Nintendo Focusing On Switch Install Base To Combat Next-Gen Performance Gap

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa shares his thoughts on future third-party support as the next console iterations from Sony and Microsoft widen the performance gap.

[EddieNX]

They'll need to release a more powerful Switch eventually.

[Cmv38]

Lol. Nintendo has people convinced that's its not a part of the next gen already. They are a generation ahead of the playstation and xbox.

[Gridknac]

Maybe in numerical value they are a Gen ahead, but power wise they are behind a Gen. Which Nintendo is right to worry about. They are just now seeing good 3rd party support. When the next gen hits, this could begin to dry up. They already have to dull games down to get them to run on the switch. Another leap in graphics and computational power could prove to be too much for the switch.

[EddieNX]

They aren't a gen behind anything power wise. They are the only current gen portable system and therefore aren't comparable to home consoles in terms of power.

Don't get why that's so hard for people to understand.

The 3DS and Vita are a gen ahead of the Xbox 360 for example , but neither as powerful as the home console 360.

[JunMei]

I think at this point, we need to abandon all of our ideas about what generations are in terms of video games.

[Npugz7]

Your delusional!

[Sirk7x]

More likely they'll make it so that manufacturing is cheaper, and drop the price, while offering a mini variant. If it ends up selling 80 million, and people are actively buying and playing games, devs will continue to create and publish games on the platform, regardless of power. If anything, some companies will prefer having lower budget games if they will sell well. We could end up seeing far more exclusive Switch games being made of the install base continues to climb steadily, and if those people are all purchasing software.

[Gridknac]

Where was wii's 3rd party support then?

[jmc8888]

Yep, but will the gap be bigger or smaller than it was this gen? That's the key.

[RosweeSon]

There will be a switch 2.0 proper by 2022 max. Year earlier if was to bet a £1. Slim or whatever they calling it by end of the year and yeah within 12-18 months a proper new next Gen Nintendo system they never stay in a Gen more than 4-6 years max

[CyberSentinel]

They will need to constantly turn out them Nintendo Exclusives in order to maintain their base support. I would imagine at least 1 AAA Nintendo first party exclusive each month. Perhaps even more especially around the holiday seasons.

[LOGICWINS]

An AAA Nintendo first party exclusive each month? Not even Sony or Microsoft can pull that off.

Games would be $90 instead of $60 due to the man power it would take to pull that off.

[CyberSentinel]

I guess that depends on what you consider AAA games. I don’t feel you need to spend RDR2 budgets to make great games. Look at Super Mario Maker 2, I doubt the cost to make that game was anywhere near Halo money, but I consider it a AAA first party game.

Franchises like Zelda, Paper Mario, 3D Mario, 2D Mario, Luigi Mansion, Pokemon, Metroid, Xenoblades, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, Yoshi, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Captain Toad, Earthbound...etc are all franchises I consider “AAA”.

[RizBiz]

Not even Microsoft? M$ can't even manage to release a good first party exclusive more than once a console generation.

[Steppenwolfmother]

Nintendo do not have the resources to turn out that many games themselves. If they made some 2nd party deals with their licenses perhaps they could

[rainslacker]

Even if they did, there is a limit to how many can do well. AAA is risky, and even good games can fail.

2-3 AAA per year, with some mid tier to fill in the gaps, coupled with 3rd party doing their thing us sufficient.

Switch can do well as a portable, and will still get some multiplat games. Its not going to be in trouble next gen.

[The Wood]

No way bro. . That's near impossible and impractical. You'll have games cannibalising games. I don't see anything wrong with the pace and spacing of their triple a titles.

Logic. . . Dude. . You can't group Sony and MS together here. . . Lol. . . .

[Vits]

I hadn't stop to think about that yet. But once the new consoles got release they will be like 20x more powerful than the Switch.

However I don't think that the Switch will be really that affected. Maybe it will become an obstacle for some third party ports, but as the console is receiving ports from all over the place (old gen, current gen, mobile, etc...) I believe it will be just fine.

But that might make Nintendo pressure Nvidia to actually make the Tegra X2 a usable SoC for a handheld device.

[FallenAngel1984]

The power gap between Switch and PS5/Xbox Scarlett will be akin to the power gap between Wii and PS3/360

[DarkHeroZX]

But the power gap is alreadly like that now.

[wheresmymonkey]

Didn't hurt the Wii at all.
Likewise, the power gap between the vita and 3ds and the ds and the PSP didn't make a blind bit of distance.
games make a system not how many pixels it can push. So long as Nintendo keeps making games people want to play, the system will continue to sell.

