Why the Nintendo Switch May Struggle to Sell Well - Article
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 03 March 2017 / 22,274 Views
I know I know, we’ve heard it all before. Just before the launch of the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii, or even the GameCube, journalists the world over were all but predicting the demise of gaming’s biggest juggernaut. So yet another writer wading in to state his case for why Nintendo's latest piece of hardware faces an uphill struggle is hardly all that original or surprising.
The point of this article, however, is not to say of infer in any way that the Nintendo Switch will be Nintendo's last console, or that it will put Nintendo out of the hardware business altogether, rather it’s to outline my reasoning for why I have low sales expectations for the Switch.
The Future is Portable
Today's market (and almost certainly tomorrow's) wants portability: there is an entire generation of kids and teens coming of age that has lived exclusively with portable hardware, never needing or even wanting a laptop or home console. Japan is the most extreme case of this; a culture so attuned to the daily commute and technological gadgetry, most Japanese consumers don’t have the time to sit in front of a TV. This, and the fact that they feel the mobile phone does almost everything that a console can do, has resulted in a huge decline in the home console market - a market which (arguably) created the industry we know and love today.
This Japanese culture of portability has allowed the dedicated handheld console market to remain relatively strong, despite losing market share in its own right.
So, looking at the current market as a whole and the future trend, you can fully understand the reasoning behind a console that also doubles up as a portable of sorts. The portability of the Nintendo Switch serves the rising market of gamers on the go but also seeks to cater to the traditional gaming base that still enjoys playing at home.
The problem, I would argue, is that you’re straddling two very different markets in an attempt to capture what could be an enormous demographic, and in doing so Nintendo's latest platform could end up being the jack of all trades and master of none.
Key Differences
The following section is going to be quite reductive, not out of malice, but because I want to get to the heart of the reality behind making different form factor platforms.
The comparison between home consoles and portable handhelds has always been a bit like comparing apples with oranges, but for the purposes of explaining why I think the Nintendo Switch will struggle to sell well it’s worth noting the key pros and cons of each type of gaming system, and why both exist in the first place.
On the surface, you may not think there’s much of a difference between the two: as long as they both play games, what does it matter? But when you start working with smaller sizes, heat and power starts becoming a concern, so much so that it fundamentally changes the games you can make, and the amount of time a player can spend playing your game.
It’s that exact reason why you’ll find handhelds always lagging behind in the graphical department: sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve portability. This isn’t inherently a bad thing; restrictions breed creativity, pushing developers to come up with new and innovative ways to display what they would like, all while making the game as compelling as possible.
Then there’s the issue of the environment you play a game within. With a home console, you can segregate yourself from the outside world, concentrating entirely on the game at hand to give yourself cinematic immersion, a feeling that is hard to break or indeed beat. Handheld devices are often played on the bus, the train, in the park, or just generally when you're out and about. In short, handhelds are oftentimes used in environments where you cannot focus entirely on the game at hand, and this forces developers to invent new and interesting gameplay techniques to take advantage of a player's limited time. There are several reasons for Candy Crush Saga's success, but a key one is that its pick up and play mentality helps to kill time when you have a few minutes to spare.
Let's briefly define the different platform types:
Home Console
A home console is a system which enables high fidelity games and other forms of media to be played on a pre-existing TV. Home Consoles should give consumers the latest graphical and gameplay advances, all from the comfort of their own home.
Portable Console
A portable console is a system which allows users to play their games anywhere they please. Limitations are usually accepted by the consumer, due to the consoles size and portability outweighing the need for the latest in graphical prowess.
This has been true since the dawn of gaming. Just take a look at the specs from a couple of generations of platforms below to see how a portable console is always an order of magnitude less powerful than a home console from the same era:
Now, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at the Nintendo Switch and its potential pitfalls.
A Semi-Portable Platform
Nintendo has created the Switch to, primarily, act as a home console - a somewhat portable one but at heart a home console nonetheless.
