If Nintendo invested in Cloud: They could have done it that switch 2 games run on switch.

mathello

mathello

Banned
I almost never hear justifiable reasons for cloud gaming TM, but the argument that you don't have to buy a console is its biggest sell. And Microsoft and Sony are now offering services of Cloud to streaming to xbox Series/playstation 5 where we can see that when next gen comes around the services will probably still offer streaming to the lower end consoles. Sony is not doing this to PS4 (yet), but they are doing to the playstation Portal. You can stream games without a PS5 now. So when next gen roles around I predict they will offer this alternative stronger; as console prices go up.

Nintendo better than anyone should have jumped on this idea. Because of the Game Cartridges one can stick a switch 2 game into a switch 1. Nothing will happen, but what if you payed for Nintendo online the game booted into cloud with just a simple warning it's incompatible for local play ? People could still play the new games just streaming and nintendo makes bank while supply restraint.
 
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Nintendo actually makes money on each console they sell. Imo cloud gaming will always be an option, but I doubt that it'll replace consoles.
 
geforce now is great, steamlink is great (on the same wifi network), even google stadia was awesome. but none work well over a cell network or something truly mobile in all my years of trying them so makes more sense to me to just play native most of the time
 
Adam Devine Reaction GIF
 
What really gets me is that out of all of the companies Nintendo is the best company. In my opinion to support cloud gaming. Hell just release cloud versions of all of their Nintendo online service emulators it wouldn't be too hard to much of an infrastructure increase to Support downloading one to two gig files at max with most of their collection being under 20 megs you could possibly just download the game into memory and then not require online access until the game is saved
 
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mathello said:
I almost never hear justifiable reasons for cloud gaming TM, but the argument that you don't have to buy a console is its biggest sell.
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It's definitly not, and shouldn't be.

PS5 cloud streaming's biggest selling point is to avoid installation/taking too much space. And it works great. Nintendo Switch's cloud streaming selling point is to run games bypassing hardware limitations.
 
Switch 1s WiFi/internet chip is horrible. Cloud is just not feasible on it in a reasonable way despite cloud games being on Switch already.
 
Scrawnton said:
Switch 1s WiFi/internet chip is horrible. Cloud is just not feasible on it in a reasonable way despite cloud games being on Switch already.
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This is true, but it hasn't stopped square enix.

Im giving you all a vision of what could have been. Nintendo also wants to sell GAMES. And its subscription.
 
Haven't 3rd paries already done this with a few games beyond switch 1 capabilities running via the cloud? If it didn't take off why make it further investments?
 
Cloud games don't run on water droplets. They run on hardware. Hardware that someone has to pay for. And given Nintendo and Sony and MS aren't charities, the customer ultimately pays for it.

And then you have the 'Netflix can buffer, games can't' problem of cloud gaming.

But someday it may happen. There are some advantages a few pointed out.
 
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I'd prefer if they went the other direction - give everyone that bought "cloud version" of games on the Switch 1 (Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Kingdom Hearts, etc.) the ability to download and run these games locally on Switch 2.
 
They want to sell you a physical thing. Then they will also have a service for some gravy.
 
diffusionx said:
Nintendo wants to sell Switch 2 consoles
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Lith808 said:
Nintendo actually makes money on each console they sell. Imo cloud gaming will always be an option, but I doubt that it'll replace consoles.
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acm2000 said:
nintendo doesnt care about you, they just want your money for the new hardware.
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LordCBH said:
Why would they do that? They want people to buy the new console.
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AJUMP23 said:
They want to sell you a physical thing. Then they will also have a service for some gravy.
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No, Nintendo wants to sell you games. Switch was >10 games per every console. Profit margins on games is much higher than hardware.

We don't know what the profit margins for Switch 2 is, if any, or even if being sold at a loss. Nintendo has sold consoles at a loss before Switch.

Hardware involves R&D, shipping, retailer charges, import charges, and especially at the beginning massive manufacturing costs.
 
Let's just thank our lucky stars nobody invested in cloud then.

Oh wait, google did, lol.

Stadia! Would we still be waiting on Jade and Fairgame$ if Stadia never collapsed?
 
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They did quite a few cloud games on Switch in Japan at least. I don't think they got much traction... There's no demand for cloud gaming.
 
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Nothing about the online experience on any Nintendo hardware I've owned makes me think they'd be able to provide a high quality game streaming experience.

Also it's Nintendo, you are crazy if you think they'd let you stream a game with no limit just because you bought the cartridge. It'd probably be like "you need the cartridge and our new Nintendo online streaming subscription for $19.99 a month"..
 
Cloud gaming is still 5+ years away (probably closer to 7-10) from being near native... Nintendo's would be garbage.
 
