Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@FragRed I don't see Microsoft being strong this year unless there's some insane price cuts during the holidays (e.g. XB1S 500GB + MCC + RDR 2 for £160) but even then Sony would likely go even cheaper.

@Grumblevolcano Xbox One S was the cheapest console last year, I could see the same thing happening this year. Who knows, if they have some good exclusives lined up, I may pick up a One S this year!

I go to sleep and all this news comes out... lol. Glad to see the Switch is selling well, and the games are doing great as well. I’m a little surprised at Kirby hitting over a million so soon, the game got almost nothing but mediocre reviews. It’s Kirby though, so I guess name brand helps a lot.

At the price it currently is it's not a bad value for a 4K BluRay player. Especially when you can get it and a couple of games for less than the cost of any other 4K BluRay player on the market. I'm planning on getting a 4K TV soon, I might end up getting an XBOne just for that....

@FragRed Pokemon is the obvious heavy lifter but there are other ways Nintendo could conceivably hit 20 million sales this FY.

They could for instance reduce prices or put together a bundle (most likely with MK8) to effectively reduce prices without affecting the sticker price. They could also introduce a budget label of games or their ‘virtual console’ service could end up being a very compelling Netflix like service.

They could also have hardware variations. Even just limited edition Switch hardware with nothing but minor aesthetic changes could be used to bump unit sales.

Mostly though the system is rolling because the ball is already in motion. Every new game is a drop in the ocean that’s already filling due to MK8, Zelda, Mario Odyssey and (to a lesser extent) Splatoon.

People are losing interest in Xbox. I suspect their sales are going to plummet by the end of this year. They've got no solid exclusives and haven't for some time. Xbox One X is the only thing keeping them afloat, but even that won't last forever.

PS4 will continue to sell strongly, and will remain market leader as more and more Xbox gamers buy into PS4. I'd estimate around 50% of the Xbox gamership is migrating over to PS. And for that reason nobody will touch them. When there's a balance like PS3/360, seems all 3 platforms are on relatively even ground. But take half the Xbox gamers and stick em in the PS pile (thanks to Sony finally dropping a number of quality exclusives and Xbox continually borking this generation, be it the DRM check scandal or complete lack of compelling 1st party games) and you're gonna end up in a situation where Xbox One tops out at 50m, and PS4 hits 120m thanks to that extra 25-30m Xbox gamers Microsoft lost. Nintendo will likely do the standard 80-85m with Switch, though it could be as high as 90-100m if they play their cards right.

At this point, there's almost no reason at all for an unbiased consumer to choose Xbox One over PS4. And Switch is now the default platform for anyone who desires to play video games beyond a stationary home console setup. And for that reason, PS4 and Switch will thrive. Even for Switch owners looking to buy a 2nd console, most will choose PS4. Its the logical choice. And most PS4/X1 owners looking to buy a 2nd console, they will likely choose Switch simply because it offers far more as a complementary console than a system nearly identical to what they already own.

@FragRed
Why do they need all 3 of those to hit 20 million? Understand, previously released games don't suddenly lose their selling power. So this year still has Zelda Breath of the Wild selling the console. This year still has Super Mario Odyssey selling the console. It still has Mario Kart 8 Deluxe shifting units, still has Splatoon 2, still has Xenoblade Chronicles 2...

You then take a game like Super Smash Bros, and throw that in on top of all these other games that are still shifting units (and will continue shifting units the rest of its lifespan) and it's completely feasible to do 20m. Toss in Mario Tennis Aces, toss in Fire Emblem 16 and Yoshi, maybe even toss in Pokémon... it's a compounding effect. Like how continually compounding interest works. You're adding new games that sell the system, but that compounds on top of the already existing games that are still selling the system.

That's how consoles typically do more in year 2 and 3. It's not because each year had a better lineup than the previous year, it's because the appeal of the ever-expanding library is compounding.

Nintendo is different from other companies in that they rely on evergreen titles. They sell well initially AND they sell well even after release. Plus, they still retain their $60 price tag until YEARS down the line, and they are also incorporating DLC in a lot more games, with BotW and Xenoblade 2 season passes. AND don't forget about their amiibo (merchandising is also a huge business of its own) and upcoming paid online service. Nintendo will do just fine this generation, their revenue streams are consistently.

On that note, my boy Xenoblade 2 sold 1.31m copies, and Odyssey is the first game to crack 10m. Hell yeah dude, hopefully for Monolith Soft's upcoming action RPG they have a full team on board not needing to help with Zelda so they aren't crippled mid-development.

I think I might give this one a try, it looks pretty cool.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/201...

the big cost is probably not the material, it is the loading of the game. Blu-rays are pressed, flash needs to have it's contents transferred in some way which takes time. This is probably what drives up the cost, a 32 GB will take twice the time to upload than a 16 GB. Blu-rays cost the same regardless if you load it with one byte or 50 GB.

