Microsoft was riding high on the success of the Xbox 360. Despite the notoriously unreliable hardware—I went through five of them—the gameplay experience and Xbox Live were excellent. During that era, Sony lagged behind in online capabilities, and Nintendo still acts like online gaming is stuck in the 90s. Even with the Red Ring of Death issues, the 360 was a dominant force and firmly established Microsoft as a major player in the console market.
The original Xbox laid the groundwork, but it was the 360 that truly let Microsoft show what it was capable of. They were winning on both hardware and software fronts, raking in revenue and building a loyal user base. Microsoft was on top—and they knew it.
And then the arrogance set in.
^^^^^
This smug Son of a Bitch comes out pushing features nobody asked for—especially the always-online requirement. On top of that, they tried to force that half-baked Kinect hardware onto everyone. Microsoft took all the goodwill and momentum the Xbox 360 had built and trashed it in favor of corporate-driven decisions. The Xbox brand still hasn't fully recovered from that misstep and remains in a shaky state.
Now Nintendo seems to be following the same formula. The Switch was their first major success with a broader audience in years—let's be honest, the Wii was largely a casual-focused console. The Switch brought back gamers like me who had grown disillusioned with Nintendo. Personally, my relationship with them went from love, to frustration, back to admiration, and now disappointment again.
The upcoming Switch 2 appears to be heading in a direction most of us don't want: rising game prices without meaningful improvements in quality. Many games won't even come as physical copies—just digital keys, which are basically store-locked DRM. Their online store still looks like the same outdated Switch interface, and there aren't many compelling titles on the horizon that would appeal to players already invested in current-gen PlayStation or Xbox systems. The biggest draw seems to be a new Mario Kart, but I've seen no justification for it costing more than other titles. Sure, there will always be die-hard Nintendo fans willing to pay any price, but the broader market may not be as forgiving.
Here's where Nintendo has backed itself into a corner: major developers have already stated they won't be increasing game prices. We're seeing high-profile titles like the new
Mafia game launching under $60. If games like
GTA 6 hit the market at $69.99 while Nintendo asks for even more without offering the same value, it's going to raise red flags. Once casual gamers start noticing the price discrepancy, Nintendo's inflated pricing strategy could seriously backfire.
To make a long story short, I believe this will cost NIntendo and will have a much less success with the Switch 2.
