6 ms·

Nintendo to announce new console by end of fiscal year

48 points by ethanholt1 2y ago

teruakohatu 2y ago
It would be madness to pivot away from the successful Switch hybrid handheld/docked console but Nintendo have done crazy things in the past. There have been rumours that the reason for Nintendo DCMA takedowns are to clear the emulation field for the next-gen console. The Dolphin emulator was able to emulate the Wii two years after release.
- kemayo 2y ago
  There was a comment in the results call where Furukawa was asked whether it was a whole new console-type or another Switch, and he said "Switch next model is the appropriate way to describe it", so it sounds like they're staying the course on this one.
  - spondylosaurus 2y ago
    Considering the explosive popularity of the Steam Deck and its doppelgangers, the Switch-esque form factor is clearly doing well right now, so it makes sense to stick to what sells. Plus the fact that Nintendo's never been shy about iterative console updates: NES > SNES, GB > GBC > GBA, DS > 3DS > New3DS. And arguably Wii > Wii U, and then the Wii U was sort of the missing link between the Wii and the Switch. Historically they haven't been great at the marketing/positioning around those iterative updates, but maybe this time they've finally learned :P
    - anonbanker 2y ago
      This is pure speculation, but I'm willing to bet that Iwata wanted the Wii U to be more like the switch, but the board was likely extremely nervous about cannibalizing their portable DS market, so they opted for the Wii U Tablet instead, to disastrous results.
      - spondylosaurus 2y ago
        Wouldn't surprise me at all. Certain games on the Wii U even had a "tablet only" mode with a Switch-like experience, although the gamepad couldn't be more than a few yards from the console before losing signal, so it was only useful if someone else wanted to use the TV while you played a game. (You couldn't leave the house or really even the room.) In the end I'm just glad the Wii U's failure didn't put Nintendo off tablet-style hardware altogether. Turns out that the console market and portable market merged quite nicely :)
      - jncfhnb 2y ago
        I don’t think so personally. The Wii U was extremely cool. The tablet controller was an awesome trick but it was a very non traditional trick that wasn’t going to work with typical games. NintendoLand, the free game that came with it, was really good. The pitch that I got was effectively “asymmetric local multiplayer with no screen sniping”. Which is conceptually a really interesting idea that was very fun in nintendoland. But… it’s not a vision that supports a successful mainline product.
  - jimbobthrowawy 2y ago
    I saw someone post a chart yesterday showing their profit per year, inflation adjusted. They've made more profit since the switch launched than they have since they released their first video game in the 70s. Hopefully they get the naming right with this one, unlike the WiiU.
jimbobthrowawy 2y ago
Note: Nintendo's fiscal year ends march 31st.
tempaskhn 2y ago
I posted "Ask HN: What do you think about Nintendo phone competing with iPhone/Android?" [0] 8 months ago. Wondering if anyone else thinks it might be a phone. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37385793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37385793
- accrual 2y ago
  I can't imagine a phone being a component. Nintendo has always had a conservative take on communications between users. It's usually filtered or reduced to set of preset phrases or emoji/reactions. Animal Crossing let you freely chat, but without a keyboard, it's difficult to get more than a couple short words out. Splatoon is a popular multiplayer game that greatly benefits from team communication, but all you have are "booyah!" and "over here!" and a couple other preset means to communicate to your teams. Miiverse on the Wii U was an exception and let users post text and drawings, but it felt pretty heavily moderated, and was eventually shut down. I do miss it though, it was a great community while it lasted. Given their target demographic I can't imagine Nintendo would put any effort into allowing general communications through their hardware.
  - 14 2y ago
    This is one of the most lacking features I see with nintendo products. Being able to play with friends is a massive feature other consoles have and I am unsure why nintendo is so against it. Gone are the days where kids sit in the same room on a TV playing games. It is much more common for them to go home after school, grab their headset and start gaming. I do have a couple switches but I don't think I would be grabbing future model without things like text or chat as it is much more fun to get on a PS5 and be playing with several friends at the same time.
  - spondylosaurus 2y ago
    Not sure if you mentioned "through their hardware" specifically in reference to the Nintendo Switch Online mobile's voice chat capabilities, but man, that's always struck me as a weird/interesting choice. On one hand, bizarre to silo voice chat into a completely different piece of hardware than the one you're gaming on that already has a microphone built in. On the other hand, it does make sense as a way to keep kiddos off the airwaves, since to use NSO's app you either need to have a phone or (hopefully...) get permission from a parent to use theirs. On the other other hand I'm just glad they've finally enabled any kind of voice chat at all.
oniony 2y ago
It's a VR contact lens.
- throwaway5959 2y ago
  The Virtual Boy final form.
  - jncfhnb 2y ago
    Red pixels only against a true black OLED contact lens base
drbig 2y ago
