away with so many more issues in a game without people slowing down yet a game like Rune Factory 5 having a bit of slow down in the town just had that as the tag line for all the conversations about it.

Having played through Rune Factory 5... Hoo boy, the town was just one of many places in that game that could barely keep a stable 25FPS at best. The town was the worst of it (which is likely why it was talked about the most), but, it wasn't the only place that had it rough. I think people would've been more forgiving if the dungeons and town were stable and the open areas weren't. The fact the game wasn't really stable anywhere save for indoors, and that the town was the place you'd likely be spending the most time in and have to face the worst FPS in the game there at the same time is very unfortunate and hurt the experience for a lot of people