Depending on which direction they go with Switch 2 there's a good possibility there'll be no immediate need to kill off Switch either.
That would only make sense if they were completely divorcing the Switch's successor from the console. If it is a Switch 2 in name and functionality it makes no sense to maintain the Switch past launch, anymore than it would have made sense to maintain the Wii past the launch of the Wii U.
I'm not trying to argue 3DS had strong support until the very last moment on the market, until its official discontinuation, but Nintendo didn't "move on quickly and not look back". That's just not what happened, so I really don't see why you're so sure it will now.
When you get right down to it, the only thing they did with the 3DS was release the remaining games they had in the pipeline for the system. By 2018, a year after the Switch's launch, the 3DS was practically dead and Nintendo had already moved on. If the Wii U had been a bigger success, the same thing would have happened with it. As it was, it was such a flop that Nintendo didn't even bother to put out one or two more holdover games and had ended manufacturing for it prior to the Switch even releasing. Releasing your last few games in the pipeline isn't really trying to maintain a console.
Of course, because they were doing the same 3rd pillar tactic of pretending they didn't curb stomp the GB/DS lines. That's been my only point this whole time.
Except they didn't really talk about it in terms of third pillar, only mulled over the idea. And, as I said twice already, you can argue whether or not they were really serious about it.
@whatever I feel like believes that Nintendo Life were reading to much into what was said, and maybe they did. Others seem to think that Nintendo really were considering it. I fall somewhere down the middle. Nintendo were never really looking to third pillar anything. They merely kept the idea in their back pocket in case the Switch didn't pan out.
There's literally no way they'd actually put out a DS successor when intending for Switch to be the successor unless it underperformed or lost momentum there's too many reasons to list why that'd be a bad idea. Even that very article questions the seriousness of the claim, it was never actually intended and clearly would never happen so long as Switch succeeded.
Which I've already pointed out. Multiple times.
Not really, they'd cannibalize their own sales by competing against themselves.
And trying to maintain the Switch while also pushing the Switch 2 wouldn't cannibalize sales?
Better to support 3DS and Switch simultaneously, as they did.
Except Nintendo didn't really support the 3DS after 2017. All Nintendo did was release what was already in the pipeline.
Software definitely isn't moving PS5s lol
Sony right now are coasting on few multiplats (like COD) and name brand recognition. However, PS5 sales are nowhere near PS4 or even PS3 numbers, and will probably never get there at this rate. That's what happens when you have no games.
If Nintendo could split their attention between 3DS and Switch, which had entirely different libraries and formats, then I think they can much more easily do so with Switch 1 if they feel so inclined.
Apples to oranges comparison. 3DS games don't require nearly as many resources as HD Switch titles. And as pointed out, the 3DS was in end of life mode, with only remaining big game release being Pokemon, because The Pokemon company is going to get their Pokemoney. They were winding down that system, and they are already doing the same with the Switch, even before the successor releases.
Cross-gen games would be pretty easy at the very least, and assuming there's backwards compatibility they could use that to their advantage with an upgrade offer like PS4 to PS5 games have.
Cross-gen games are more likely. On the other hand, Nintendo don't want to encourage a PS5 situation where almost every game on a successor console is a cross-gen release.
Right, but that divorces the PS2 of context. Without going into the weeds, they could have called it the PlayStation AIDS and it'd have sold just as much thanks to being in the right place at the right time with the right tech. Just because it worked for Sony doesn't mean it will for every company, every time.
An exaggeration, but the PS2 coming out at the opportune time doesn't take away from the fact that the name didn't hurt it. And now is the opportune time to come out with a Switch 2; The Switch is long in the tooth and slowing down in sales, its two competitors are barely selling and have no worthwhile games coming down the pipeline, and we are a ways away from those consoles getting a successor (if they do get successors).
I'm not suggesting every Nintendo fan is a casual, but they makes up a significant amount of Nintendo's audience. I can't even begin to guess what the breakdown looks like and it probably fluctuates based on tons of factors, but it's more than the competition.
Casuals were Nintendo's dominant audience during the Wii era due to a conscious effort by Nintendo to appeal to them. But Nintendo discovered with the Wii U that casuals are fickle and quick to move on to the next big thing. Nintendo's focus with the Switch, as seen in their marketing, wasn't casuals. It wasn't even kids. It was gamers, and old fashioned Nintendo fans. You can see this in the Switch's initial reveal trailer. Young adults and college age people were who they were appealing to. And that seems to have remained consistent in their marketing this generation.
Sony's worst selling consoles still blow Nintendo's worst out of the water, the floundering PS5 already sold much more than Wii U and GC, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't pass at least N64 in a similar timeframe, if not SNES. I think that's because "hardcore" gamers stick with Sony.
Sony have basically been coasting on the PS2's success for the past few generations and have been helped by their competitors stumbling over their own two feet (Microsoft with the tv stuff and always online bullshit they tried to pull last generation, Nintendo with the Wii U). That was never going to last forever. Its already fallen apart in Japan and Nintendo basically dominate that country now, whereas it used to be Sony territory thru and thru. Hardcore gamers are moving on to PC or have largely stuck with the PS4, and many of them now also own Switches.
Nintendo was at its peak when it had no strong competition (NES), wasn't competing directly (Wii), or is selling a handheld (Switch, despite being referred to as a home console). It can't go head to head anymore, so I don't really think they'll try to sell Switch 2 on power and iteration, but we'll see.
I think the Switch has shown that this is simply an out of date take. Nintendo are relevant again when they looked dead in the water after the Wii U. They managed to win back a lot of people who wrote them off during the Wii/Wii U era. Nintendo have found their niche and well and truly capable of carving out their own position in the industry.
Bill Gates himself literally tried to convince Hiroshi Yamauchi to sell Nintendo all the way back at the turn of the century and it literally went nowhere. I don't know why they would think Nintendo would be willing to sell now.