Why only somewhat portable? Well, for one, the console’s battery life is terrible. Portables sacrifice visual fidelity because they're portable; restrictions are necessary to allow the battery to last a decently long period of time. Weighing in at a meagre three hours of playtime for any visually appealing game, the Nintendo Switch struggles to make its case as a truly portable platform. Anyone that wants to play the console out and about will constantly have to fret about battery life and reserve it for short trips at best. The fact that it also takes three hours to charge the device once drained speaks volumes to Nintendo’s true intent: you can move it about, but don’t expect to do any serious gaming on it in its portable form.
The reason it only has three hours of battery life? Because Nintendo used relatively powerful mobile hardware, while at the same time keeping the unit as small as possible, resulting in a smaller battery and a power consuming CPU/GPU. This is why I call it a semi-portable platform, because the device itself is intended to stay in its dock most of the time.
The Switch is trying to be too many things to too many people, resulting in a device that sits slightly awkwardly in both the home console market and the portable one. It’s too weak and specific to dominate the living room, but too powerful to be a practical portable platform.
Déjà vu
Straddling two very different markets in order to capture both is not new, even in the gaming industry. Cast your mind back and you may remember that Microsoft’s Xbox One set out to bridge the gap between the traditional multimedia and the gaming market, resulting in a console that underperformed compared to its main competitor as a gaming device, and it didn’t do much when it came to TV either.
Sony's PlayStation Vita also attempted to tread a similar line to the Switch many years ago, albeit from the other side of the fence. It's generally considered to be a failure. Don’t get me wrong, the Vita is easily one of my favourite handhelds of all time, but its lackluster sales in the west demonstrate the uphill struggle a portable platform aiming to create immersive, cinematic experiences faces. Put bluntly, it didn’t result in a winning formula.
But Nintendo's plan is better thought through, right? The potential to capture two different but related markets all centred around one platform is enough of an enticement for the company to attempt what its competitors failed abysmally to do, and Nintendo's handheld expertise and success gives it a better chance of success than Sony's half-hearted attempts to convert console gamers to the handheld market.
I've illustrated how Nintendo expects its approach to play out in a crudely drawn Venn diagram below:
But what they’ve actually created will, in my opinion, result in the following:
There will be a small subset of customers from the home console market that want portability at the cost of graphical fidelity, and a small subset from the portable console market that want better graphics at the cost of battery life.
In theory, Nintendo’s plan to unify both markets it clever, the problem is neither are likely to be wholly satisfied by the offering outside of Nintendo's dedicated fan base.
The Price
And that's all without mentioning the elephant in the room: the Nintendo Switch’s price.
$299.99/£279.99
In isolation, this doesn’t look too bad. Most home consoles release at a slightly higher price and most portables are slightly cheaper. But it doesn't enter the market in a vacuum, especially on the home console front. Here are some of the best deals currently on offer in the UK for the PS4 and Xbox One:
- PlayStation 4 Slim with Horizon: Zero Dawn and an extra controller: £229.99
- Xbox One S with Battlefield 1 and a free game of your choice: £199.85
These consoles are more powerful than the Switch, cheaper, and come with at least one of the most popular releases available on the respective platforms. They are also multimedia systems, capable of handling most of your visual needs, from Netflix to YouTube.
For £279.99 for the Switch you’re only getting the console itself; no games, no extra controllers, nothing. Want a game as well? Expect to pay an additional £35-60 at launch depending on which title you select from, outside of Zelda, a rather meagre line up.
So as I said above, in isolation the Switch’s price isn’t that bad, the issue comes from the fact that Nintendo is releasing the console as if there’s currently no competition in the marketplace, when really this is the most competitive games consoles have been in quite some time.
It’s also worth noting the bang to buck ratio. I know as well as the next guy that the average consumer doesn’t know the difference between one processor and the next, but when parting with money even the most technophobic of customers want the best bang for their buck. For most this doesn't translate into specs, but rather the games available and how much added value they’re getting when purchasing a system.
