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We've made a lot of assumptions about Nintendo's next system

The Switch might look safe in hindsight but it really was not. PS5 and Xbox Series are both far safer than Switch was. Nintendo is the company LEAST likely to just play it safe, objectively.

I remember reading speculation that Nintendo was considering releasing a successor to the 3DS had the Switch failed. And Switch would have been Nintendo's last "Home" console.
 
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01011001

Banned
it's extremely hard to predict Nintendo, but this time, I think they'll play it safe just like with the 3DS... they took the DS, slapped a gimmick on it and made it more powerful, done.

and this time it'll be the same I bet.
Switch + new gimmick + better hardware
 

Tams

Gold Member
I want to see Nintendo use modern mobile tech to create new gameplay and console features. Smart devices have cameras, facial recognition, QR codes, heatrate sensors, pedometers, GPS, geocaching, light sensors, barometers, fingerprint readers, etc.

If any company could that tech to create in a new way, it would be Nintendo. Niantic proved that GPS could be uesd to create new types of games with Ingress and Pokemon Go, so why not Nintendo?

They've already tried half of that. At one point my DSi's camera was on par with my phone's.

And they had Streetpass. Plus used NFC and AR before it was cool. And were the only ones to really do well off 3D.

They certainly could go back to that, but it really depends in if they think they can make games around such features.

As for Niantic... I play three of their games, but honestly... they aren't that great after the initial novelty.
 
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Jinzo Prime

Member
They've already tried half of that. At one point my DSi's camera was on par with my phone's.

And they had Streetpass. Plus used NFC and AR before it was cool. And were the only ones to really do well off 3D.

They certainly could go back to that, but it really depends in if they think they can make games around such features.

As for Niantic... I play three of their games, but honestly... they aren't that great after the initial novelty.
I want Nintendo to take the random features of the 3DS and use them in a more advanced matter for Switch 2. 3DS focused way too much on the 3d and not enough on the system's other aspects.
 

Marvel14

Banned
The idea of Switch 2 just being a simplistic boost in power over the Switch, or even the general idea that it will be a 'Switch 2', flies in the face of everything Nintendo has done for the last 2 decades.

The trend has consistently been that Nintendo does something that is viewed as innovative (or a gimmick, however you want to define it). DS was dual screens and a touch screen. Wii was motion controls. 3DS was glasses free 3D. Wii U was a screen integrated into the controller. Switch was a true handheld + console hybrid.

The only assumption I have at this point is that any assumption I make is going to be pointless, because chances are Nintendo are going to surprise people yet .
They should innovate different hardware profiles: base and common power in the handheld unit (base or pro PS4) and a couple of dock options with different power configs so consumers can choose low, medium and high settings like PC players can with their custom components. (Maybe high can double as a VR unit?) That plus a sleeker build, full BC with upres, OLED screen as base, SSD, 4k Rumble that's better than on PS5 or some other differentiator (AR, mobile or fitness watch integration) that plenty of games use and I think they'll replicate the Switch's success no prob.

And they should charge $50 more for it both because of inflation but also to cover the additional upgrades.
 
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Mozza

Member
I don’t see Nintendo making a major change until they’ve got another poor seller. They’ll keep at something until it stops working and then adjust.
Totally agree with this, if the Wii U was a success we would be waiting for the third model of that console. and pretty sure the DS models would still be a thing as well. as it is Nintendo have combined their consoles and shaped their business and development teams around all this.

Nintendo have not only built a very good console with the Switch, but have put an awful lot of time, money and effort into the Switch brand itself, they will only drop this if the next version is a poor seller, which I very much doubt.
 

Zannegan

Member
Switch 2’s new gimmick will be VR.
I hope so, not an all-in-one headset like Quest, nor a head-mount for the heavy system. Rather, I'd like to see Players can wear the system like a breastplate with a lightweight harness (which hopefully has a pocket for an external battery) and output via a single USB-C cable to a lightweight headset that only does tracking and display. Even better would be a lightweight headset that used wireless streaming to do free ranging VR while docked, but I wouldn't bet on Nintendo going there.

