The Switch was a generational triumph for Nintendo.
The Switch 2 is a conceptually conservative successor—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—and yet the Switch 2 also seems, at least for now, to be a shakier bet.
The new console, which debuted last month, is selling for $450 at launch, compared to the $300 launch price for the original Switch; digital copies of a select few games, such as Mario Kart World, cost as much as $80, compared to the $60 launch price for the game’s predecessor, Mario Kart 8. The price hikes on their own might irritate some gamers, but they’re an especially sore subject given the apparent modesty of the upgrade. Yes, the Switch 2 is larger than its predecessor. It boasts better graphics and performance than the original. But Nintendo hasn’t reinvented the wheel here; the new console looks, feels, and plays a lot like the old one, while nevertheless costing a lot more money
There was a great deal of grumbling about the pricing and the design—and even a bit of doomsaying about the commercial fate of the Switch 2. Was Nintendo getting a little too greedy and also playing a little too safe? Was the Switch 2 giving anyone a good reason to want to upgrade immediately? Would this thing whiff—for, ironically enough—roughly the same reasons as the Wii U?
But a funny thing happened on the way to Nintendo supposedly entering its latest flop era: The Switch 2, breaking a record previously held by the PlayStation 4, became the fastest-selling video game console of all time, with 3.5 million units sold in its first four days on the market. This thing is an unqualified success. It’s morning again in Super Nintendo World.
Ultimately, Nintendo overcame an interesting variety of overestimations and underestimations. It’s worth unpacking them to better understand how Nintendo beat the bad vibes surrounding the Switch 2.
First, the underestimations. For one, Switch 2 skeptics underestimated Nintendo’s determination to sell a lot of video game consoles. This sounds silly until you consider supply constraints that have often stifled new console sales at launch, especially since the pandemic.
Sony, Microsoft, and Nvidia each launched new high-end gaming hardware during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic: the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X|S, and the GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs, respectively. These launches were all severely stifled by widespread, long-term shortages due to the global supply chain crises—chiefly, the semiconductor shortage—associated with the pandemic. The original Switch launched a few years before the pandemic, but Nintendo struggled to meet a surge in demand during the social distancing era. But even at launch, in March 2017, the Switch was constantly sold out, as Nintendo had itself seemingly underestimated the hit it had on its hands. For much of its commercial prime, the Switch was a victim of its own success, a console constantly out of stock whenever gamers needed it most.
This time around, however, Nintendo exceeded demand. The Switch 2 is refreshingly ubiquitous at launch; in the U.S. at least you’re generally able to walk into a store and simply buy one or else order one online, without the months-long retail hassle and the sketchy secondary market hustle of other major console launches of the past decade. This might otherwise be a worrisome sign of low demand but in this case reflects a rigorous effort to keep this thing in stock.
Furthermore, Switch 2 skeptics—and, in general, Nintendo skeptics over the years—underestimated the mass appeal of the company’s signature titles, notwithstanding their now admittedly high price. The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh, in his analysis from last month, thus summarized the sparse pitch for the Switch 2: It’s portable, and it plays Nintendo games. A sparse pitch on paper, perhaps, but a very apparently effective one in practice: Nintendo games are, after all, the most durable titles in this market. Donkey Kong, Super Mario, Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon have each been popping for more than a quarter century, and in all that time, unlike Sony’s The Last of Us or Xbox’s Halo, Nintendo’s signature megahits have only ever been available on a single platform. If you want to play the next Zelda, then sooner or later, you’re going to have to buy a Switch 2.
Now, on to the overestimations. Mainly, Switch 2 skeptics overestimated the competition. Neither Sony nor Microsoft nor Steam were in a particularly strong position to capitalize on any supposed dissatisfaction with the Switch 2 at launch.
The aforementioned supply chain crises afflicted video game publishers so badly, as late as 2023, that Sony and Microsoft were effectively forced to support their previous consoles, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, respectively, for several years longer than usual. These two crucial factors —long-term shortages of the new hardware, and extended support for the old hardware—severely undermined the next-gen adoption rates; as late as last year, Sony was telling investors that half of PS4 owners had yet to upgrade to the PS5. The PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S are now both widely regarded as a lost console generation, unfortunately defined by a dearth of true next-gen exclusives. And even setting exclusives aside, Sony and Microsoft have yet to produce a viable handheld to compete with the novel convenience of the Switch. Late last year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed rumors that Microsoft is developing a handheld Xbox console, but we’re still years away from any potential launch. In the meantime, the Switch stands alone—well, almost.
Valve is perhaps a more appropriate subject of comparison to Nintendo here, since the Steam Deck is also a dual-use handheld, but with slightly better specs, a slightly lower price, and a much larger games library than the Switch 2. To many gamers—chiefly, PC gamers—the Steam Deck represents a real feat of player customization. Imagine Nintendo letting you run whichever operating system you want on its hardware!
Indeed, the Steam Deck is as much a video game console as it is a sort of cudgel for belaboring the supposedly bad value proposition that you’re getting from Nintendo: Why pay half a grand for primitive specs and limited selection, just so you can play a handful of legacy IP, when you can buy a Steam Deck with its myriad advantages over the Switch and even the Switch 2?
This is hardly the first case—and it won’t be the last—of console skeptics overestimating the appeal of PC gaming to casual players who will ultimately prioritize ease of use over the fussier strengths—customization, optimization, emulation, etc.—of something like the Steam Deck. Nintendo and Steam aren’t playing the same game, really. The Steam Deck remains a relatively niche console for gamers comfortable running emulators and homebrew. The Switch 2 remains a safe bet for casual gamers, families, and, again, anyone into Zelda, Pokémon, or Mario Kart.
Ultimately, Nintendo beat the bad vibes with an incomparable product that went unchallenged. The Switch 2 launch didn’t necessarily feel like a big deal, because the Switch 2 was such a safe play, and because Nintendo isn’t competing with any other major console launches, in contrast with Sony and Microsoft going head-to-head in November 2020. On that note: While the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S were both seen as runaway successes at launch, the lack of must-play exclusives have complicated their respective reputations in the long term. So, yes, technically, there’s still plenty of ways and plenty of time for Nintendo to botch the Switch 2.
Of course, the original Switch was similarly uncontested in March 2017, and that launch was a big deal indeed. Maybe Nintendo has gotten complacent in the eight years since—because we sure have.
Justin Charity
Justin Charity is a senior staff writer at The Ringer covering music and other pop culture. After years of living in D.C. and NYC, and a brief stint in Wisconsin, he’s now based in Cleveland, Ohio.Source link