On both fronts the Switch struggles - it is not the most powerful home console and so the clock is already running against it, the game library is very limited, and it has even more limited multimedia capabilities. When compared to its competitors in the home console market alone, the Switch will lose out most of the time.
As a portable console it ironically holds up better, providing some of the best graphics and gameplay on the market and facing up against dedicated portables that are clearly on the way out. But even here there's an elephant in the room (or pocket, as it were): mobile phones.
So out of the gate the Switch is compromised. On price, performance, and game selection, it’s fighting an uphill struggle against the rest of the market, and that’s without discussing the mobile phone factor.
Compromises
From the battery life, to its graphical capabilities, to the inability to charge and stand the device at the same time, the Switch is an exercise in compromise. Gamers looking for a great home console are going to lament its graphical fidelity and portable gamers are going to struggle to use it for that purpose.
The omens are not that great on the third party support front either. Engines have been tooled and reworked for the capabilities of the Xbox One and PS4 over these last few years, so to have a new console come along which is still the equivalent power of hardware from a decade ago isn’t going to help when porting games. We've seen time and time again that Nintendo struggles to attract committed third party home console support, even when its platform is the market leader. Expect a rash of early support attempting to capitalise on initial enthusiasm that quickly dwindles to a mere trickle, much like it did with the WiiU.
The Nintendo Switch also has compromises where none needed to be. Had Nintendo waited a few more months for a new Nvidia Tegra processor, for example, the battery issues wouldn’t be anywhere near as severe as they are today. Maybe this will be addressed in the next few years - working with mobile SKUs that iterate yearly, for examples, could allow Nintendo to release a new, longer-lasting and more powerful Switch.
Final Thoughts & Predictions
I’m looking forward to receiving my Nintendo Switch sometime soon (whenever Royal Mail finally delivers it!) and putting it through its paces, but I'm concerned that Nintendo is making the same mistakes its competitors have made before it, and even repeating some of their missteps with the WiiU. It's in a stronger position to succeed than its immediate predecessor - indeed I see the Switch outselling the WiiU - but in the long run I don't see it coming close to the success of the 3DS or PS4.
Here are my predictions for the Switch over the coming years:
- The Nintendo Switch will sell more than the WiiU (10+ million units)
- But it will not sell more than 25 million units.
- At $299.99/£279.99, the Switch won’t sell well beyond launch, resulting in a price drop within its first full year on the market.
A graduate in Computing which was centered around Gaming, Dan is a games developer and writer. His first game, Twixel, was released for iOS, Android, PC and Mac in 2015, with the Steam release coming November 18th, 2016. A lover of all things games, Dan has been writing for VGChartz.com for over 2 years, attending conferences and interviewing developers to get the best content for VGChartz readers. His favourite games include Asura's Wrath, S.T.A.L.K.E.R and the Halo Series. Dan can be followed on Twitter at: @Caesoose
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Nice article, Dan!
Thanks man! :D
They'll dominate in Japan with portable Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Pokémon, Splatoon, etc. Imagine a portable Pokémon or Monster Hunter game that's not in 240p.
I'm going to be 100% straight: for what it is the Switch seemed like a fairly good price. When I opened mine up last night I was shocked by the quality of the system and its accessories. Clean, incredibly nice feel, etc. I will have to disagree with the article too. Originally I doubted Nintendo's release schedule, seems like a weak launch lineup with just Zelda (basically), however the hype for Zelda seems have reached a higher level than I expected.
