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Nintendo president Doug Bowser: Switch is ‘redefining what a console life cycle can look like’

The executive also explained Nintendo's mobile business, and how the company handles licensing issues.

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washingtonpost.com
Jin_Sakai826d ago (Edited 826d ago )

Sounds like no Switch Pro anytime soon. Unless this is just PR talk to assure sales don’t slide in anticipation for the Switch Pro.

phoenixwing825d ago

Nintendo has always lied in order to get more sales. So there's no way of knowing if they really mean it or not

Bobertt825d ago

There are listings popping up at online retailers and being removed so it's probably coming this year. Unless they have supply issues.

Sitdown825d ago

@phoenixwing
What was their lie for the NES and SNES?

Vegamyster825d ago

phoenixwing

All companies do this, they're not going to tell you about a new, better product if sales for the current one are doing great.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 825d ago
fr0sty825d ago

Translated: "Y'all keep buying it, and it's cheap AF for us to make, so we're gonna keep on milking this cow a few more years."

Knushwood Butt826d ago

The Wii U sure redefined what a console life cycle can look like.

ToddlerBrain825d ago

***The Virtual Boy Has Entered The Chat***

RPGer825d ago

Vita: Hold PSP games and my only 3 exclusives.

Teflon02825d ago

Vita didn't get a replacement announced like 2 or so years in and had more than 3 exclusives. Also outsold WiiU lol. Don't know the details behind virtual boy. Always hear random different things about it though so not sure how it goes

northpaws825d ago

I enjoyed my Wii U much more than my Switch though.

Both Botw and Mario Kart 8 are one of the best if not the absolute best in the whole series, had a lot of fun with the Nintendo Land party games, especially the Luigi Mansion one

I haven't both Botw and Mario Kart on my switch because I don't want to pay again for the same game

King_Noctis825d ago

The Vita sure redefined what a console life cycle can look like.

MeteorPanda825d ago

yeah l love no bluetooth or network infrastructure

AnnaDea825d ago

How about no.

If Nintendo would be the one that decides what things would be regarding console generations, they wouldn't update at all more than every 10 years.

Let's not forget that half of Nintendo's consoles were failures were the other half was succesful.

Sony is within their first year of success with their 5th console.

Nobody likes you holding back the industry Nintendo!

Michiel1989825d ago

since when is the Wii U half of their consoles? and if you add virtual boy or something then also add the gameboys to it. pretty sure its more like 15% that failed then still.

AnnaDea825d ago

Success: Nes, Snes, Wii

Failures: N64, GameCube, Wii U

I don't count handhelds because they were more or less having a monopoly until smartphones happened.

Michiel1989825d ago (Edited 825d ago )

n64 and gamecube were failures? youre the first person i ever heard saying that

they might not have been the dominant consoles that snes and nes were, but they werent failures at all.

LucasRuinedChildhood825d ago (Edited 825d ago )

The PS2 outsold the GameCube 7:1, and a newcomer (Xbox) also managed to outsell the GC by a few million units. It only sold around 20m units which was just 1/3 of NES sales. The N64 faired quite a bit better but getting outsold 3:1 by a newcomer (PlayStation) was still a poor result. They also sold terribly in Europe (the PS2 outsold the GC 12:1 there).

I live in Ireland and I remember being confused as a child when I discovered that the GameCube even existed. It was only allocated a very small portion of the space in game stores like GameStop and Xtra-vision so it was easy to miss. Second hand GC games were basically stored in a space the size of a large box.

They completely lost their stranglehold on the market and get much less console sales even as the market was rapidly expanding. The vast majority of console gamers preferred what the other consoles were offering and abandoned Nintendo, forcing them to bow out of making traditional consoles. Broadly speaking, they failed.

That doesn't mean that there weren't good games or anything, but from a financial perspective they did fail which is why they changed direction so drastically with the Wii and future systems.

Michiel1989825d ago

I think there is also something inbetween succes and failure, not being the smash hit they hoped for doesnt mean its an auto failure. Also a lot of the people that grew up with snes and nes were grown up by then, thus gravitated more towards the mature ps and xbox.

by your logic ps3 would be a failure then as well. nintendo who previous gen sold like 30% of ps2 with gamecube dominated ps3, they lost their dominant market position blablabla.

AnnaDea825d ago

"n64 and gamecube were failures? youre the first person i ever heard saying that

they might not have been the dominant consoles that snes and nes were, but they werent failures at all"

Just see at the statistics.

Sold units.

