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[ToadMan]

I think Switch was in a way their safest and most conservative console. After Wii U it seemed like all the Nintendo fans and pundits were saying Nintendo should make a console/handheld hybrid. It was surprising to see Nintendo give gamers exactly what they were asking for after many years of pushing gimmicks.


Ok? And what happens when the hardware sells like shit despite having a killer lineup of software? Wii U had Mario Kart, 2D Mario, 3D Mario, Smash Bros, Zelda, etc but it still only sold like 10m units.

Yeah it’s easy in 2025 to act like everything Nintendo touches turns to gold and their domination is inevitable, but things were pretty dire back in 2013-2016 timeframe. It’s a miracle they were able to turn things around.

Yes this is what I wanted to say. The Wii U was a misstep but Nintendo were doing well in handhelds so an extension of their handheld success was a fairly safe move. Bizarrely enough the Wii U was failure from first announce because it wasn't clear to anyone what it was because of the name - a problem that continues to dog Xbox to this day and next gen if Prime is really the name.

But this article talks about MS and the OP even likens that to Sony. Nintendo had commercial failures with the GC and Wii U despite a lot of quality full exclusives on both. Xbox has failed for other reasons - the fact it has no exclusives now is a consequence of missteps, and Sony has succeeded despite dabbling in mulitplats for other reasons. It's not purely about multiplat vs exclusives - it's about working with your fanbase, knowing where you can push the boundaries and grow vs where you have to take a conservative approach.

Out of Nintendo, Xbox and Sega, PS is the only one that hasn't had a stinker generation or two. I laughed at the thread asking if PS5 was the worst playstation - firstly there's only been 5 and one of those has to be the worst but that doesn't equate to failure, and secondly, PS5 isn't a flop on the level of Wii U, Xbox Series or Xbone, and not a financial black hole like DC was for Sega.

I actually want Switch 2 to succeed but I can certainly imagine a scenario where it doesn't do that well just based on Nintendo's history of screwing up. I think the danger for Switch 2 is that Nintendo play it too safe and people just feel fatigued when it comes out.

Exclusive content isn't the only factor, but it is an important one.

 

[Scrawnton]

The irony is Nintendo will outlive all other hardware manufacturers.

 

[ToadMan]

Come on now. If they got the money how I play the game is irrelevant to them.

That's not quite true though.

Both Sony and Nintendo are selling you their storefront attached to the hardware. Their concept is that because you have the hardware and the storefront, you'll buy some other stuff and they get a split of those future transactions whether its for first or third party content.

If you buy the game and play it on an emulator, there is no chance you're putting money through their storefront since you don't have access. Oh and Nintendo sell their hardware with a profit margin so that's lost revenue too.

Btw I'm not saying don't emulate or even that emulation is "wrong" - but don't kid yourself the IP holders aren't impacted by it.

 

[LordOcidax]

Yes this is what I wanted to say. The Wii U was a misstep but Nintendo were doing well in handhelds so an extension of their handheld success was a fairly safe move. Bizarrely enough the Wii U was failure from first announce because it wasn't clear to anyone what it was because of the name - a problem that continues to dog Xbox to this day and next gen if Prime is really the name.

But this article talks about MS and the OP even likens that to Sony. Nintendo had commercial failures with the GC and Wii U despite a lot of quality full exclusives on both. Xbox has failed for other reasons - the fact it has no exclusives now is a consequence of missteps, and Sony has succeeded despite dabbling in mulitplats for other reasons. It's not purely about multiplat vs exclusives - it's about working with your fanbase, knowing where you can push the boundaries and grow vs where you have to take a conservative approach.

Out of Nintendo, Xbox and Sega, PS is the only one that hasn't had a stinker generation or two. I laughed at the thread asking if PS5 was the worst playstation - firstly there's only been 5 and one of those has to be the worst but that doesn't equate to failure, and secondly, PS5 isn't a flop on the level of Wii U, Xbox Series or Xbone, and not a financial black hole like DC was for Sega.

I actually want Switch 2 to succeed but I can certainly imagine a scenario where it doesn't do that well just based on Nintendo's history of screwing up. I think the danger for Switch 2 is that Nintendo play it too safe and people just feel fatigued when it comes out.

