What Does Next-Gen Mean for Nintendo?

NVC for the week of October 10, 2019. Where Nintendo fits into next-gen, new Pokemon details, Doom Eternal's delay, and more.

[ClayCyre]

Great write up!

[SkatterBrain]

Means itll be as powerful as a base model xbox 1 at least i could see them releasing a 1.3 teraflop machine

[UltraNova]

It means a whole lot less 3rd party support.

As for the general term "Next Gen", Nintendo means a brand new Console/hybrid with last gen(at least) hardware powering it.

[badz149]

meaning Nintendo won't be getting many ports from next-gen games on the PS5 and Scarlet

[Elda]

Pretty much.

[TheHateTheyGive]

Nintendo has not been in the competition since wii u failed. I dont care what the delusional switch fans think, switch is a handheld 1st and foremost, its their main selling point, the new switch mini confirms that.

[fonger08]

The Switch is a hybrid, with the purpose of the mini generating revenue from the EOL of the 3DS and their dedicated gaming division. Not sure what’s hard to get about that exactly.

[badz149]

yeah but the Lite is no longer a hybrid

[deafdani]

I won't deny that.

But a handheld is still competition. It still competes for the consumer's money, especially with the younger demographic. :P

[SierraGuy]

The younger demographic wants a PlayStation....they're not stupid.

[QuackShot]

@TheHateTheyGive

"switch is a handheld 1st and foremost"

That's a fair point, especially with the release of the new switch lite.

But would you say that now PlayStation can stream to mobile phones, laptops and basically any other available screen with the latest update and Xbox is doing the same via the X Cloud service not to mention the introduction of the Stadia platform that this makes the Switch even more relevent going foreward, as at least on Switch mobile gaming will be playable on actual 'local' hardware?

The consensus seems to be that streaming is not good and local hardware gaming is always better, and in that respect in will be hard for PS, Xbox and Stadia to ignore the 37 million install base

Source - https://www.nintendo.co.jp/...

Interested to hear your thoughts on how Switch isn't competitive in this regard?

[King_Noctis]

The first Switch is a hybrid. The new Switch is a handheld. If both Switches were meant to be handheld, then Nintendo would have little reason to release the Switch Lite.

Maybe it is you who is delusional.

[AllMightyFox]

well by trends we can make a few guesses …

when others went 1080p , Nintendo went backwards to 720p ..

so if true to the past with new devices going to 2160p, we can only assume Nintendo plans on going 480p … lol

[King_Noctis]

Do the “others” have a built-in screen that can play at 720p?

[nowitzki2004]

No but they give us what we want. Powerful home systems that can play 3rd party games as well.

[King_Noctis]

@nowit

So apparently Nintendo didn’t give almost 40 million people what they want.

[mcstorm]

I find this argument funny. Nintendo have created coneoles on par of more powerful than current gen consoles (N64, Gc) and they did not sell that well did not have 3rd party support. Nintendo needs to be different to stand out but that said Nintendo knows its market. How many people said the PSV would walk all over the 3ds? What happened? Yet the PSV had all the power and support at the start.

Nintendo know its markets and the switch fits them better than offering 2 coneoles and being the only handheld on the market now also makes sense for the switch. One console to support but can offer home and mobile games.

Nintendo don't need to have the most powerful console look at games like MK Mark galaxy nothing else in its gore comes close on the ps4 or xbox one that looks as good. Also look at the sales of its own ips. This says alot about Nintendo and for me they don't need to be a me to just carry on being them being different and make the games that they are good at.

[BrainSyphoned]

Nintendo have their own gen categories to me. I love what they have been doing but to say the WiiU was a new Gen is iffy at best and the Switch is its own thing. I want and buy their products but to me they are their own niche and they hopefully will stay that way.

[Hroach616]

I was going to say the same thing. Yes Nintendo is competing with the other 2 systems. But they are apart at the same time. Nintendo does their own thing. Because they know even though they are technically third. I think most people pick up a Nintendo console as their second console.

[nowitzki2004]

Not just you lol. Xbox and PS are usually head to head and Nintendo is in its own universe.

[fonger08]

First off, hopefully they stick to the Switch/hybrid format, as Nintendo has the reputation of doing something different almost every gen. I’m sure the port support will obviously fade as the PS5 and Xbox “whatever” get going, but hopefully with whatever they do next will at least be able to get again some (Lesser)ports for the same hybrid format.

[ziggurcat]

I think they'd be dead in the water if they refuse to put out a system that isn't 2 generations behind in power and basic online capabilities.

[IanTH]

I'm thinking they *might* have pivoted Switch to handheld to take over for 3DS because they will try to have a more powerful console next gen to...somewhat compete with MS/Sony. They probably won't go tflop to tflop, but they will have to be more powerful if they want to have third party support next gen. The Switch won't cut it for ports once holiday 2020 rolls around, so perhaps we'll see a slightly more conventional hardware approach from them then. The Switch would be a great machine to pivot to their dedicated handheld if they launch a new console.

[zodiac909]

If they would for once just invest a bit more in putting more modern tech into their products, they would be able to extend the lifecycle of their products by a few years at least, and not be behind as soon as they launch.

[wheresmymonkey]

But that's not what has worked for Nintendo. All of their most successful systems have been less powerful than the competition.
in general terms, the most 'powerful' machine has never translated directly into sales. its games that sell consoles and Nintendo's IPs are some of the most enduring in the whole of the industry.

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Whatever type of console Nintendo makes in the future, going forward it should always be like the Switch. Where you can play at home or on the go.

[badz149]

they already went backwards with the Lite though

[Army_of_Darkness]

Nintendo Flip... Flip the console upside down to see the lcd screen and play on the go with it ?🤣

[Thundercat77]

It means less third party support for Nintendo. They have to decide to keep relying on ports or make new hardware.

[Sirk7x]

Less third party multi-platform support, yes. If the install base is there, and the software sales warrant it, could see a continued growth of third-party exclusives.

[Einhander1971]

The only delusional ones are the donuts who think Nintendo will be irrelevant once ps5 and next box release. Switch has gained a huge user base. Do you honestly think developers are going to turn there backs on profit.

[Imortus_san]

Cheap hardware, with some good inovations and terrible durability like the switch so they can sell and resell to the some nobs all over again, console wont be very powerfull so they can still use dirty cheap Memory cards and keep the investment low while ripping the profits.

I guess this describes every Nintendo console that came out after the gameCube.

[UnholyLight]

I see Nintendo continuing their trend of sticking to sort of their own niche within the gaming market. They have games you just can't get from the competition and can easily sell and convince their fanbase to buy the next thing. I expect Nintendo to do like what they did with the Switch and release a next gen console in the middle of the PS5/Xbox Next generation. They'll keep occupying this unique position and not worry too much about directly competing.

[Tross]

Nintendo is out of the power arms race, so...I doubt much will change for them. The Switch will likely still be a popular alternative to the big guys, and an attractive secondary system. I assume there won’t be as many titles that are available on all three systems going forward (if any) but the Switch will likely continue to receive enough content to offset that.

[AK91]

Another Wii U where it got left behind and shelved in favour of newer consoles unless Ninty releases a Switch Pro or Switch 2.

[SierraGuy]

Impending doom.