Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@GrailUK Cheap Flash animations? I don't like it either.

I'm quite excited about FIFA on Switch...I've often found that arcade-style sports games work really well on portable games consoles - they tend to be the types of games that you can play for long sessions or short bursts alike - the addition of the ability to upscale your portable FIFA save and play it on the big screen is quite a cool prospect to me. Honestly, of the two versions of FIFA 18, I'd take the hybrid version over the static one (with added story mode) every time...the FIFA game I had on my N64 (RTWC '98) was more feature rich than the one I had on my Game Gear ('96?) - I loved both, but I probably put a lot more hours in to the GG one because it was just that bit more convenient to play - the Switch version promises the best (pretty much) of both worlds, so I'm really quite excited! ..maybe that's just me though?

EDIT: I understand that the story mode is a pretty big deal though - before its introduction, pretty much all you'd get from a 'new' FIFA game were updated rosters and a few new animations...at least the story mode offers something with a bit more substance - especially as they insist on it continuing to be an annualised franchise! FIFA 18 Switch could get away with 'hybrid' being the gimmick - but any potential FIFA 19 Switch might need to offer something a little bit extra...

@Octane Mecho Tales definitely looks cheap!
@NaviAndMii Not just you. I haven't bought a Fifa game since the Megadrive! I am genuinely excited about the Switch version and I reckon there will be some games in the pub (which has got to be a great advert for the system)

@GrailUK Wow! Yeah - I never even thought of that! Waiting for Arsenal vs. Chelsea at the pub? Have a quick Arsenal vs. Chelsea match with your mate on the Switch! So, so cool!

@NaviAndMii I know right! Switch Fifa is going to sell loads! I only hope Nintendo UK get the marketing right. Football + Pub + Switch = Sales! lol.

@GrailUK They dont have the marketing rights. That's Sony.

All Nintendo seems to have the rights for this year is any indie games they nab, Sonic, their own titles and their version of Skyrim.

Sony and Microsoft already bought the rest

@BLP_Software Oooohh you're losing me now hehe. So, EA won't advertise the game for Switch because they can only show it for 'the players'?

@GrailUK Sony has exclusive marketing rights for Call of Duty, FIFA, Destiny, Need for Speed I think, and probably most of the Ubisoft stable.

So no. In terms of marketing to the average Joe the other versions wont exist.

@BLP_Software "Sony and Microsoft already bought the rest"

And even then it's really mainly Sony. Microsoft this generation has been slowly loosing the exclusive rights to both marketing and content for a large majority of triple A titles.

@GrailUK pretty much. Only people who follow Nintendo fan sites and the few who wander into a random Game store that promotes Switch more than most will even know it's released on Switch. Nintendo can promote it in the Switch lock screen side bar though - their most valuable real estate - but that's about it.

A fair proportion of the audience will genuinely think it's a Sony exclusive like Uncharted or Destiny 2.

Which is, of course, the reason why Sony pays for 'marketing support' in the first place.

@BLP_Software @FragRed @StuTwo Oh wow guys. This is something I wasn't aware was a thing. And now thinking about it...it's bloody obvious it goes on! Cheers ^^

@StuTwo Destiny 2 isnt exclusive though!

I dont know what random Game stores you see in the UK promoting Switch when Sony has at least 70% of the market. GAME is on life support as is. Push the biggest player.

The only way people will know half these games are on Switch is by using the Switch, maybe seeing it at retail or in product listings, watching a Direct or maybe on social media if anyone BUT EA mentions it.

And thats the biggest hurdle in the UK. Sony is so firmly routed that they are buying these righta simply because they can. It stops the competition getting any leverage over them that isnt on the merits of the competition, and if the competition does have a compelling product lined up Sony can just drown it out with price cuts or more marketing deals.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Oh, it took me 6 years to notice that.

Anyway, EA's not the first company to evaluate their support based on their game. I think Fifa 18 will do well on Switch.