They may very well be able to float through March and April with fantastic sales just off of Zelda alone.
then release Mario Kart at the end of April, then maybe (?) a surprise random release in like May or June, then Splatoon. Then the hype for Mario Odyssey at the end of the year, maybe Xenoblade 2 popping up somewhere in between, Skyrim in the Fall
I think it will do fine. I also can't emphasize enough that the Switch is like a premium handheld. That's why people will buy it. it feels great in handheld mode. So the concept of playing Splatoon or Skyrim or FIFA in high quality on the go, that's what will push sales
the real question mark in my eyes though for the long term is how many projects Nintendo secretly has in the works or if they have really worked with third parties to bring some big unannounced games to the platform in the future. That will be what determines if its actually a hit or not IMO. I think overall its looking like it will do reasonable well though
You're right, Nintendo has brand loyalty, with customers that will buy whatever product they make for the games alone.
The issue is, as the Wii U has demonstrated, first party games can't sell consoles by themselves. You need a sprinkling of third party games to also make the system more enticing.
It's a catch 22; developers/publishers aren't going to change up their engines/games to make them compatible with the Switch until they see sales numbers for a good ROI, and gamers aren't necessarily going to buy the console until there's a great library of games to play.
EA and and bunch of developers published their games to the Wii U when it first launched, but soon stopped when there just wasn't enough sales to warrant the effort being put in. I feel this will happen again.
I'd love to be proven wrong, just making my opinion heard is all.
I disagree. The Switch is $50 too expensive for a clunky handheld.
Seriously thinking of getting a switch. I've always wanted something portable but it's so rare for me to go portable I don't want to fully invest in it. Now i get best of both worlds. It sounds awesome. This is the first time I've considered a Nintendo anything in a while. I'm going to wait and see what the game lineup looks like in a few months but yea I got my eye on this.
Switch will sell good as a portble device and they've the kids & casual gamers. When they drop the price it'd sell a lot.
Add your comment...The price is the biggest problem, i feel it needs to be cheaper than the PS4 and Xbox to remain competitive.
I agree (to a degree).
At around £200 the console becomes a impulse buy for many customers, which in turn would increase sales enough to make it a viable platform for developers/publishers to target.
But they do have the benefit of having a USP, so they're gonna run with that as best they can.
You condensed the entirety of your article into three main points at the end, two of which are referring to a failed console that's failing was due to more and different factors than are at hand with the Switch, and a point about price. The price for the Switch, "in my opinion", is not a problem at all. If that is the main point you want to address at the end, then it seems that is your tentpole reason as to why the Switch will fail - and it's not a good one. Of course, I would like to wait at least three months post-launch to take a definite stance on this, like you yourself have already decided, however.
Price is such a subjective thing. As I said numerous times in the article, by itself the Switch isn't actually that expensive, but it's competing in a market where the competition includes a game and many extras (youtube, netflix, apps etc) for a lot cheaper.
At the end of the day it's a catch 22. Developers are only going to remake their engines/games support the Switch should the sales figures be there, and the sales figures very well might not be there if consumers are put off of the price compared to other market factors.
Nice to see you replied.
Anyhow, the Switch isn't supposed to be competing in the same market as you are stating. The Switch is supposed to combine markets to make a completely different one. In turn, combining those markets combines Nintendo's efforts, which should mean Nintendo's best SW we have seen for many years. That is a draw.
On top of that I believe Nintendo will get more creative with different types of price points for the Switch. They experimented a lot with price points on the 3DS and that'll drive Switch sales just the same.
No problem man, thanks for giving your opinion on it.
Ah you see... therein lies my issue with the coverage so far: it's not up to you, me or anybody in fact to dictate what markets the Switch should or should not be competing in. Fact is, it's on the open games market now, and whilst in isolation it may be a good console, when compared to the competition (as rightly so many consumers will likely do) it doesn't hold up.
I've put in over 12 hours on my Switch since receiving it, and whilst I genuinely like the console, I stand by my words.
The biggest fear I hear from my friends is the lack of support, system itself is amazing but they are not so sure on how Nintendo will manage it, Wii U got support at first but NIN didn't slash the price and go for market share, so everybody abandoned it in the end, even Nintendo
The system itself does not repeat wii u mistakes, this time the price can be controlled without a heavy loss, But I still think that time is against it, it doesn't have enough time to record high sales or even repeat the 3ds, I think 30-35M can be achieved, if it reaches 40 then NIN has a winner to build upon
Im sure it will sell more than Wii U but nowhere near Wii. Hoping for at least 50 million LTD but that seems almost impossible without strong 3rd party support and lower entry price.