Why link a tweet when Reuters has an actual article: https://www.reuters.com/technology/nintendo-expects-sell-135-mln-switch-units-this-year-2024-05-07/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/nintendo-expects-sell-135... (title: "Nintendo to make announcement on Switch successor by March-end"). Is it because the tweet here "is the source"? Regardless of how bereft of context it is?
- kemayo 2y ago
  That article is just a journalist who read that tweet, and is bulking it out with a bunch of sales numbers in a kind of rambling manner. The tweet on its own was a better way to get this information.
- colechristensen 2y ago
  The article adds zero additional information I needed or wanted to know, and it took considerably more time to read.
- drbig 2y ago
  Thanks for the replies. Points of view are valuable.
rgovostes 2y ago
See also: Osborne effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
- bombcar 2y ago
  Announced next year (by March) means shipping even later. Some might put off purchasing but that’s easily countered by a price drop.
- Lammy 2y ago
  There is probably very little overlap between people who would base their purchasing decisions on the announcement-of-an-announcement and people who are buying Yet Another Switch in TYOOL 2024. They have already triple-dipped the former group with the original Switch model (like mine), the OLED model that looks like the original but with revised innards, and the mini model without detachable joycons.
ProfessorLayton 2y ago
I'm super excited for the next iteration of the Switch, which has been one of my favorite Nintendo consoles ever. While I appreciate Nintendo's commitment to mix it up significantly between generations, I hope they don't deviate from their wining formula too much on their next console. The main thing I'd like for the next generation is for it to have enough horsepower to be able to play big 3rd party IPs like GTA. And joycons that don't drift! An announcement as late as 3/25 is gonna be rough though as current gen games start tapering off. As always the bottleneck is the launch lineup needing more time.
legitster 2y ago
I finally bought a Switch for the family this last Christmas. Then immediately I get swamped by articles from Google about how the hardware is tired and they need a refresh. I think people are off their rocker. The experience is still pretty magical in 2024. I get that people are tired of the old thing and want the new thing, but it's hard to imagine what stops Nintendo could pull out to make me want to pay more than the current MSRP for the existing Switch. It's either just going to be an even beefier Switch, or something so out of left field that it's not going to cannibalize their still pretty brisk Switch sales.
- squigz 2y ago
  > It's either just going to be an even beefier Switch This is exactly what it's going to be, though I have to ask how necessary that is. I wonder if there's a name for this phenomenon - EA Sports Syndrome or something - where companies go from making good products every few years, to marginally changing the same product and releasing it every year.
  - sparrc 2y ago
    To be fair to Nintendo, they're very much still in the former category of making good products every few years. The switch was originally released 7 years ago, which is ancient in the world of consumer electronics.
    - squigz 2y ago
      While I don't fully disagree, I think Nintendo is slowly heading in that direction. I hope I'm wrong, as they're my favorite console company, and I'd hate to see them stop innovating and instead just release a slightly-beefier Switch for the next 5 years
      - pests 2y ago
        Did you forget the Game Boy era or even the DS days where 3-7 models of each were released?
anonbanker 2y ago
Nvidia already showed off [1] the guts of what is going to end up as the new Switch, the Xavier NX. Expect full backwards compatibility and better performance. This is going to be iterative, and not revolutionary. Shuntaro Furukawa is not Satoru Iwata, and is much more averse to risk-taking. https://3dvisionlabs.com/2020/05/22/jetson-xavier-nx-compared-to-jetson-tx2-and-jetson-nano/ https://3dvisionlabs.com/2020/05/22/jetson-xavier-nx-compare...
TrueSlacker0 2y ago
I just hope they learn how to make controllers. They lost me as a future customer purely because of the controllers. They are hands down the crappiest controllers I have ever used. I'm on our third set for each of 2 switches for my kids. Then I got screwed in the purchasing part because it turns out you can buy licensed controllers that don't have batteries so they have to be connected to the switch, then I learn there are ones that only have a battery in the left controller but not the right. So you cant really play multiplayer properly. Then the way they sorta connect but are actually still connected to the switch that is "off". Then a and b and x and y always seem backwards. It's to the point where one child will only play with an Xbox like controller due to needless frustration. I've never been so disappointed in something that could of been so great, but they skimped that 10% final polish. Sorry Nintendo, I've owned every console to date but you lost me.. and my kids.
- vunderba 2y ago
  No question that the throwaway stock switch controllers are absolute trash. It's a shame that one of the best controllers Nintendo has ever made (the Switch Pro Controller) doesn't come with the console and is/was around 60-70$ at launch. Stings even worse when you consider you'll need to buy at least two of the damn things.
  - ambichook 2y ago
    the fact that it doesnt have analog triggers is so annoying because otherwise i LOVE the switch pro controller
- jncfhnb 2y ago
  You can mail in joycons and get new ones no questions asked in my experience
  - TrueSlacker0 2y ago
    I wish I knew this. I think we may still have some of the previous broken ones so I will have to try this route.

