The Nintendo Switch has been a phenomenal worldwide success. It currently sits as the third-most successful console of all time, with over 132 million units sold, as revealed by Game Informer. The Switch has consistently been a high seller, and the software has been varied and mostly high-quality.
The hybrid console/handheld format has undoubtedly worked. However, in the period after the SNES and also after the Wii, Nintendo was in a similar position, and yet in the following generation, the hardware underperformed. In the case of the Wii and Wii U transition, the marketing completely failed (as well as the general idea), and the Nintendo Wii U (which some people thought was an add-on to the Wii) didn’t even sell 15 million units.
So, what tactic looks likely for Nintendo moving forward? Should Nintendo continue to innovate and risk making similar mistakes as the Wii U, or does it follow the same formula as the Switch and release a similar system, just with more power? I’m really excited to see what Nintendo does next, and this article explores the mistakes that have been made in the past, and the options Nintendo could take in the next year or two.
Nintendo as innovators
Nintendo has innovated within the video game industry on multiple occasions. The motion controls of the Wii and touch controls of the DS changed the way we played games. It made these consoles accessible to millions of people who found regular controllers too complicated. This move led to a period of success for Nintendo and was dubbed Nintendo’s “blue ocean strategy.”
Even before this, Nintendo innovated first with the Game & Watch and later with the Game Boy. Handheld gaming has been Nintendo’s specialism. So much so, that even when it had failures, like the Virtual Boy and the 64DD, it was still sitting on piles of cash. However, now, with handheld and home console branches of its business being combined into one with the hybrid Switch, more is at stake with its next move. While another flop wouldn’t destroy the company, it would, again, be a huge wound that would take a few clever moves to heal.
Of course, Nintendo’s innovation isn’t limited to the “blue ocean strategy” of the early 2000s. Gameplay innovations such as how to precisely move in 3D environments (Super Mario 64), the Z targeting system (Zelda: Ocarina of Time), and more recently the weapon durability system (Zelda: Breath of the Wild), have made the software that Nintendo releases some of the highest quality around.
We now live in an era where big, original titles are getting rarer and rarer, as there are many remake and retro compilations releasing every year. We must be due a big, new 3D Mario soon, and Metroid Prime 4 seems like it has been in development forever. These are the titles that will help to sell Nintendo’s next system. However, is a lot of extra power in the new machine actually needed for these new games? Does a potential “Switch 2” just need more power, or would new control innovations help make the system a success?
New console soon (but it has to be a hybrid)
The Nintendo Switch has been around for almost seven years now, and that is a long life cycle for any system, as even the most successful systems would have had its successors by this point! The Wii U was only in production for four years. The Switch 2 has to get the marketing right and make it clear that it is a new thing and not just a peripheral for the current Switch. However, it also probably has to be a hybrid home/handheld console, since that aspect of the original Switch is what has made it so successful.
In the last few days, rumors have been rife that the Switch 2 will arrive this year, and be iterative. More of an evolution than a complete re-working of a concept. The console is said to boast an 8-inch LCD display and will cost around $400, as speculated by The Independent. However, nothing has been confirmed as of yet. The current OLED Switch has a 7-inch display, and the screen is definitely big enough. I guess Nintendo has learned a lot with the Switch, and the new iteration will hopefully fix the problems with the system, especially that pesky Joy-Con drift.
The cycle of Nintendo
So, it’s looking like it’s an upgrade that we’ll get in 2024. It could be argued that the same tactic was used during the SNES and N64 transition. In that situation, Sony emerged from, more or less nowhere and used the CD format, plus a really accessible development kit for developers, along with the quantity and quality of titles that appeared on the PS1 (plus the fact that it could play CDs) to really kill the N64 and its expensive cartridge format (although some of the most influential games of all time still released on the N64). The other time something like this happened is the DS and 3DS transition. The 3DS didn’t have a good start as it was really expensive (could this be a parallel with the Switch 2?), and it took about two years and a price drop for the 3DS to become popular. The 3DS really was a power-focused upgrade to the DS. That’s something Nintendo rarely does, so we’ll see how the Switch 2 fares in comparison.
As the Switch 2 seems to be a power-focused upgrade, we might avoid the mishap of the Wii and Wii U transition where confusing marketing, a slow operating system, and misguided innovation led to a total failure. It could be new ground for Nintendo that we’re drifting into. I think, considering we know nothing certain about the Switch 2, what we need at launch is Metroid Prime 4, a secret new 3D Mario to shock people with new gameplay, and an epic remake of Ocarina of Time to change the gaming landscape.
Sounds easy enough! We’re waiting, Nintendo…
