5 ms·

That's my concern for the Christmas period. A lot of Nintendo fans are early adopters, that's why they're buying a console with one significant game in March.

That's my concern for the Christmas period. A lot of Nintendo fans are early adopters, that's why they're buying a console with one significant game in March. For the general public they need to have more on offer than that. Here are new AAA games which we are assured will be out by Christmas: Zelda Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Skylanders, NBA 2K18, Arms, Splatoon 2. There's tons of indie names (e.g. Shovel Knight) or older games (e.g. Skyrim) but those aren't "system movers" as they're already out on every other major platform. Meaning people won't be buying a Switch to play those. No doubt you're moaning about me leaving out Super Mario Odyssey, but at the time of writing SMO has no set release date only a vague "TBD, Holiday 2017." As does Project Sonic 2017. Nintendo games overrun their release date as much as other publishers, therefore one cannot be assured SMO will ship before the big holiday period. If you look beyond 2017, it remains pretty slim pickings for the Switch. Likely until at least summer 2018 we won't see more than perhaps half a dozen exclusive AAA games on the console. We still have no assurance that the mainstream Pokemon franchise will be developed for the console. The Wii U also sold fairly well early in its life, but sales dried up and never recovered with publishers avoiding it due its poor sales performance. The key thing for the Switch to do is to consistently sell, to give publishers enough confidence that when they target the platform that the effort will pay for itself. It all remains to be seen. I'll be paying close attention to Christmas 2017 sales figures because it might be the life or death of the Switch.

MBCook 10y ago
Zelda is (supposed to be) amazing (haven't played it), Mario Kart 8 was amazing, and Splatoon was amazing (assuming sequel will be). TONS of gamers didn't get to play any of them because the WiiU sold so poorly, so for a great many people they're 'new' games and worth buying the system for.
- UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
  Almost all Wii U games don't have a release date for the Switch yet. If they can get the entire Wii U back catalogue released by Christmas 2017 that would definitely help, but that's a big "if" and Nintendo hasn't claimed that they're trying to.
j2bax 9y ago
>The key thing for the Switch to do is to consistently sell, to give publishers enough confidence that when they target the platform that the effort will pay for itself. I think the prospect of putting AAA games on a portable system, will draw a lot of AAA studios to take the risk, if their game can be run on the hardware. I think the portability factor is a large factor of why they are selling so fast despite the lack of games right now. I think people want to see what its like to play non-junk/freemium/IAP driven games on the go. At least it was a major factor for me. I can't wait to play Mario Kart with my co-workers at lunch!
- swsieber 9y ago
  The form factor thing is amazing. I didn't think I'd get much use out of it, but I do. I get a lot. It's so incredibly convenient.
runevault 9y ago
I would argue the Switch looks to have the 2nd best true exclusive lineup (edit: coming out this year) at worst (PC + console isn't true exclusive). XBox One doesn't have a whole lot coming out you cannot get elsewhere, PS4 has a decent lineup (Nioh, Persona 5, Horizon off the top of my head), but with Zelda + Mario Odyssey + Splatoon 2 + Xenoblade Chronicles 2 they have a pretty solid first year. The problem being what will they have coming out year 2 to add on to that? Only so many dev teams at Nintendo and they are putting out a LOT of first and second party content this year.
derefr 9y ago
> There's tons of indie names (e.g. Shovel Knight) or older games (e.g. Skyrim) but those aren't "system movers" as they're already out on every other major platform. You know, I'm not sure. Those games are out for other home consoles, sure—but the Switch is not, precisely, a home console. Its form-factor makes it not just a substitute good for an XBO or PS4, but also a substitute good for a 3DS or an iPad. You know, a thing you buy for your kid to play with on car-trips. And that means that those older and Indie titles—which wouldn't see very high attach-rates when ported onto current-gen home consoles—might fare a bit better, because they're reaching a market which didn't have access to them before. You can't play Skyrim on an iPad or a 3DS.
flukus 9y ago
It seems they're having the opposite problem and have already had to double production. If nintendo thinks they could sell massive numbers over Christmas then they might delay mario to push more consoles in the new year.

MBCook 10y ago

Zelda is (supposed to be) amazing (haven't played it), Mario Kart 8 was amazing, and Splatoon was amazing (assuming sequel will be). TONS of gamers didn't get to play any of them because the WiiU sold so poorly, so for a great many people they're 'new' games and worth buying the system for.

UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
Almost all Wii U games don't have a release date for the Switch yet. If they can get the entire Wii U back catalogue released by Christmas 2017 that would definitely help, but that's a big "if" and Nintendo hasn't claimed that they're trying to.

j2bax 9y ago

>The key thing for the Switch to do is to consistently sell, to give publishers enough confidence that when they target the platform that the effort will pay for itself. I think the prospect of putting AAA games on a portable system, will draw a lot of AAA studios to take the risk, if their game can be run on the hardware. I think the portability factor is a large factor of why they are selling so fast despite the lack of games right now. I think people want to see what its like to play non-junk/freemium/IAP driven games on the go. At least it was a major factor for me. I can't wait to play Mario Kart with my co-workers at lunch!

swsieber 9y ago
The form factor thing is amazing. I didn't think I'd get much use out of it, but I do. I get a lot. It's so incredibly convenient.

runevault 9y ago

I would argue the Switch looks to have the 2nd best true exclusive lineup (edit: coming out this year) at worst (PC + console isn't true exclusive). XBox One doesn't have a whole lot coming out you cannot get elsewhere, PS4 has a decent lineup (Nioh, Persona 5, Horizon off the top of my head), but with Zelda + Mario Odyssey + Splatoon 2 + Xenoblade Chronicles 2 they have a pretty solid first year. The problem being what will they have coming out year 2 to add on to that? Only so many dev teams at Nintendo and they are putting out a LOT of first and second party content this year.

derefr 9y ago

> There's tons of indie names (e.g. Shovel Knight) or older games (e.g. Skyrim) but those aren't "system movers" as they're already out on every other major platform. You know, I'm not sure. Those games are out for other home consoles, sure—but the Switch is not, precisely, a home console. Its form-factor makes it not just a substitute good for an XBO or PS4, but also a substitute good for a 3DS or an iPad. You know, a thing you buy for your kid to play with on car-trips. And that means that those older and Indie titles—which wouldn't see very high attach-rates when ported onto current-gen home consoles—might fare a bit better, because they're reaching a market which didn't have access to them before. You can't play Skyrim on an iPad or a 3DS.

flukus 9y ago

It seems they're having the opposite problem and have already had to double production. If nintendo thinks they could sell massive numbers over Christmas then they might delay mario to push more consoles in the new year.