Nintendo's Switch finds itself between a rock and hard place

Chris Brandrick for overkill notes how the Switch is now "entering its twilight era" and that "getting the timing right on launching a successor is going to be a tricky balancing act for the company".

[gold_drake]

mh i dont know.

Nintendo finds itself in a very good spot regardless of what they do.

i think that they will launch their next console with either a new Mario Kart or a new Mario mainline title.
that will drive console sales.

zelda and pkmn saw their newest entries quite recently.

[ZycoFox]

If they release the same stuff again with little/no change except for graphics they can keep their next system.

[gold_drake]

pkmn violet had little to no changes in their design, sold over 10 mio

tesrs of the kingdom had little change in their graphics, also over 10mio.

soo.... what lol.

they could even make a smash game a launch title. most of nintendos games are system sellers.

u underestimate nintendo fans. haha.

[Agent75]

Agreed.

[Hereandthere]

Remember, those franchises couldn't save the wii u, that's why nintendo went portable/handheld. What's really Nintendo system sellers is portable/handheld 1st and their old franchises 2nd. If nintendo made a dedicated home console in line with series s and ps5 they would get slaughtered again.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Nah, they'd hold their own just fine, it's just the Xbox that would get slaughtered, again. The WiiU was just a spectacular failure that we can mostly blame on marketing I think.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

They do have a new Mario entry coming up though, so I think we might be a couple of years away from a launch/reveal of a Switch 2. Mario Kart is definitely a possibility since they were limited by MK8 being a port and not taking advantage of the Switch.

[jznrpg]

For me personally I wish they released a pro version years ago . It’s time like right now . Their games although can be good technically they could be so much more.

[SullysCigar]

Same. I want the trademark charm and gameplay married to better graphics and performance. Right now, please.

[Einhander1971]

Nintendo are in a great place the Switch is still up there. When Nintendo choose to release the next system I'll be there.

[terstomp]

Nintendo is still making bucket loads of easy money from the Switch's old cheap hardware sold at a very expensive price, resulting in insane profit margins. Their consumers don't seem to care, so Nintendo just takes advantage of that.

[Hofstaderman]

I don’t know hey. Nintendo is printing money and their fans are more than happy. They have truly carved out their niche. XBOX should take notes.

[RiseNShine]

Switch still has easily 3-4 years ahead, even with a new Switch 2, it will be supported for a long time, even more if you count many indies that will run easily on Switch 1 hardware for years to come. That's the reason why Vita saw releases even up to 2021, so I'm sure that Switch 1 will still be recieving games in 5 years time. You have to remember that PS4 launched in 2013, and it's still going relatively strong, so it's not that strange, add also that Switch hasn't recieved yet a single price cut, so there's plenty of retail margin to keep it alive and well.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

With how well Switch continues to do, even with it now being two gens behind, I don’t think that’s a bad “rock and hard place” to be between. We must be talking the finest rock, like a glimmering diamond, next to a magnificent gold bar. Isn’t Tears of the Kingdom blowing up the charts? There’s that new Pikmin collection too, that also seems to be turning heads. Poor Nintendo, raking in all that money. /s How about poor journalists trying to find a reason to push some doom-and-gloom narrative about one of the most successful consoles?

[PhillyDillyDee]

My hunch is this: They're gonna launch a new console next spring/summer. They will have one or two launch games plus a remaster of TotK. Hoping for Prime 4 and a new 3d mario. TotK seems obvious tho given that BotW was a generation bridge and it did exceedingly well.

One thing I really hope they get right tho is back compat. I could see them doing something with the carts that allowed switch carts to work on the new console but not the other way around. They did this exact thing w the DS and 3DS.

[RaiderNation]

Nintendo just doesn't need to overthink this. Here's what they need to do that will guarantee themselves success with a next gen console...

1.) Release the absolute most powerful next gen hybrid console they possibly can at a price no higher than 399.99.
2.) Don't confuse people with an overly clever name. Just keep it simple and call it the Switch 2.
3.) Make the entire Switch library fully backwards compatible.
4.) Improve the Joycon design but make all Switch accessories compatible with Switch 2.
5.) Launch with a new Mario Kart, a new 3D Mario game, and Metroid Prime 4.
6.) Make OLED the standard for the screen.

[phoenixwing]

What's funny raider is all the things you listed are pretty close to what they could easily do. Unfortunately they are nintendo so they'll probably do something out of left field.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

That is my dream for the next Nintendo console, I'm not holding my breath of 2, 3 or 4 though, because I feel like Nintendo also has to take 2 steps forward and 1 back (look at the Switch's online features, why is that not more inline with PS/Xbox?).

[anast]

They will be okay. They just need to release some newish product with Mario and Zelda, and continue to dominate.

[gleepot]

it still prints money

[cthulhucultist]

When 3DS was about to be left behind, the Nintendo direct showed mostly spin offs and secondary games such as Warioware Gold, Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story, Detective Pikachu, Kibys Extra Yarn etc.

This years June Direct had the same vibe. Mostly remakes, remasters and fillers until the end of 2023 and two games teased for 2024 but again not major ones (Luigis Mansion Darkmoon remaster & Princess Peach).

We also know that sales are now lower and that in their latest financial earning reports they mentioned that no new Switch hardware will be available until the end of the current fiscal year (ends March 2024).

This leads me to believe that new Switch will be released in 2024 (as they can not afford to wait for sales to decline even further and they have not announced Metroid Prime 4 release date yet.

In order to release it, they need to announce it first on a dedicated direct, somewhere around the end of 2023.

They also hold off new 3d Mario (will be 7 years since the last one launched in 2017) presumably for the new launch window to coincide with Metroid Prime 4.

Assuming this is the plan, the real question is whether the new switch will be backwards compatible (presumably it will be judging from the hardware rumours).