Exclusive content isn't the only factor, but it is an important one.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Honestly now that their audience has matured to the age where they're all buying Nintendo for their kids and will always buy those franchises they're self sustaining.

I honestly have no idea and I don’t think anybody else does either. Nintendo is a total wild card.

I almost think there’s some cycle where people have to take a break and start to miss Nintendo before coming back to it.

Like when Wii U came out, yeah it was a bad system for a lot of reasons, but I also think that the masses who played the shit out of the Wii weren’t saying “oh shit I need another Mario Kart and 2D Mario game ASAP”. They’d mostly had their fill and weren’t motivated to go buy a new system so they could get a new iteration of those games.

Just anecdotally, I started my kids (7 and 10) off with all the Nintendo titles on Switch and they loved it. But over the last couple of years they’ve shifted and like 90% of their gaming is Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite. Seems like the same happened with all their friends.

 

[Ribi]

Yes I'm sure they are doomed and that the Switch 2 will be a failure. Absolutely.

We can hope. Fuck Nintendo

 

[Cakeboxer]

The irony is Nintendo will outlive all other hardware manufacturers.

Exactly my thoughts,

 

[Celine]

Nintendo is known to have a large amount of cash reserve, to even suggest they were close to being bankrupt or needs to go 3rd party because of a bad console is idiotic. The Gamecube didn't put them out of business back then.

Of course not, during the GC/GBA era Nintendo was more profitable than the PlayStation division.

 

[ToadMan]

Touche.

And this picture goes to prove your original premise for this thread wrong.

Vita was another device with exclusive content that failed - in fact it was most Switch-like predecessor to Switch. And while you're busy grubbing around for side lines, pull PSVR and Kinect into the ruck. They also had (or for PSVR2 have) exclusive content and failed to make a mainstream breakthrough.

So you've provided the evidence, despite past success, Switch 2 isn't guaranteed a free pass. It's up to Nintendo not to fuck up - something they've managed before on a scale much larger than Sony with poor Vita here... /thread thanks.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

While it looks nice, it's still not something I would want for Zelda. What makes Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so awesome was that it still had a lot of clarity and vibrant colors mixed in with it's dark fantasy style. The image here looks cooler to Twilight Princess's style which is still good but always prefer the more colorful dark fantasy type of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask more.

 

[Woopah]

The only thing Nintendo excels at as a first party is catering to children. Everything else about their hardware and platform is generations behind the competition. There's like 3-4 Nintendo games I would buy every generation but I'm never going to buy their hardware just for those games.

We need ASUS to make a handheld PC that's durable for kids, and maybe Valve to make a Big Picture Mode that's simplified for kids, and the problem is solved.

Their first party caters to people who aren't children too.

That's backed up by the way they market games and the demographic data they present.

 

[HogIsland]

Their first party caters to people who aren't children too.

That's backed up by the way they market games and the demographic data they present.

i'm not talking about the games because every publisher makes games. i'm talking about the things that make Nintendo a "first party": putting out hardware, having an SDK, having a store, licensing, cartridges, the system functionality, accounts, online multiplayer, subscription services, etc.

in all these ways, nintendo is really bad. the only way it makes sense and is actually kind of ok is that they've designed it to be kid-proof.

 

[LordOcidax]

i'm not talking about the games because every publisher makes games. i'm talking about the things that make Nintendo a "first party": putting out hardware, having an SDK, having a store, licensing, cartridges, the system functionality, accounts, online multiplayer, subscription services, etc.

in all these ways, nintendo is really bad. the only way it makes sense and is actually kind of ok is that they've designed it to be kid-proof.

That’s your opinion but the reality is that they best company in the video game industry and now they are starting to look like Masters compared to the competition. They are in another league for the most important thing here… making fun and entertaining top quality video games.

 

[ProtoByte]

It's definitely time for the games media to stfu and go away. They have demolished this medium.

 

[HogIsland]

That’s your opinion but the reality is that they best company in the video game industry and now they are starting to look like Masters compared to the competition. They are in another league for the most important thing here… making fun and entertaining top quality video games.

They make some good games, lots of publishers make good games. They make terrible hardware with lousy ergonomics and they don't know how online functionality is supposed to work (a symptom of their kid focus). Their platforms haven't been capable of playing the majority of contemporary games since 2006.

