Nintendo should just make a powerful console.

[Asita]

I'm just saying that if I can figure this out, why can't a multi-billion dollar company like Nintendo?

Bluntly: Because whatever delusions you may have the to the contrary, they're smarter than you. Or at least more aware of the realities of engineering.

There's an old maxim about tradeoffs: "Good, fast, cheap. You can only have two of these".

This generally holds up to be true, especially in technology, and can easily be adapted to other tradeoffs, such as "Powerful, Reliable, Affordable". You might have noticed that while the PS4 is more powerful than the Switch, it's also almost twice as expensive...and still sells at a loss. I think the numbers I remember were that the sale price for every PS4 unit netted Sony -$60. To reiterate, they sold those for $550, when it cost them $610 to produce them. Conversely, the Switch sold for $294, and Nintendo was selling those at a profit.

Nintendo's priorities have been towards the affordability and reliability side of things. They don't try to be the powerhouse of consoles...and frankly their franchises and brand identity don't really benefit from trying.

Ask yourself this: To what point and purpose do you think Nintendo would want to sacrifice their affordability to create a more powerful console? Power without a purpose behind it is just wasted energy. Pumping MORE POWER into something does not make it better if that power does not enable it to do things it was struggling with.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Not to the extent of Nintendo. The N64 and Gamecube would have done MUCH better if they used CDs.

Why are you so obsessed with woulda/coulda/shoulda? It’s like, nearly every thread you make asking some variant of this, especially with Nintendo. We can only guess and theorize so not much is being accomplished as far as answers.

 

[thebobmaster]

I'd also point out that Nintendo is a multi-billion dollar company. Clearly, their strategy is working well for them. The Nintendo Switch has sold over 100 million units, making it the 5th best selling console of all time. Of those top 5 consoles, for the record, 3 of them are Nintendo. Why would they make a more powerful console, directly competing with Microsoft and Sony, when they are doing so well in their own niche?

Spoiler: In case you are wondering the top 5...

1. Playstation 2, with 157 million units sold
2. Nintendo DS, with 154 million units sold
3. Game Boy, with 118 million units sold
4. Playstation 4, with 116 million units sold
5. Nintendo Switch, with 106 million units sold

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Bloody hell, dude, have you not gotten an answer to this question 1500 times by now?

If power doesn't matter, then why bother making new consoles at all? Why don't we all just keep playing on the NES?

Cause a very strong portion of the gaming population care about having actual gameplay experiences that are made to be fun, and not the next hot off the line tech demo for the hardware? Graphics aren't everything, and Nintendo's success should be proof of this. Hell, the indie scene should be proof of that. Undertale would like a word with you, it wants to tell you good characters, writing, music, and charm don't need powerful graphics to exist and be loved and successful.

I'm just saying that if I can figure this out, why can't a multi-billion dollar company like Nintendo?

Hot damn, why aren't you head of Nintendo by now? Sounds like you've got all the logistics worked out, primed and ready to make fools of everyone in the business.

Not to the extent of Nintendo.

Fact based and unbiased reporting, totally.

I don't understand why Nintendo can't just make a powerful console like Sony and Microsoft with no stupid hardware decisions.

Those "stupid hardware decisions" got Nintendo's latest console onto #5 of the best selling consoles of all time list and still climbing. Like, buddy, you wanna convince me that would've been even better if they just made another graphics pumping console brick like everyone else?

Stop being such a Yoshi

 

[laggyteabag]

If Nintendo made a traditional console with the power level equivalent to the current-gen, I probably wouldn't buy it.

The only reason why I have (and love) my Switch, is because it is a portable device.

Im really happy with Nintendo staying in their own lane, and their sales reflect that.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Let's see... because Nintendo isn't keen on making the exact same mistake the rest of the video game industry is? Namely Nintendo isn't stupid enough to keep jacking up the graphics and complexity of each game to the furthest extent they can and thus making development of their video games more and more hilariously expensive to make. A model that is completely unsustainable which will cause the entire industry to crash eventually and that Nintendo will be well primed to rise from the ashes none the worse for wear. Nintendo is interested in keeping the costs down for themselves and thus the consumer.

Creating consoles each generation that are anywhere close in power to their competitors would be actively detrimental to Nintendo. Ever since Nintendo's earliest days the consoles they've made focused on reliability and gameplay over raw power. Even if they had the leg up at first their competition would make something that was more powerful to try to catch up... and for the most part it didn't work. There's a reason Sega went out of the console business and it had nothing to do with a lack of power of it's consoles. The Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube were the only exceptions and they still sold more than well enough to justify their existence anyway.

The whole reason that the Wii sold as well as it did was because the Xbox 360 was less reliable and the PS3 was much more expensive, even the Xbox 360 was more expensive than it, not because of the games or system itself was really all that good. Nintendo has ever since the Wii also shifted away from making consoles that are just like the other competitor's consoles and thus are of value all their own, something the video game industry as a whole should've always been doing in the first place.

Nintendo has ALWAYS focused on making games over raw power. That's their business model and it's worked very very well for them. They have no reason to do otherwise.