It's been out for one day. Let's revisit this in a year and see how things have panned out. Personally I found it to be well worth the price and if Nintendo can put out the killer console like Pokémon game then it's sales will soar.
25m would be a massive failure. I don't think it will sell gangbusters, but 40m should be possible with ease (8m a year with Nintendo's 5 years hardware cycle). Which still wouldn't be very good considering WiiU+3DS is at 77.5m right now.
This article and its comment didn't age well haha
Home consoles and Portable consoles have only one purpose, play videogames. The difference is portability. Everything else you mentioned, like graphical power, life battery is accessory to the product (not the main selling point).
The Switch offers both experiences, so it isn't cattering to a consumer that wants both in one like your "graph" suggests. It is cattering to everyone. You are mixing stuff as graphical power and life battery (stuff that is accessory to the product) and basing your market analysis on that.
Now that the Switch is out in the market and we are looking at possibly 13M sold in the first fiscal year, we can assume without a doubt that your "prediction" isn't going to come true. The price cut is also not going to happen since the Switch has been out for 3 months at $300 in and it's still sold out in most places.
So my suggestion would be: Study the basics of marketing and consumer conduct. Don't do predictions ever again. Stick to reviews and previews.
It will sell much better than Wii U but less than 3DS, is my prediction. But I don't know where it will end up between those extremes. My feeling is that it will get closer to 3DS than to Wii U. Could go as high as 50 million. The good thing is, I think, that Nintendo having a very strong and popular 1st party can have a very financially successful product that sells in the 30-50 million range. So I hope their sales KPI for switch isn't unreasonably high.
I like how the word "may" is used to cover the writers butt. It's like having your cake and eating it too.
I do agree that the price is an issue. A $50 US price cut would benefit the system greatly.
You worry too much. The best is yet to come and that is very soon.
I think one thing that's important to note is that the Switch isn't solely limited to the AAA 3D titles like Zelda or SMO, it will also have the games that fell into the 3DS category (like Fire Emblem or Animal Crossing) which aren't particularly taxing on the battery and will allow people to play the system for much longer.
To me, the Switch seems like a smart way for Nintendo to hedge its bets. Have one console that can be played at home or on the go, and stick all your games onto it. The people that want a home console to play AAA games on have it. The people who want a mobile console to play games that aren't as graphically taxing will have it as well (with the first game meeting this description likely being the Fire Emblem coming in 2018).
Long term, I suspect it'll be home to mostly portable games and the occasional Nintendo AAA title. And that's probably enough to get it to sell well above the Wii U.
I went to get mine... two long lines. They had 28 systems, all gone at the end of the night. Wii U wishes it had that launch. I remember myou local stores still had them in Stock the following day.
Thank you for putting this in a way that people can understand, in particular the segment analysis. I get flamed to no end for saying those things. Of course, not everyone understands marketing and thinks it's just advertising. Cheers for the work you put in and a huge thumbs up.
2017 will be a slog, that's for sure. but it might pick up if they have a nice mario oddyssey bundle for christmas. after that it's anybody's guess. if marketing and 3rd party support is good, it will sell way more than 25m.
Okay I have to say it. This article is terrible and poorly researched. The one thing he gets close on is the problem with a higher price for Switch and paraphernalia. However this is a new console with innovative technology and high graphical prowess for a portable ( yes it's a portable that competes for television time ). Also remember that the PS4 launched at $400.
Everything else is nonsense:
1) His "crude Venn diagrams" are there to take up space I guess. The first one is as erroneous ( how can Nintendo have more than 100% of both portable and console markets ) as the second one ( there will be gamers who never play it on a TV and there will be gamers who never port it around ).