48 points by ethanholt1 2y ago

It would be madness to pivot away from the successful Switch hybrid handheld/docked console but Nintendo have done crazy things in the past. There have been rumours that the reason for Nintendo DCMA takedowns are to clear the emulation field for the next-gen console. The Dolphin emulator was able to emulate the Wii two years after release.

kemayo 2y ago
There was a comment in the results call where Furukawa was asked whether it was a whole new console-type or another Switch, and he said "Switch next model is the appropriate way to describe it", so it sounds like they're staying the course on this one.
- spondylosaurus 2y ago
  Considering the explosive popularity of the Steam Deck and its doppelgangers, the Switch-esque form factor is clearly doing well right now, so it makes sense to stick to what sells. Plus the fact that Nintendo's never been shy about iterative console updates: NES > SNES, GB > GBC > GBA, DS > 3DS > New3DS. And arguably Wii > Wii U, and then the Wii U was sort of the missing link between the Wii and the Switch. Historically they haven't been great at the marketing/positioning around those iterative updates, but maybe this time they've finally learned :P
  - anonbanker 2y ago
    This is pure speculation, but I'm willing to bet that Iwata wanted the Wii U to be more like the switch, but the board was likely extremely nervous about cannibalizing their portable DS market, so they opted for the Wii U Tablet instead, to disastrous results.
    - spondylosaurus 2y ago
      Wouldn't surprise me at all. Certain games on the Wii U even had a "tablet only" mode with a Switch-like experience, although the gamepad couldn't be more than a few yards from the console before losing signal, so it was only useful if someone else wanted to use the TV while you played a game. (You couldn't leave the house or really even the room.) In the end I'm just glad the Wii U's failure didn't put Nintendo off tablet-style hardware altogether. Turns out that the console market and portable market merged quite nicely :)
    - jncfhnb 2y ago
      I don’t think so personally. The Wii U was extremely cool. The tablet controller was an awesome trick but it was a very non traditional trick that wasn’t going to work with typical games. NintendoLand, the free game that came with it, was really good. The pitch that I got was effectively “asymmetric local multiplayer with no screen sniping”. Which is conceptually a really interesting idea that was very fun in nintendoland. But… it’s not a vision that supports a successful mainline product.
- jimbobthrowawy 2y ago
  I saw someone post a chart yesterday showing their profit per year, inflation adjusted. They've made more profit since the switch launched than they have since they released their first video game in the 70s. Hopefully they get the naming right with this one, unlike the WiiU.