Yoku's Island Express coming to physical:

@Therad We don't know what kind of copy process is involved in the Nintendo cart loading, but I doubt the write speed of the medium is terribly slow, and unlike CD presses that press the discs in linear format, I imagine these are multi-writers recording numerous carts at once. One big difference more than anything there is probably that the carts are produced and written in Japan. SOME BD's are pressed in Japan or the US (IIRC Sony 1st party is pressed in Japan, Disney movies are pressed in the US usually but not always), but most are pressed in China, Mexico, Czech Republic (by region) etc. I.E. the labor and business cost of a high value economy is going to be more in play for Nintendo's carts than BDs. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing will vary by opinion.

Imagine if Switch was "Assembled in USA with parts made in Japan." The thing would be $1200.

The irony is for the size of games BluRays are having to store and will store in future, you cant fit more than 50GB on disc, and the read speeds are HILARIOUSLY slow.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection preload is live on the US eShop.

The Naruto Trilogy is $40, or you can buy each game individually for $20.

So it seems we may have our next piece of evidence suggesting the Wii U online servers might be shut down near September. As found in the Tropical Freeze Switch thread, it appears that Tropical Freeze has been removed from the NA Wii U eshop a week before its Switch launch.

@Grumblevolcano I don't know if that is so much shutting down Wii U servers as Nintendo trying to dampen down the talk that the port is incredibly overpriced compared to the Wii U version, which it is. Have they pulled Bayonetta 2 or any other ports from the Wii U eShop?

@FragRed What I was getting at is Tropical Freeze being removed on Wii U to dampen talk about the price difference taken a step further would be shutting down the Wii U online servers to dampen talk about the Switch online service not being free from September.

@FragRed
Well of course it's priced way higher. It's a new release on Switch, with a new audience, and new value for the pre-existing audience.

I see so many people expecting the game to be half price just because it got a $20 release on Wii U. Completely missing the economics of why a game drops price in the first place (quantity demanded is filled with X amount of sales at MSRP, thus price drops to increase quantity demanded). But if there is enough demand on a new platform the price reflects that, because demand at MSRP has not yet been exhausted. And of course there will be demand- these aren't PS2 games ported to PS3, then ported to PS4, then brought over to Switch where 200 million people had a chance to play it, they're Wii U games where only 13 million people in the entire gamership ever had access, and of those that did, nobody is making them buy it- they can grab it on Wii U. If downgrading from 1080p to 720p, losing the Funky Mode, losing video uploads for time trials, losing co-op anywhere, losing a handheld version, instant screenshots and video captures and playing on a separate legacy console is worth paying a lower price, they can do that.

Of course, if someone has a Wii U, waited 4 years and still hasn't bought it, I see no reason they would suddenly want to go buy it on Wii U now. And if they want it on Switch, but want a lower price, then they can wait for the price to drop, just like it did on Wii U (after demand had been exhausted at MSRP, of course). If they've waited 4 years, what's another 6 months... Never understood complaints about any game's price tbh. Prices drop to appeal to the full spectrum of the demand curve. That's basic economics of this industry. Any price deemed "too high" for an individual... they can wait for price to drop to what they feel the game is worth. And if it doesn't drop, then it's because practically everyone sees it as being worth it. And in that case, demand rules in the free market. And it always, always drives price (which is why complaints about price are futile and senseless in the first place- if it's too much then nobody will buy it and the price will soon drop, and if it's not too much then it won't, at least not nearly as fast, in which case yet again, demand ultimately controls price).

edit
Btw, apologies if it sounded like I was lecturing you there. Wasn't my intent. But I did want to share some insight into the economics of the demand curve and how price equilibrium always pans out in the end. I just see a lot of complaints where people feel like they are entitled to a specific price and get angry when that's not offered to them (I know that wasn't you, but I've seen it from a lot of others). When in reality the market determines what's too high and what's not, and price corrects itself when it is. So in the end people are wasting their breath. When the game has reached Amazon top 10 sellers list as a preorder weeks out from release, it's fair to say the market has spoken loud and clear that the price is fine.

@IceClimbers I have no reason to preorder a digital game (my internet is fast enough for same day downloads) but i swear I want to...just because street fighter.

Speaking of the Tropical Freeze take down that seems odd. Did Nintendo take down MK8? I feel like they are going to put WiiU TF back online. After all it doesn't matter about the price diff if you don't have one system over the other. (doesn't matter if you do have both actually...)

@Grumblevolcano Would they really shut down the Wii U servers so soon? Miiverse is one thing, but they didn’t shut down Nintendo WiFi connection until 2014, and they still haven’t completely shut down the Wii shop channel. If there history is anything to go by, they won’t shut it down until around 2022.

What is a good size for a sd card on the switch and what speed should i go for.