2) Switch battery life ( 2.5 to 6hr ) roughly the same as 3DSxl ( 3.5 to 6hr ) and that's comparing a late iteration to an early one! Charging time is also better for the Switch( 3hr compared to 3.5hr)
3)Graphical comparisons are old news at this point. Can Switch run the Creation engine for Skyrim? Yes. Can it run the Unreal engine? Yes. Do developers find it easy to port to? Yes. Will it run Call of Duty at 4k? No. Get a PS4pro.
4)He also contradicts himself in the same article by saying that a full multimedia package was a liability to Xone and then says that for PS4 and Xone it's an asset that Switch doesn't have. Nobody needs another Youtube and Netflix player.
Nintendo blew it with the Wii U and the last few years of the Wii's life were dismal as well. While their home console strategy was failing their portable strategy was succeeding. Thus the Switch is a successor to the 3DS that is powerful enough to play mainline Mario and Zelda games and to be able to compete for your television as well.
If the switch sells poorly it won't be due to the Market Straddling strategy that was poorly outlined in the article. The battery life has proven ample for other handhelds and will probably be upgraded in the next iteration. The graphics are competitive with the other systems but, let's face it, you haven't bought a nintendo for the best graphics since the 64 and even that was arguable.
It's my opinion that the Switch will be made or broken by 3rd party support. Of course that is for another article if anybody cares to do the research.
Well, games can use less power(games that typically appeals handheld users), and they spend less batery. So, the power and batery dont seem to be big deal for handheld users.
Also, what if they release a more portable option, with no dock on package (though, cheaper)?
I wouldnt say it is doomed to stay as a semi portable forever.
I think the barebones OS, and relatively scarce lineup are its biggest issues. It's simply not going to sell well in between the month-2months release gaps (in my opinion), though I'd love to be proven wrong.
Without third party support, I don't see how this will sell very well.
There are 12+ Mio Wii Us and 60+ Mio 3DS out there. Even if every Wii U owner has a 3DS there are still 48+ Mio potential Switch buyers. As all Nintendo teams will work on Switch games I have no doubts that Nintendo will sell way more then 48 Mio Switches as there is no better second console out there...
Is this really where we are? Company X has a blue car for 100k, HOW DARE company Y have a blue car for 150k?!?!!?
You are buying different things. Its not that difficult to understand...
Consumers sure are dumb, but they have the right to complain about the price if they feel it's not good. Sometimes even different things can be compared, and sometimes some things don't fare too well in these comparisons. Some people are going to compare the prices of different consoles and find that Switch is priced too highly compared to the competition (in their opinion, of course).
Some people buy apple phones that cost 3 times as much and does less than other products on the market. And they love it.
This is extremely obvious. I said nothing about their "right" to complain, only that their reasoning is really dumb.
I wish for people to be more educated and understanding. I'm not denying reality, I only sigh and shake my head when the general public refuses to move forward.
I guess it wasnt obvious enough but in the context of the article, the author is talking about why he thinks OTHER PEOPLE won't buy it. When I'm commenting on buyer behaviour/attitudes, in this context, its aimed at those people he's talking about. Not at him.
First you give me the dumb snark, then a well-written (but pointless) comment. Now I'm writing a pointless reply that's way too long. Bah
See, this reply brings a lot more context to your comment. Originally, it seemed only rude, with very little substance, which is why my first reply was what it was. Now your meaning is a lot clearer.
Yeah, I agree, consumers are really dumb. But perceived value is a tricky thing, and for a lot of people, those Apple phones are worth the very high price even if they do less than other products. It's a very subjective matter (in addition to people simply being very dumb in a lot of things).
Well, you could've asked, instead of assuming rudeness. When you initiate by being a jerk, you invite a lot more shit.
You're not alone though, judging by thumbs, several others took it the same way.
Regardless of my intentions in the first place, your comment wasn't doing anything to improve the situation.