jimbobthrowawy 2y ago

Note: Nintendo's fiscal year ends march 31st.

tempaskhn 2y ago

I posted "Ask HN: What do you think about Nintendo phone competing with iPhone/Android?" [0] 8 months ago. Wondering if anyone else thinks it might be a phone. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37385793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37385793

accrual 2y ago
I can't imagine a phone being a component. Nintendo has always had a conservative take on communications between users. It's usually filtered or reduced to set of preset phrases or emoji/reactions. Animal Crossing let you freely chat, but without a keyboard, it's difficult to get more than a couple short words out. Splatoon is a popular multiplayer game that greatly benefits from team communication, but all you have are "booyah!" and "over here!" and a couple other preset means to communicate to your teams. Miiverse on the Wii U was an exception and let users post text and drawings, but it felt pretty heavily moderated, and was eventually shut down. I do miss it though, it was a great community while it lasted. Given their target demographic I can't imagine Nintendo would put any effort into allowing general communications through their hardware.
- 14 2y ago
  This is one of the most lacking features I see with nintendo products. Being able to play with friends is a massive feature other consoles have and I am unsure why nintendo is so against it. Gone are the days where kids sit in the same room on a TV playing games. It is much more common for them to go home after school, grab their headset and start gaming. I do have a couple switches but I don't think I would be grabbing future model without things like text or chat as it is much more fun to get on a PS5 and be playing with several friends at the same time.
- spondylosaurus 2y ago
  Not sure if you mentioned "through their hardware" specifically in reference to the Nintendo Switch Online mobile's voice chat capabilities, but man, that's always struck me as a weird/interesting choice. On one hand, bizarre to silo voice chat into a completely different piece of hardware than the one you're gaming on that already has a microphone built in. On the other hand, it does make sense as a way to keep kiddos off the airwaves, since to use NSO's app you either need to have a phone or (hopefully...) get permission from a parent to use theirs. On the other other hand I'm just glad they've finally enabled any kind of voice chat at all.

oniony 2y ago

It's a VR contact lens.

throwaway5959 2y ago
The Virtual Boy final form.
- jncfhnb 2y ago
  Red pixels only against a true black OLED contact lens base

drbig 2y ago

Why link a tweet when Reuters has an actual article: https://www.reuters.com/technology/nintendo-expects-sell-135-mln-switch-units-this-year-2024-05-07/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/nintendo-expects-sell-135... (title: "Nintendo to make announcement on Switch successor by March-end"). Is it because the tweet here "is the source"? Regardless of how bereft of context it is?

kemayo 2y ago
That article is just a journalist who read that tweet, and is bulking it out with a bunch of sales numbers in a kind of rambling manner. The tweet on its own was a better way to get this information.
colechristensen 2y ago
The article adds zero additional information I needed or wanted to know, and it took considerably more time to read.
drbig 2y ago
Thanks for the replies. Points of view are valuable.

rgovostes 2y ago

See also: Osborne effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect

bombcar 2y ago
Announced next year (by March) means shipping even later. Some might put off purchasing but that’s easily countered by a price drop.
Lammy 2y ago
There is probably very little overlap between people who would base their purchasing decisions on the announcement-of-an-announcement and people who are buying Yet Another Switch in TYOOL 2024. They have already triple-dipped the former group with the original Switch model (like mine), the OLED model that looks like the original but with revised innards, and the mini model without detachable joycons.