[WickedLester]

Sorry but thats just willful ignorance. Everybody knows the reason why Wii did so well inspite of the power disadvantage was because of the motion gimmick.

[Kabaneri]

Thats how it is now, it would actually be more like the powergap between Gamecube and PS4. Nintendo is gonna be two generations behind. Good luck getting 3rd party support from the AAA companies.

[Sirk7x]

True, but I'm going to get a PS5 on launch day, and still own and buy games for my Switch as long as it's being supported with great software. If it continues to sell as well as its doing, especially with a big price drop, companies will want to make games for the system. There are advantages in doing so. Lower budget, certain markets. We could continue to see exclusives like Astral Chain for years going forward if Nintendo is smart about it. I know we're going to get fantastic games on next Gen, but that's not going to take away from the quality of Nintendo in house games either. Doesn't matter what year games like Animal Crossing release, it's gonna sell like crazy.

[KnightNumber86]

Which says nothing... Doesn't the Wii have almost 20mil more sold than the other two?

Innovation > Power

[Rhythmattic]

Innovation + Power still is better.

[2pacalypsenow]

Just keep releasing more Marios and Zelda’s.

That’s what people buy Nintendo consoles for.

[Last_Boss]

They will emplode.

[TacoTaco]

Switch features the best-selling Zelda of all time and the best-selling 3D Mario of all time, but ok

[Last_Boss]

@Taco

It takes more than that to sustain a system.

[indysurfn]

They have more than that. Only fan boys wont admit they have a LOT of big selling games.

[Goldenhawk521]

I'm not into Nintendo games at all. I buy Nintendo consoles for the third party games alone.

[Thundercat77]

😂 Liar

[indysurfn]

To be fair I thought you was kidding too. But I look at all these JRPG's that Nintendo did not make and I can at least see why you say that. But come one MAN Nintendo makes some games with supper gameplay.

I can see any JRPG person mostly buying 3rd party games though.

[Espangerish]

Nintendo first party exclusives, indies and portability. Those 3 reasons will keep the switch relevant no matter how powerful next gen consoles are.

[indysurfn]

Sorry but JRPG's (which is why most people went to handhelds) has to be mentioned! They have around 400 of them now.

[m2stech]

it's not that hard just put a gpu in the docking station, there now you can call it a console

[ILostMyMind]

They will release a new Switch in two years, screw the customers.

[Tazzy]

Like Microsoft and Sony did with the Xbox One S/X and the PS4PRO.

[ILostMyMind]

Nobody was screwed with Pro. I'm not sure about XBX.

[Last_Boss]

Nintendo say this coming and did nothing. They are way behind the curve on this.

[tar_tar07]

But they selling them switches like hotcakes.

[Last_Boss]

That's great, but they cant afford to be too far behind in only catering to select 3rd parties.

No matter what Sony & Microsoft say, they ARE still good competition THIS gen. All the lower budget and non demanding games are great business on both ends.

Nintendo, making mobile games, pushes a ton of revenue their way. They need a system that will perform above and beyond, to cover all basis. This isn't about graphics, it's about performance and storage.

It would be very wise for them to address a structured online community, and not built off gimmick.

[rainslacker]

People keep saying they need a more powerful console, but Nintendo has struggled with more powerful consoles since Sony launched playstation. Not usually because of the quality of the systems, but because of their business decisions, or timing on release.

Nintendo just isnt known to be the system to go to if you want power. It's hard to say if they'd do better if they launched it more around the same time as the other companies, because 3rd parties tend to not do as well with multiplats during those times where they have something equivalent. While there are always mitigating circumstances in those cases, 3rd party doesn't really look at things in that light.

I think Nintendo will be fine next gen. They have a unique system, and have no competition in the portable space. For home console, they still have a really good supplemental console for those that need the latest and greatest looking games. If anything has an effect on them, it's going to be streaming services, since streaming to mobile negates a reason someone may want a portable. But, that benefit is going to be region dependent, so Nintendo has some breathing room.

[Tazzy]

I think the sales of the Switch say otherwise no matter what people say sales matter Zune sucked it didn't sell well Windows Phones suck you don't hear about them anymore that shows sales matter. Switch is about to pass Xbox One in sales and the Xbox One is more powerful than Switch they can be behind the curve and make a ton of money its sad when a console is $299.99 like Xbox One and PS4 and its been outselling them isn't it??

