Topic: Nintendo Switch 2: Your biggest fears and concerns!!

With Switch 2 leaks fever running into high gear let’s address some of the fears you have concerning the reveal. It’s inevitable, there will be guaranteed disappointment when it pertains to overall power/specs, form factor, controllers, cost , the quality of graphics…

Ultimately what are you MOST concerned about Nintendo missing on with the Switch successor? Are you waiting to be disappointed by outdated chips/specs? Will it be the price point? Perhaps it’s not a big enough leap from Switch 1? Won’t be able to run 3rd party games such as GTA6??? Is it more joy-con drift? The games??? Fear of more powerful competition from MS/Sony and others?

Let’s chop it up!

I'll be disappointed if the big selling point is just 'it's more powerful'. I'm sure my lack of enthusiasm would be quashed as soon as I actually saw how good the new first-party games would look on it, but still, I'm hoping there'll be some sort of clever new hardware feature. I also hope they use some of that extra power to have a more fun and interactive home menu like on the 3DS; the Switch feels so soulless in comparison.

I think Nintendo would have to make a lot of mistakes to mess this one up tbh.

My biggest concern would be them adding some unnecessary gimmick that doesn't land with the general public and adds to the price of the system. However this is seeming very unlikely.

The other concern would be a lacklustre first year of new software. Again, I think very unlikely considering the types of games that have been released this year, and the series which are overdue for a new title (Mario, Mario Kart, etc.)

Another Wii U situation depending on how they market the Switch 2

And then what the price could be in the US

@Dogorilla
It’s really quite the conundrum for Nintendo, they could play it safe and just go the more power route as the main feature of Switch 2..but it’s Nintendo. They’re always looking to innovate, so I’d imagine they’ll include some features that will differentiate it from the rest of the competition. Nothing as evolutionary as the OG Switch but I think they’ll further lean into its hybrid nature for sure. StreetPass and Miiverse returning could be part of that operating system fun the Switch was lacking.

@Buizel
It would be pretty shocking if they did a major departure from the current Switch ecosystem. I don’t know if they’ll risk alienating their massive install base by overreaching via a gimmick at this point. I mean Alarmo is a pretty useless device in reality 😝. It is Nintendo afterall so perhaps they do try a bit too hard to make Switch 2 unique and it backfires.

I don’t think 1st year software will be an issue tbh, I think they’ve given dev teams ample time to make Switch 2 games. They know the importance a strong software lineup within those first couple years of launch, especially at launch. I believe we’ll get 1-2 system sellers at launch with top tier 3rd party ports filling in the gaps between those 1st party releases. If it launches with Mario Kart 9…it’s a wrap tho

I'll be disappointed if Nintendo focuses on remastering/remaking Switch 1 games for Switch 2 like how Sony focused on remastering/remaking PS4 games for PS5. Granted, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Remastered being the Switch 2's Mario Kart would have comedic value especially if GTAV got announced for Switch 2 in the same event but I want to see Nintendo's port/remaster/remake efforts to be focused on games that never came to Switch 1.

The bizarre Neptunia games situation worries me... I really hope that they don't goes back like how they were during the first half of the 2010's when they like censored everything in USA and Europe.
Looks like that Sony is loosening up a bit now while Nintendo may falling back to their old habits again now. Really hope not!

Like others has already said that a new Wii U situation would be a nightmare, because Nintendo is always being Nintendo in the end. You never knows how they're thinking. So it may happen again then.

"Switch 2" MUST not costing +$400 otherwise it will die off quickly. Nintendo is not Sony or Microsoft. So MAX $349 then. If it's indeed much more powerful than excepted so it's okay with $399 then, but not a single penny more!
Don't forget what happened with 3DS which launched with a very high price tag and it flopped hard until when Nintendo made an (or was it some) emergency price cut, and it sold pretty well afterwards, but killed a lot of third-party support.

Nintendo has a VERY different customer base compared with Sony which has no problem with to paying +$500 or +$700 for a new PS console, while many Nintendo fans refuse to pay anything higher than $200 or $300. There're still so many who haven't bought a Switch yet because they're still waiting for a price cut.

Otherwise I can't wait until when we for REAL sees the REAL genuine "Switch 2" or whatever it's called in (hopefully) early 2025.

@Grumblevolcano

I can’t see Nintendo falling into a deep remake/remaster strategy with Switch 2. With over 146M sold, likely closer to 150M after the holidays there isn’t that Wii U opportunity to repackage games to a new audience. Nintendo excelled with its Wii U ports, MK8 Deluxe has to be the best selling game of this generation. Perhaps they move the rest of the Metroid Prime remakes to Switch 2 alongside Wind Waker and Twillight Princess rumored remakes. I’m thinking Nintendo does have some new gaming mechanic they’ll introduce and should spark a slew of new games and ideas.

I think in Sony/MS case they have to rely on the remasters/remakes because they don’t have the large breadth of IP Nintendo does, also they make higher spec consoles so the remakes give devs time to get acclimated to the systems .

