If the Nintendo Switch 2 is a flop it will destroy all console gaming – Reader’s Feature-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

There’s a lot riding on the Switch’s successor (Nintendo)

As reader is worried that, with problems at Xbox and PlayStation, there’s more riding on the success of Nintendo’s next console than people realise.

Nintendo has been the market leader for four of the seven generations they have been involved in (five if you count the Switch as the best-seller of both this gen and last gen) but they’ve never been very interested in acting as a figurehead for the industry. Before this generation, Sony execs used to love talking about being custodians of console gaming, but that sort of thing is not Nintendo’s style.

They always seem very separate to the Xbox and PlayStation world, with people regularly talking about console wars and the future of the industry without even mentioning Nintendo. This isn’t usually done out of disrespect but because everyone recognises that Nintendo does whatever it wants and don’t react to, or even really interact with, the things their would-be rivals are doing.

But this upcoming generation isn’t going to be like any other. Xbox hardware sales are in the toilet and it’s hard to believe they’re even making a next gen console, let alone that they’ll do again if this one fails. At the same time, the PlayStation 5 has stalled, with console sales starting to drop much earlier than expected and software releases slowing to crawl. Nintendo is doing great but if the Switch 2 is another Wii U, then that could be disastrous for everyone.

The problem here is that publishers are short-sighted to the point of utter stupidity. The only thing that matters to them is short term profit and while they’ve had decades to do something about the completely predictable problem of rising development costs, they’ve done absolutely nothing. And even now that the earthquake has struck, they’re still not doing anything different.

I’m not putting Nintendo on a pedestal here either. They’ve also talked about rising costs and, as another reader recently pointed out, not in the context of it being something they could do anything about, but an inevitability that it sounds like they’re not even going to try to avoid.

Nintendo isn’t perfect. They make bad decisions and even, occasionally, bad games. Some of their consoles have been huge successes but as well as their four market leaders they also made the N64, the GameCube, and the Wii U. All had great games on them, but all sold peanuts compared to Xbox and PlayStation. So, the idea of the Switch 2 being a flop is not at all silly.

The PlayStation 3 learnt little from the success of its predecessor (Sony)

It’s not likely, I would say, given the success of this gen. But remember that the follow-up to the PlayStation 2 – the best-selling console of all-time – was the PlayStation 3, which was Sony’s worst selling home console by a wide margin. Success can make you overconfident, and that’s certainly something we’ve seen with Nintendo before.

So consider a worst case scenario next gen, where the Xbox Series Y/Z sells just as bad as the last two generation, the PlayStation 6 suffers from poor first party support and the short legs of its predecessor, and the Switch 2 turns out to be some bizarro console whose controller works by breathing on it (or whatever weird gimmick Nintendo makes up) and still has outdated graphics.

None of those things are impossible and all have happened before to some degree or another. And then where will the concept of consoles be? Xbox is already trying to sideline them, but for Nintendo it’s all they’ve got. Sony too, really, given we’ve seen nothing of any streaming plans they might have.

I worry that the games industry is at a crossroads and the people in charge don’t really know where they’re going, and the ones in the most commanding position at the moment are just as likely to blow themselves up as continue their success. If the Switch 2 fails there may not be anything left of the console industry to try again.

By reader Ishi

Nintendo doesn’t always get it right (Nintendo)

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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