@BLP_Software It used to be that people bought into a console based mainly on the first party and exclusive game support, which is still very much true for Nintendo. And that could and should have been where Microsoft got one big selling point over Sony's PlayStation 4 especially as there was so little from Sony for a long while, however Microsoft's exclusives have been so weak and actually almost none existence in more recent times to the point of cancelling their biggest title Scalebound, that they have nothing to fall back on.

No marketing deals, no exclusive content and only a couple of games to this fall to coincide with their latest hardware launch. And Crackdown 3 hasn't been exactly getting the best of responses from E3.

@FragRed Nintendo has the strongest first party but Sony can just shout louder. That's the way it has always been.

The industry has been shaped by their involvement, for better and for worse. If Nintendo has a new system popping up, watch the temporary price drop.

Big first party games? Watch them shout about their deals and run sales at just the right time.

To be fair, I'm surprised Sony even needs to try anymore. They get all the overmarketed AAA games because those games are just put it on all the powerful platforms and why would Xbox be a priority for anyone? There's almost no good reason to not put your game on PS4, so everyone does and 3rd parties market the popular games and PS4 is popular so they win. Until a few months ago, they might as well be the only home console. For a lot of people, they might as well be the only gaming that isn't on a phone.

I'm not even sure they are trying. I saw their E3 conference. It was basically "Those games we showed last year are still coming. 2018. Ok? kthxbai" Probably just have bots auto generating marketing at this point. Sony execs probably just on vacation as their bots make their Playstation money for them.

@kkslider5552000 I'd say one of the main points of Sony's E3 was "We stole Monster Hunter from Nintendo!".

@Grumblevolcano
Even that hasn't caused so much impact for Sony as it one would have expected. I haven't heard much buzz about it in other sites, except for the console wars.
I don't think it will be doing so well in the casual market, but that's another story.

@DarthNocturnal
It was bound to happen. Monster Hunter is not a Nintendo 1st party IP. It's a 3rd party game, and no third-party game stays exclusive to one platform manufacturer forever. But I don't think MH World is gonna do much better than MH4U did on 3DS, even despite being heavily promoted with good graphics and 3 platforms. For one, the 3 million in sales they usually see in Japan... that's not gonna happen as a PS4 exclusive there. Even Dragon Quest XI only hit 1 million, so I wouldn't expect any more than that for Monster Hunter World. So that's 2 million in the hole right there. Then, there's the fact the games were already hitting a million in the west, so whatever it does in the west it's going to have to sell 2 million to make up for Japan's numbers and another million on top of that just to break even with what the previous games have done. Only sales above and beyond 4 million will actually allow the game to be a better success than its predecessors. Which means it needs to hit 3 million in the west- and it probably will- 2 mil on PS4 and 1m for X1/PC... The only differences it probably cost them 10 times as much to make due to the production values and 3 different platforms.

Basically what I'm getting at is ya, it'll do reasonably well just because of its production values and marketing push but it's not going to ever be a mainstream game. Just because it's a complicated and skill-based game, and complicated skill-based games are never mainstream. Dark Souls levels of success is about the best it can hope for in the west.

In the end, MH may not be exclusive to Nintendo going forward, but it most certainly won't exclude Nintendo either. If they can sell that same 4 million copies simply developing a 3DS and Switch version, they're gonna do it. Although I think by the time the next game is ready 3DS will be out of the picture and it will be a Switch exclusive. But by that time the install base will have reached 25 million and the sales potential of the game will likely rival that of past 3DS entries- the fact the game will be more popular in the west will probably make up for the smaller install base.

Monster Hunter World is a spin off game isn't it? It's aimed at the Western market, something Capcom hasn't been able to capture in terms of sales with the numbered line as of yet though it was growing. I don't see this as a win for Sony and I don't think they do either because for them to actually get that win they need the mainline numbered series to be on PS4 exclusively, and there's no way Capcom would do that because they know the bread and butter for their sales is the Japanese handheld market hence why they are prepping their engine for the Switch with the remaster.