If anything I can see Switch 2 becoming a 2nd life for major AAA releases that couldn’t work on Switch. Elden Ring, Baldurs Gate, even just a return of Madden and COD would be big for Switch 2 plus all the Nintendo exclusives and you can imagine how massive Switch 2 library could be.

@Keman

Ah yes..the price is a big one. I’m prepared for $479.99…maybe they offer 2 skus, with $479 having more storage and maaaaaaybe an OLED screen. I’d imagine base will be around $429 for the console. New console + game would be about the cost of a PS5/XBX now, it’s more than what Nintendo consoles are priced at but using that comparison plus the proven value Switch 1 provided…it’s not a hard sell. It’s easy to forget, it’s fully portable AND includes a dock with joy-cons which can act as 2 controllers. Plus Nintendo aren’t immune to inflation, Japan has been dealing with weak Yen issues for years, they will price accordingly to each region. Don’t think it’s at or over $500 but it’ll be close to it

My biggest wish, and largest potential for disappointment - I am sincerely hoping that Switch2 'comes out the gate' with a wealth of great 3rd party ports.

If Steamdeck can play these games, then I would REALLY hope Switch2 has the capability... talking the likes of Elden Ring, Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk, MH World. Larian put time into D:OS2... so maybe even Baldurs 3?

@Rainz Sony have a lot of IP, they just choose not to use it. The PS4 era saw a gigantic spike in software sales for Sony and it changed them. Similarly the Switch era saw a gigantic spike in software sales for Nintendo (e.g. BotW and TotK massively outsold every other Zelda) and judging by interviews like this it seems it may have changed Nintendo:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/12/zelda-producer-resp...

I still have hope for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess remasters being brought over from Wii U considering Nintendo are still supporting Switch 1 but I worry that when Switch 2 comes around they'd remaster BotW and TotK because they're much more popular games.

I doubt Nintendo could do too much to mess up unless they actively tried. I do worry a bit about 3rd party games though. For example, Hogwarts Legacy is 75% off right now; great deal if you could buy it now, keep it for Switch 2 and get at least slight performance improvements. But bad deal if a Switch-2-only much better version is sold next year and you can't upgrade.

My biggest fear is Nintendo releasing the Switch 2, only to release all their first party games on both consoles instead of giving people a reason to purchase the Switch 2. That it'll be more akin to the DSi, where it has more power- but is ultimately just a normal switch again.

I also hope to God Nintendo doesn't charge 70 dollars for their games. It's going to happen, given they tried that out with Tears of the Kingdom- but it means I won't be buying many of their first party games unless they go on a massive sale.

@VoidofLight Given that the $70 games are still $50 with vouchers, I feel like Nintendo is slowly pushing people towards digital.

I've seen some fear mongering surrounding the Switch 2, but I'm not really concerned about it. Nintendo is a lot different than the Wii U days, so I don't think it'll have a weird name or bad marketing like the Wii U. Another concern I've seen is the competition from other handhelds like Steam Deck and ROG Ally, but those handhelds are much, much more niche and don't appeal to the mass market. The Switch sold more in a quarter than these handhelds sold in a year.

@Grumblevolcano

Nintendo is just much smarter with what they remaster/remake. Sony is out here remastering games that you can already play on PS5 via BC for whatever reason. At least Nintendo remakes games that aren't on Switch or at least need a remake. Modern Sony is far too obsessed with their template 3rd person cinematic games that remaking some like Sly or Jak isn't worth it to them.

I feel like by the end of Switch 2's lifetime, pressure from other handholds from steam, Sony, etc. might be something Nintendo has to really worry about, but I agree right now Nintendo is far enough on top of the heap that it isn't much of an issue... assuming they hurry up and actually release Switch 2 😆

@FishyS I hope they're not pushing people towards digital, given that I don't trust any corporate ecosystem with games licenses. Not after what Sony did to people's anime libraries on PS5.

@Rainz My thinking is that the USB C port at the top of the leaked model is possibly going to end up allowing for new features.

Hard to say, but they have been advertising digital vouchers pretty heavily lately and in the recent earnings report, the amount of game income they got from digital had risen to 56%.

I only really have two. First I'm worried that they dragged the Switch out for too long and Joe Average consumer has just moved on to other platforms already. Whether that's PS5 or PC in whatever form that takes. Or even a year from now a potential XB portable or similar device. I still firmly believe that this was the key mistake they made with the Wii U when they let the Wii brand rapidly degrade. It's not the exactly same now there are parallels

My second concern is software. This is still a huge unknown and it's hard to say how it'll play out. I doubt they'll get another BotW or Wii Sports on day 1. I also have doubts we'll have another COVID/New Horizons growth spiral. They can't count on catching lightning in a bottle every generation. Im not really worried that they'll let quality slip or fall into the fidelity spiral other studios have. But I do worry that the market won't care. Because people are fickle and easily distracted