The "reality" where Nintendo is the best yada yada is just like if you don't play that many games and don't know what else is out there.

 

[LordOcidax]

They make some good games, lots of publishers make good games. They make terrible hardware with lousy ergonomics and they don't know how online functionality is supposed to work (a symptom of their kid focus). Their platforms haven't been capable of playing the majority of contemporary games since 2006.

The "reality" where Nintendo is the best yada yada is just like if you don't play that many games and don't know what else is out there.

Lol, playing video games since 1984 and have all the systems. I know what i am talking about, Nintendo makes something and everyone else follows the route. They are the best in the business.

 

[HogIsland]

Lol, playing video games since 1984 and have all the systems. I know what i am talking about, Nintendo makes something and everyone else follows the route. They are the best in the business.

cool bro same. i was there for the nes. i have nostalgia for a link to the past like you. it's been downhill since gamecube.

 

[existensmaximum]

We can hope. Fuck Nintendo

It's nice to want things. Well good luck with that

 

[GloveSlap]

I'm not going to lie....i wish the Switch concept failed so Nintendo would make a play for Microsoft's vacated console spot. I think a full powered Nintendo console with its 1st party exclusives plus full 3rd party support could fair pretty well versus PS6.

 

[LordOcidax]

It's nice to want things. Well good luck with that

The Switch 2 is going to be a hard pill to swallow for Nintendo haters That’s for sure.

 

[Shaki12345]

I thought the Console Wars were over?

 

[Barakov]

This was a Forbes headline back in 2013… 12 years later Xbox is already a third party company and it looks like Sony is going to follow the same route launching their games multi platform, and Nintendo is the only company that keeps their IPs on their own platform. What other Nintendo is doomed prediction do you remember from that era?

It May Be Time For Nintendo To Make Games, Not Consoles

It's a little worrisome, writing this post. The opinion I'm about to put forth is one that can get you laughed out of game journalism, and one few people in the industry will even entertain. It's the idea that Nintendo has lost their way when it comes to the home [...]

www.forbes.com

Nintendo is going to out live them both at this point.

 

[LordOcidax]

Nintendo is going to out live them both at this point.

Both are launching their IPs on another platforms already … And the fans of one of them thinks they won the war, because yes

 

[Mozza]

nintendo still need to make games now, not alot of good first party games on the switch. its rather dry.

Not sure is serious..

 

[Mozza]

Yeah. If the Switch hadn’t dramatically turned around their fortunes, they’d be gone by now. At best, a Sega-like third party software maker.

Not really, the Wii U and 3DS managed to sell them around 80 million consoles. Which is way more than the share of the core market they could have hoped to get, which is around 180 million each generation.

 

[Vaquilla]

Maybe a hot take, but I already got PS and Xbox if I want amazing looking traditional AAA blockbusters, I kinda like that Nintendo does their own thing and brings some variety and unpredictability to the console scene.
Sure sometimes you get duds like Wii U, but Wii and Switch gave me countless of hours of fun and fresh experiences, and complimented my 360/PS3/PS5 nicely.

 

[ReBurn]

It just goes to show that nobody really knows how anything is going to go.

 

[LordOcidax]

While it looks nice, it's still not something I would want for Zelda. What makes Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so awesome was that it still had a lot of clarity and vibrant colors mixed in with it's dark fantasy style. The image here looks cooler to Twilight Princess's style which is still good but always prefer the more colorful dark fantasy type of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask more.

You can’t get more Dark Fantasy Style than this, Ocarina of time artstyle is more cartoonish.

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

I honestly have no idea and I don’t think anybody else does either. Nintendo is a total wild card.

I almost think there’s some cycle where people have to take a break and start to miss Nintendo before coming back to it.

Like when Wii U came out, yeah it was a bad system for a lot of reasons, but I also think that the masses who played the shit out of the Wii weren’t saying “oh shit I need another Mario Kart and 2D Mario game ASAP”. They’d mostly had their fill and weren’t motivated to go buy a new system so they could get a new iteration of those games.

Just anecdotally, I started my kids (7 and 10) off with all the Nintendo titles on Switch and they loved it. But over the last couple of years they’ve shifted and like 90% of their gaming is Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite. Seems like the same happened with all their friends.

Terrible parenting. You get them on single player stuff NOW!

(kidding obviously)