ProfessorLayton 2y ago

I'm super excited for the next iteration of the Switch, which has been one of my favorite Nintendo consoles ever. While I appreciate Nintendo's commitment to mix it up significantly between generations, I hope they don't deviate from their wining formula too much on their next console. The main thing I'd like for the next generation is for it to have enough horsepower to be able to play big 3rd party IPs like GTA. And joycons that don't drift! An announcement as late as 3/25 is gonna be rough though as current gen games start tapering off. As always the bottleneck is the launch lineup needing more time.

legitster 2y ago

I finally bought a Switch for the family this last Christmas. Then immediately I get swamped by articles from Google about how the hardware is tired and they need a refresh. I think people are off their rocker. The experience is still pretty magical in 2024. I get that people are tired of the old thing and want the new thing, but it's hard to imagine what stops Nintendo could pull out to make me want to pay more than the current MSRP for the existing Switch. It's either just going to be an even beefier Switch, or something so out of left field that it's not going to cannibalize their still pretty brisk Switch sales.

squigz 2y ago
> It's either just going to be an even beefier Switch This is exactly what it's going to be, though I have to ask how necessary that is. I wonder if there's a name for this phenomenon - EA Sports Syndrome or something - where companies go from making good products every few years, to marginally changing the same product and releasing it every year.
- sparrc 2y ago
  To be fair to Nintendo, they're very much still in the former category of making good products every few years. The switch was originally released 7 years ago, which is ancient in the world of consumer electronics.
  - squigz 2y ago
    While I don't fully disagree, I think Nintendo is slowly heading in that direction. I hope I'm wrong, as they're my favorite console company, and I'd hate to see them stop innovating and instead just release a slightly-beefier Switch for the next 5 years
    - pests 2y ago
      Did you forget the Game Boy era or even the DS days where 3-7 models of each were released?

anonbanker 2y ago

Nvidia already showed off [1] the guts of what is going to end up as the new Switch, the Xavier NX. Expect full backwards compatibility and better performance. This is going to be iterative, and not revolutionary. Shuntaro Furukawa is not Satoru Iwata, and is much more averse to risk-taking. https://3dvisionlabs.com/2020/05/22/jetson-xavier-nx-compared-to-jetson-tx2-and-jetson-nano/ https://3dvisionlabs.com/2020/05/22/jetson-xavier-nx-compare...

TrueSlacker0 2y ago

I just hope they learn how to make controllers. They lost me as a future customer purely because of the controllers. They are hands down the crappiest controllers I have ever used. I'm on our third set for each of 2 switches for my kids. Then I got screwed in the purchasing part because it turns out you can buy licensed controllers that don't have batteries so they have to be connected to the switch, then I learn there are ones that only have a battery in the left controller but not the right. So you cant really play multiplayer properly. Then the way they sorta connect but are actually still connected to the switch that is "off". Then a and b and x and y always seem backwards. It's to the point where one child will only play with an Xbox like controller due to needless frustration. I've never been so disappointed in something that could of been so great, but they skimped that 10% final polish. Sorry Nintendo, I've owned every console to date but you lost me.. and my kids.

vunderba 2y ago
No question that the throwaway stock switch controllers are absolute trash. It's a shame that one of the best controllers Nintendo has ever made (the Switch Pro Controller) doesn't come with the console and is/was around 60-70$ at launch. Stings even worse when you consider you'll need to buy at least two of the damn things.
- ambichook 2y ago
  the fact that it doesnt have analog triggers is so annoying because otherwise i LOVE the switch pro controller
jncfhnb 2y ago
You can mail in joycons and get new ones no questions asked in my experience
- TrueSlacker0 2y ago
  I wish I knew this. I think we may still have some of the previous broken ones so I will have to try this route.