[Last_Boss]

The difference is Nintendo & Sony are after strict gaming on all fronts. Both of them also understand how important it is to produce certain styled games. Microsoft will NEVER catch up to what the other 2 are doing. When the next hardware launches, it's going to be like when companies started pulling projects from Vita.

Right now the Switch is still the perfect substitute, for many companies who don't do high budget projects. But what's going to happen is, you will see more studio mergers for survival. Nintendo isn't pushing 3rd party games, and it will be sink or swim instinct.

[rainslacker]

Zune and windows phones were actually pretty good. Zune had music industry support about as much as apple did at the time, and overall, was a better product. But MS came in late, and weren't really seen as a big player in that market.

Windows phone OS was really good. Very strong, with a lot of features, plus the easiest to develop for. But it had no support because they didn't have enough of an install base. The phones themselves were hit or miss, and MS made a bad decision requiring dual core processors for an upgrade, rendering what little install base they had left in the cold. But again, they came in late, and weren't viewed as a major player.

Sales do matter though. MS dropped both those products because of sales. Power has nothing to do with sales or quality, and that's true across many products

[adonisisfree]

They just need to keep doing what they’re doing. You combat performance with actual innovation. Nintendo’s been doing that for years now

[jaycptza]

Switches redeeming feature is it's portability. Once XB release X Cloud and gets its first party development in order Switch might be in big trouble. MS have a diverse line up I'm sure and I'm not even a XB fan. Just excited to see what comes

[rainslacker]

A portable console that you can connect to the TV is hardly what I call innovative. Switch had pointless innovation trying to mimic the Nintendo DS on a home console, and it failed. Wii was innovative I guess, and did well, but ended up being mostly shovel ware and forgotten by gamers because it wouldn't play the games that were available for the generation. For the couple of home consoles before that, whatever they may have innovated on didn't generate much in sales.

They're really good on the portable front, even if the innovation us superfluous or no one cares about it, but they do well there because of the support those portables get.

Just think of all the home console generations that Nintendo has been a part of. How many have they actually "won"? The answer is three . One where the rebooted the industry and consumer interest with the NES, and then the SNES, where Sega gained strong mindshare and was pretty much neck and neck overall. Then the Wii, which won because Nintendo created a new market. But the Wii is usually ignored when talking about that gen, because while it had some good games, it didn't have any of the major multiplats that helped define that generation.

There is innovation in there that helped them sell, but it doesn't mean they always win because they're innovative, or even when they have better hardware.

[MWH]

They could be planing to announce a new console next year, otherwise we will end up having the Nintendo Stitch.

[Exvalos]

In layman's terms if a publisher doesn't want to release a gimped version of the game "oh well"

[AK91]

Wise choice

[Firebird360]

Demand for switch has already slowed awhile back. Sales numbers show that. Nintendo diehards already own one now and people wanting something new already bought it.
Without a new more powerful switch, sales will slow even further.
Ps5 and nextbox will steel all the thunder from Nintendo going forward.

[TacoTaco]

They're approaching or have exceeded already 3x the sales of the Wii U after less than 2.5 years. Or are those just the diehards that weren't diehard enough to get a Wii U?

[TheHateTheyGive]

Switch to me is a wii u pro without the 3rd party games wii u had. Before the sensitive nintendo handheld fans get defensive. Wii u had madden, nfs, day 1 assassins creed, not the old trash that switch got, batman game, and so many others.

[jznrpg]

The install base will buy more Switch

[Jalapeno]

Sony has already said that the PS4 will get good support through 2022. Nintendo has about three years for a Switch upgrade.

[blanka4545]

It's all about the games! Nintendo has always been lowest on hardware but games sell! I love my switch as it is!

[xRacer74x]

I doubt it matter much most of the install base use the switch as a secondary console or one to go places with.

[xXxSeTTriPxXx]

Its a handheld.not even competing for the same market.

The switch'll be just fine doing its own thing.

[Father__Merrin]

mabey they can release a link cable if mommy, pops, uncle jack and grandma fanny all link thier switches together mabey it can project at higher resolutions and textures. on topic the switch launched so late the ps5 and scarlett will be light years ahead switch tbh its just a new handheld that nintendo was always best at. think gameboy advance if you had a tv out cable for it thats all what the swich is

[SinisterKieran]

nobody buys a switch for power, its for creativity.
i will never ever play 3rd party games on it because they look like garbage but those exclusives are worth it.

[ziggurcat]

You know how they can combat the next-gen power gap? by actually releasing powerful hardware.

[Larrysweet]

U gotta tell nintendoe that eddiex they swear switch is homecosnole not handheld