N64: 32.93 million
Saturn: 9.26 million
Playstation: 102.49 million

Gamecube: 21.75 million
Xbox: 24 million+
Playstation 2: 155 million

Nintendo got to sell 33 million n64 to a costumer base out of 150 million.

They sold 22 million Gamecubes to a costumer base out of 200 million.

From being in the top of the industry to crashing totally. They managed to win with the Wii when that happened, but that was a real close victory. Then they tanked so hard with the Wii U xD

You by anyone should update yourself in a couple of areas.

"by your logic ps3 would be a failure then as well. nintendo who previous gen sold like 30% of ps2 with gamecube dominated ps3, they lost their dominant market position blablabla."

What the f*ck are you talking about?

Wii: 101.63 million
Xbox 360: 84 million
Playstation 3: 87.4 million

I don't know why you are even comparing gamecube with ps3 when they aren't even in the same console generation...

Michiel1989825d ago

that comment was directed at lucas, he made the comparison and if something failed or not compared to previous gens. also i didnt compare the ps3 and gamecube, i compared how apparently failure is measured for nintendo but not for playstation, compared to the previous gen and if they sold more or less and market share.

Teflon02825d ago (Edited 825d ago )

Sales wise yes they were failures.
Just because people got fond memories doesn't mean they did well.

OG Xbox outsold GameCube. Think it was GC with 24M and XB with 28M then PS4 with like 150M or something that was a complete failure and thinking otherwise is crazy. I liked GameCube quite a bit but no way it wasn't a failure.
N64 was a party game monster but it was a failure sales wise when the new boy PlayStation which only existed because Nintendo screwed Sony had 70% of the sales atleast lol. Sony's only non first finish was PS3 and it didn't sell to far behind Wii in the end. So it is quite correct. Switch is realistically a handheld so it really has lived up to where it is suppose to be lol. But Nintendo handhelds generally always sold good not home consoles after SNES outside of Wii which sold great

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 825d ago
Nebaku825d ago

Sony bias at its finest.

If the n64 and Gamecube were failures because they didn't outsell their competitors in that generation, then the PS3 is also a failure. Not to mention any of Sony's handhelds.

Chriswheeler22825d ago

Not outselling competitors isn't what made it a failure. It was being outside by the competitor 7 to 1 and 3 to 1.

Ps360 era weren't too far behind the wii. Like 106 million vs 86 million.

AnnaDea825d ago

No, it's just stating facts.

Not that Nintendo fanboys has ever been grounded in reality. What Chris more or less said.

King_Noctis825d ago

“If Nintendo would be the one that decides what things would be regarding console generations, they wouldn't update at all more than every 10 years.”

That is why having more competition is great, isn’t it?

“ Sony is within their first year of success with their 5th console.
Nobody likes you holding back the industry Nintendo!”

How can Nintendo hold back the industry if, in your opinion, it seems that Sony is the market leader and never fail?

Chevalier825d ago

What? Maybe if you're talking about portables, but, home consoles it would be hard to argue that Sony 'fails'. Their lowest selling system sold almost 90 million and 3 out of 4 consoles previously sold over 100 million each. Which console maker has had more consistent console sales? Xbox and Nintendo COMBINED have 1 home console between them sell over 100 million. Plus Sony game sales are more than both Xbox and Nintendo COMBINED.

AnnaDea825d ago

"That is why having more competition is great, isn’t it?"

When it's pushing forward and not backwards.

Switch isn't pushing anything forward and Nintendo's unwillingness to stay updated hurts their 3rd party support. Nintendo was 1 generation behind to go into the world of HD.

"How can Nintendo hold back the industry if, in your opinion, it seems that Sony is the market leader and never fail?"

Because if you haven't noticed they do have a large percentage of the market sales. We went from Switch vs PS4 to Switch vs PS5 now.

Developers would sing in union if they could make the same game for 3 different platforms, but now they need to develop one next-gen version for PS5/Series X and if the CEO is a dick, another different version for Switch.

I thought Cyberpunk 2077 was a good lesson in what happens when you have different versions of the same game for multiple platforms of uneven strength.

King_Noctis825d ago (Edited 825d ago )

“ Switch isn't pushing anything forward”

Really? Before the Switch was released, how did you play games like The Witcher 3, Outer World, Kingdom Come, and Doom Eternal, and in a portable console at $300? Before BOTW, where were Immortals Fenyx Rising, Genshin Impact, and Decay of Logos? Did Aloy suddenly decide to use a Batman cape in Horizon 2?

“ Because if you haven't noticed they do have a large percentage of the market sales.”

How can Nintendo have the larger market share if it seem that in your opinion, the Switch fail as a console?