The price point is going to be a hard sell initially until more games come out. I can see potential for this to be Nintendos future going forward. XB and PS focussing on home entertainment, with Nintendo as an on the go solution.
Considering the timing of the article it seems to be simply a further excuse to push forward the doom and gloom narrative. It´s more wishful thinking to see it fail than an actual objective look at Nintendo Switch sales potential. Great job at trying to poison the well in advance.
I preordered and recieved my Switch yesterday and have already put 8 hours into Zelda BOTW, so have no intentions of wanting to see it fail.
I didn't set out to create a narrative of doom and gloom, so I apologise if you've read it that way. I merely wanted to go on record and give my predictions for the console. It'll sell OK, be profitable for Nintendo, but won't be the runaway success many seem to believe it will be.
Nintendo is so anti consumer it makes me want to stay away from Switch altogether. $300 is high enough, but plus chargers, expensive controllers, and gb cards the costs really add up, and that's before buying games that'll never reach $20 sales likes PS4 and XOne games do. Nintendo's greatest enemy is Nintendo.
And all those quality issues, there are reports about damaged screens, several Joycon issues, cartridges not working...
But they can always update the hardware revision, lower the price at E3 and the release of a Switch mini could fix the portability issues if they used Nvidia's next chip generation and clocked it down to Switch performance levels.
The price point and launch signup don't look good. I think the console itself isn't the problem because its a looker in many ways, especially as a portable device. Like the Xbox bundles with Kinect, maybe the Switch should not be sold bundled with the docking station. Many will use it purely as a handheld
So sick of people ragging on Nintendo. Even the writers here are?
Where is the article about how EXCITED you are for a new gaming system? You realize that the MORE negative press you out out, the MORE negative press people will SEE period. It really is that simple. How about you at least pretend to like video games again? I hate this generation of gamers. All they do is find stuff to bitch about, instead of the things to celebrate.
And don't think no one noticed you guys did a "Best Games of 2016" for Xbox...But not for WiiU or PS4. What the hell was that all about?
...what? Just because you're happy for something, doesn't mean you ignore all negatives. That's a terrible idea- it's how many marriages go wrong as well. It's the reason why many people regret purchases- they buy without reviewing the cons.
Of course, the switch is different. We're at least guaranteed decent first party support and indies. However, we can't ignore the fact that the XB1 and PS4 are competitively priced in a way that won't make the switch automatically become successful.
Instead of being so defensive, it'd be nice of you to stop being "this generation of gamers" and analyze the article in and calm way. In no way did he or any writer bash on Nintendo. They made a top ten for one console, so what? Does this mark the end of the world? No. No need to get on them for a nonexistent reason.
I thought it was cool that you could still use Wiimotes for some Wii U games. It saved on controller buys that you usually have to fork over every generation. They should have at least made the Wii U Pro Controller compatible with the Switch. That would have pleased some of their dedicated fans.
And these and that. Those who wants to use headphones playing on their TVs – HOW do they watch TV with headphones? Dock won't scratch the Switch if inserted with human sense. And the game prices: you get what you pay for. In fact – there is no other portable device having ONE title coming even near to that what the Switch offers at launch.
I know there are many infuriating doom and unfair articles for Nintendo all over the internet but let's not deem any article with a negative prediction, as doom thread!
Look how careful the writer is! He used the word may, a doom monger would not, he would say with utter certainty that switch will flop.
He has made a prudent analysis ( look that abundance of details and clues) that leads him to that conclusion ( so it doesn't matter if he will be completely refuted ) , a doom monger would just have shitty assumptions, dogmatism, distortrion, erroneous use of data and fabrication all derived from his malovelence.
Disagree or agree, I appreciate that someone who says that something that may not sell well, supports it with arguments, which many of them are well-founded and doesn't have spitefulness, since he is describing something negative with seriousness and not with a derisive style.
not with derisive and acrimonious style*