The downside to making VR an optional add-on is that there will be fewer games made for that mode. If it's not mandatory, some devs won't bother. The upsides are that it will appeal to a much broader audience (including youg kids), still make traditional gaming/local co-op possible, keep the baseline price of the system low, etc. There's just too many upsodes to splitting the difference to make going all in on VR a good move...

...on the other hand, it is Nintendo, so who knows?
 
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BlackTron

Member
I don’t see Nintendo making a major change until they’ve got another poor seller. They’ll keep at something until it stops working and then adjust.
I completely agree with this. Nintendo typically creates and then iterates. NES then Super NES. N64 then GCN. Wii then Wii U. Wii U was like a Wii and a DS converged together at the same time with an HDMI port. Contrary to what many think, Switch is not much of an iteration on Wii U. Wii U was a hyper Wii and DS for your TV in one unit (it had two screens). Switch is its own thing, it's a knockout success, and we've only had one. It's time for the Super Switch.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Nintendo is not going to launch a next gen home console, they are not stupid.
 
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Davevil

Member
Switch 2’s new gimmick will be VR.
out-the-office.gif
 

Woopah

Member
I think that the dock would have to be sold entirely separately then.


I think they can do so by having games be largely cross-platform, something they've never really done.



I don't think the idea would be splitting attention, rather making cross platform titles, while having a machine that sells to another segment they've been missing out on, while maximizing their market in the portable space.
Having a more powerful SKU of the Switch could definitely work, but I think it’ll be released later like the DSi and new 3DS, rather than be there at launch like the Series X. Nintendo will want to use it as a way to get existing users to upgrade and boost hardware sales in its later life (similar to what OLED did for Switch.)
Why does the "Nintendo should/will make a high end console" idea keep getting brought up? Like how dumb and delusional do you have to be to look at how badly the N64, Gamecube, & especially Wii U got creamed by Playstations while GBA, DS, & 3DS were bigger successes & the Switch has now crossed 125 million units sold & think to yourself "Nintendo's doing it all wrong, a Playstation rival launching 3 years behind PS5 is the way to go"?

Like think about it, who would actually choose a high end Nintendo console as the THE go to platform for all of their 3rd parties over XBox Series & PS5? No one would, they already got a system that plays those games so why spend money buying new hardware to play the same game? & I know this is true because we literally saw it happen with the Wii U. When Wii U launched, it was on par with the then current Playstation & Xbox consoles, PS3 & 360. CoDBO2 & AC3 both released on Wii U at about the same time as other platforms. & they both BOMBED on Wii U along with just about every other 3rd party game. Why buy a Wii U to play CoD when most players already have a PS3/360 or could buy a new one for less than what Nintendo was charging?

& yet here you are, suggesting Nintendo do this again, releasing a console only system 3 years after PS5 & XBS which have already sold tens of millions of units. Again, there is the question of why would anyone buy a new system to play 3rd party games when they already have one that does.

Or were you envisioning this hypothetical system to somehow be on the power level of PS6, miraculously beating Sony & Microsoft to the punch by about 4 years? Well even then, there wouldn't be any 3rd party games on that level. Why would there, everyone's developing for this generation of console. PS6 level games wouldn't come until the PS6 itself does, by which point the Nintendo console will be viewed upon as a failure for having had no games for several years.

There is no scenario where a high end console works for Nintendo. None. That ship has sailed so fucking long ago. It was evident during the GCN's life 20 years ago & it's only gotten worse since then. Multiple generations of gamers having the notion that Nintendo isn't where you go for 3rd parties hard wired into their brains. 3rd parties will always be gun shy about committing to even a high selling system (seriously, how does Switch still not have CoD, Madden, or GTA5?) after decades of being burnt.
The fact that third parties have been releasing multiplatfrom and exclusive games on Switch helped improve the platform's popularity a lot.

Making sure Switch 2 can get a lot of the games on PS5/XBS (not all of them but a good chunk, about the same or a more than bit more than Switch got from PS4/XBO) will be important to the platform's success.
 

Flutta

Banned
Its been tough man let me tell you 😪 I thought for sure we'd have a more powerful Switch by now so they're definitely testing my resolve lol but it'll probably be this week I've waited long enough

You could've played BoTw on PC. That's what i did :messenger_sunglasses:. Also never trust Nintendo when it comes to HW.