Cloud gaming aside, I don't think people want to be using a 2017 handheld barely more powerful than an iPhone X in 2032 to play games

Edit: Aside from collectors and retro gamers of course.
 
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apple_of_enlightenment said:
No, Nintendo wants to sell you games. Switch was >10 games per every console. Profit margins on games is much higher than hardware.

We don't know what the profit margins for Switch 2 is, if any, or even if being sold at a loss. Nintendo has sold consoles at a loss before Switch.

Hardware involves R&D, shipping, retailer charges, import charges, and especially at the beginning massive manufacturing costs.
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and what do they need to sell first so they can actually sell those games?

if you could play them on switch 1 you are destroying your own market.
 
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That worked amazingly for MS, specially in third world countries where income is way lower.

Nah, I'm kidding.

Cloud gaming is a service aimed at nobody IMO, in most first world countries people can just spend $500 casually in a console, but in third world countries that amount can be up to one monthly wage (normally two or more), the former has the internet infrastructure to use it tho they prefer the superior service and later don't have the internet infrastructure most of the time, nor the service available (Xcloud, GeForce Now, PSNow, etc. aren't even available in most Latin American countries).

Literally those countries that would benefit the most from not having to buy new hardware is that Cloud gaming is not feasible at all, so, who's this thing aimed at? To the people that can just throw a few hundreds dollars once every 8 years and will prefer local gaming?

Nintendo is doing well by not spending on it for now at least...
 
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apple_of_enlightenment said:
No, Nintendo wants to sell you games. Switch was >10 games per every console. Profit margins on games is much higher than hardware.

We don't know what the profit margins for Switch 2 is, if any, or even if being sold at a loss. Nintendo has sold consoles at a loss before Switch.

Hardware involves R&D, shipping, retailer charges, import charges, and especially at the beginning massive manufacturing costs.
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Nintendo has never taken a loss on hardware. Never ever. They will not do it.
 
AJUMP23 said:
Nintendo has never taken a loss on hardware. Never ever. They will not do it.
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I generally agree. As far as I know Nintendo never sold a console at a loss, other than the Wii U and 3DS. The original switch wasn't sold at a loss and the new switch might only be sold at a loss in Japan where the price is around $348 (¥49,980). However that's a locked down version and only in Japanese language. I have a hard time believing the $449 price tag doesn't include a profit margin. The original switch sold at $299 in 2017 and adjusted for inflation that's $390 in 2025. Even if the components cost more today, that's a solid $50 price difference and gives them plenty of wiggle room.
 
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jshackles said:
I'd prefer if they went the other direction - give everyone that bought "cloud version" of games on the Switch 1 (Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Kingdom Hearts, etc.) the ability to download and run these games locally on Switch 2.
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this give them a upgrade path.
 
Zacfoldor said:
Let's just thank our lucky stars nobody invested in cloud then.

Oh wait, google did, lol.

Stadia! Would we still be waiting on Jade and Fairgame$ if Stadia never collapsed?
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Yeah point? They didn't wrong. GeForce now is vastly superior to 80% of the pc game pc out there. If you have a 500mb connection you can play games via cloud that surpass console quality frames and latency.

Some just hate it because it exists and breaks their idea of gaming. I have a local 5090 pc and I subscribe to GeForce now ultimate and for most of the games it's near impossible to tell the difference local vs cloud.

It's not for everyone I get it, but the hate for cloud gaming is silly it's getting better and better week by week!
 
AJUMP23 said:
Nintendo has never taken a loss on hardware. Never ever. They will not do it.
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This is an old myth and isn't true at all.

WiiU is one example well known to have been sold at a loss. As was the 3DS and definitely GC after a price cut (it was cut 2 times after that if I remember). It was widely considered back in the day (in the mags!) that N64 was sold at a loss for the first year with the company trying to throw off PS1.

Reggie is also on record implying that packing in Wii Sports (not in Japan but through him pushing for it in the West) pushed the margins too low to turn a profit.

However, it's rare that any company makes public the actual real build cost and per unit profit.
 
Nintendo saw how cloud gaming went for Google Stadia and how it's going for Microsoft and Amazon and rightfully concluded: "nah".
 
Nintendo never will because like Apple they want to control the entire hierarchy of the ecosystem they've built from hardware to software.

They also suck at building online infrastructure vs everyone else, and if they go cloud it will be after another company already figures it out so they can come out with their own rip-off like they're ripping off Discord now.

I don't really mind it that much because they still make good games, they do inventive stuff with controls, and the handheld that can dock hybrid form factor they popularized. I just wish they liked their own back catalog as much as their fans, and offered an ala carte way to play everything instead of sub nonsense.
 
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