3 ms·

Pfft. I'm a switch owner, and while I do agree the dual nature of the Switch looked gimmicky, it turned out to be surprisingly useful, more than I expected. But

Pfft. I'm a switch owner, and while I do agree the dual nature of the Switch looked gimmicky, it turned out to be surprisingly useful, more than I expected. But that's besides the point. The thing about "performance" is that, in the end, nobody gives a crap about that. Really. What the customer cares about are what games are available, and how much fun they can get out of it. The console market is one where walled gardens fight with the IP they have, not with the performance of the consoles (though that does help strengthen the IP). Now Nintendo is in a super strong position there : They've got Mario and Zelda, basically the icons of video-games. They also don't exactly target the same age-range. Nintendo is all about family games, targeting a very wide age-range. From what I've seen of the "lead" games of Sony and Microsoft, they've all but abandoned that segment. I don't think Nintendo ever really declined. They screwed up with the WiiU, but that's basically the only screwup in recent history.

slg 9y ago
I guess the benefit of the mobility is highly dependent on the user, but from what I have heard is that for many people the system might occasionally travel with a user, but it is played while attached to a TV an overwhelming majority of the time. Regarding your other points, everything you said there has been true about previous Nintendo consoles. However the Wii U sold worse than the Gamecube which sold worse than the N64 which sold worse than the SNES which sold worse than the NES all while the industry grew as a whole. If you are looking at the success of Nintendo's home consoles, the Wii is a huge outlier. I don't think the focus on "fun" and "family" has yet been proven to be successful in comparison to Sony's and Microsoft's strategies.
- AlexandrB 9y ago
  > but from what I have heard is that for many people the system might occasionally travel with a user, but it is played while attached to a TV an overwhelming majority of the time. Why go off of anecdotes? In a recent investor Q&A Nintendo revealed their own figures that show 30% of people primarily use it in portable or tabletop mode [1]. Personally, I primarily used it in portable mode until a few weeks ago - and now I use it docked to a TV much more due to Mario Odyssey benefitting from using separate joycons. > If you are looking at the success of Nintendo's home consoles, the Wii is a huge outlier. Only if you don't consider portable consoles like the 3DS, where Nintendo has been dominant for a long time. Even against the technologically superior PSP/PS Vita. [1] https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/171031_2e.pdf https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/171031_2e.pdf Edit: it's also important not to confuse sales volume with profitability. If modern, 4K console games are as expensive to make as EA and Activision claim the underpowered nature of the Switch is a benefit to Nintendo as it keeps their development costs down.
- hug 9y ago
  The NintendoSwitch subreddit polled their userbase on how they used the console, they got 7192 responses, and it looks like TV use versus handheld use is split fairly well down the middle. Graph here: https://i.redd.it/j0ogxk7b6lly.png https://i.redd.it/j0ogxk7b6lly.png Discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5zju6a/rnintendoswitch_survey_results_handheld_v_tv/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5zju6a/rnin...
- photojosh 9y ago
  Anecdata: it's around 50/50 in our house. We'll play a multiplayer game, and afterwards undock it so one person can play while someone else watches TV.

slg 9y ago

I guess the benefit of the mobility is highly dependent on the user, but from what I have heard is that for many people the system might occasionally travel with a user, but it is played while attached to a TV an overwhelming majority of the time. Regarding your other points, everything you said there has been true about previous Nintendo consoles. However the Wii U sold worse than the Gamecube which sold worse than the N64 which sold worse than the SNES which sold worse than the NES all while the industry grew as a whole. If you are looking at the success of Nintendo's home consoles, the Wii is a huge outlier. I don't think the focus on "fun" and "family" has yet been proven to be successful in comparison to Sony's and Microsoft's strategies.

AlexandrB 9y ago
> but from what I have heard is that for many people the system might occasionally travel with a user, but it is played while attached to a TV an overwhelming majority of the time. Why go off of anecdotes? In a recent investor Q&A Nintendo revealed their own figures that show 30% of people primarily use it in portable or tabletop mode [1]. Personally, I primarily used it in portable mode until a few weeks ago - and now I use it docked to a TV much more due to Mario Odyssey benefitting from using separate joycons. > If you are looking at the success of Nintendo's home consoles, the Wii is a huge outlier. Only if you don't consider portable consoles like the 3DS, where Nintendo has been dominant for a long time. Even against the technologically superior PSP/PS Vita. [1] https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/171031_2e.pdf https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/171031_2e.pdf Edit: it's also important not to confuse sales volume with profitability. If modern, 4K console games are as expensive to make as EA and Activision claim the underpowered nature of the Switch is a benefit to Nintendo as it keeps their development costs down.
hug 9y ago
The NintendoSwitch subreddit polled their userbase on how they used the console, they got 7192 responses, and it looks like TV use versus handheld use is split fairly well down the middle. Graph here: https://i.redd.it/j0ogxk7b6lly.png https://i.redd.it/j0ogxk7b6lly.png Discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5zju6a/rnintendoswitch_survey_results_handheld_v_tv/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5zju6a/rnin...
photojosh 9y ago
Anecdata: it's around 50/50 in our house. We'll play a multiplayer game, and afterwards undock it so one person can play while someone else watches TV.