Think About It GIF by Identity
 

Celine

Member
It always make me smile seeing people coming out worried about Nintendo's "precarious situation".
It's often people who may know Nintendo as a brand and be their customers but betray any knowledge on how Nintendo operates.

aY86ezj.jpg
 
It always make me smile seeing people coming out worried about Nintendo's "precarious situation".
It's often people who may know Nintendo as a brand and be their customers but betray any knowledge on how Nintendo operates.

aY86ezj.jpg

It's funny when you don't consider context.

For the record, I've stated for a long time Sony has struggled with profitability and it's a reason why I don't think the PS5 Slim will be priced at 400 dollars despite the lack of disc drive and that it'll be priced at 500 with better margins that they'll want to hold on to.
 

supernova8

Banned
I strongly doubt that Nintendo will release two systems, and even if they release one, it absolutely will not be some powerful console that attempts to compete directly with Sony and Playstation.

My reasoning is as follows:

(1) Nintendo has never (NOT EVEN ONCE, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA) successfully competed directly against Playstation and Xbox

N64 was a direct competitor to PS1 and got wrecked
Gamecube was a direct competitor to PS2 and got wrecked
Wii U was a direct competitor to... PS4 and Xbox One and got wrecked

In contrast:
Wii didn't compete with PS3 and Xbox 360 and was a runaway success
Switch didn't compete with PS4/Xbox One/PS5/XSSX and has been a runaway success

I think the chances of their next system even being stronger than a PS4 Pro are remote.

Could argue the only reason NES and SNES did well is because Nintendo didn't have to compete with Playstation yet ;)

(2) Nintendo Switch seems to be what the company was really aiming for with Wii U

If you look at the basic concept of what Wii U is, it's really just the Switch but without the ability to be truly portable. It's hard to know but presumably either the technology or the technical thinking (or both) weren't there to enable them to make something like the Switch at the time. Alternatively, maybe the Tegra X1 was just too expensive to consider based on Nintendo's typical approach of putting out a relatively weak system to ensure profits on each unit from day one.

Along these lines, it seems weird that Nintendo would fail an entire generation to finally find the perfect secret sauce (that is, the Switch) only to chuck away the Switch idea and gamble again. Besides, the Switch isn't just a system for casual players. There are lots of great games on the system, and it's loved by hardcore gamers too. In that sense, I think coming out with an upgraded version of the Switch with some other QoL features (I'll let Nintendo work those out) would not be risky in terms of casuals not upgrading.

I remember some friends who had a Wii back in the day and it was never used beyond as a party prop when friends were over. It was pretty shit as a single player console to play actual games. I think most people would agree with that in hindsight. It was essentially a long-running gimmick that was priced so low that it was basically an impulse buy. In contrast Wii U had some good games, it was just a shit/pointless console that nobody would realistically want.

(3) Nintendo has literally combined its portable and home console hardware/software development teams into one big team

They did that a while back around the time when the Switch released. That's a pretty major organizational overhaul and not something the company would do if it had planned all along to dive back into having a separate "home" and "handheld" console. I think the aforementioned structural change was and is intended to be permanent. Maybe they would change it back if the Switch failed but the Switch clearly hasn't failed.

Also, I don't think the Switch Lite is evidence of them being willing to split up the consoles. Switch Lite is basically just the current gen version of the 2DS vs 3DS. It has its place but it's essentially the same machine. I don't think it constitutes anything like splitting up the consoles (at least in the way you're suggesting they would make a 15-20tf system.

(4) One of the big reasons to put out a powerful console would be to win back major third party publishers but....

Honestly, it doesn't look like Nintendo gives a shit. It's a case of "if you build it, they will come". Look at all the third party games that are now on Switch (that you wouldn't expect) after the console sold gangbusters. Who would expect games like Doom and Witcher 3 to be ported to Switch? Sure they're not the best-looking or performant versions of those games by any means but clearly the devs/pubs couldn't ignore Switch.

I think it'll be the same next generation no matter what Nintendo puts out, as long as it sells well. Nintendo has never gone begging for third party support and probably never will.
 
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