Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@senaionios With the Mario Movie and Mario Wonder, it's possible they don't have to. I can imagine Santa is going to get a lot of letters wanting one. If they miss their 15 million target this fiscal year, I reckon they pull the trigger next spring.

@GrailUK Announcement, I don't think there'll be a price cut at all. I think they'll use the trick they used with the OLED setup in 2021, keep the current system the same price and have the new system be a bit more expensive.

@GrailUK
I think it also depends on how big the Switch's stock is. If the Switch's successor truly releases next year, Nintendo might want to sell as many Switch systems to reduce stock before the new console releases. If the stock is high enough, Nintendo might be motivated to do a price cut.

@skywake I'm writing a history book about Nintendo and I've had to address this point so many times since it's a trend of Nintendo's to innovate with lesser machinery and power in order to keep costs down... even if they're brute-forced out of the way by their competitors anyway. Now they've moved into their own little bubble this philosophy can form an echo chamber of sorts for them.

Since you seem to be arguing for Nintendo to skip a generation, then, yeah, that's a fair comparison. Although to be more fair, let's look only since the Switch was released. So these are sales in the exact same timeframe:

PS4: 96 million
PS5: 41 million
Switch:129 million

Note that 96 + 41 > 129. During the lifetime of Switch more people have payed for devices from PlayStation which were much more powerful than Switch than have bought Switch. And most of the best selling games on those PS4/5 consoles are ones which literally couldn't run on Switch because of hardware constraints.

@Euler
Again, you didn't read ANY of my post. You had a conclusion and you just ran with it in spite of what I said

@TheJGG
I'd agree with this although again the Wii U is a clear example of a time when they let cost get away from them

I'd also note when I talk about their next piece of hardware I'm not suggesting they go to the bleeding edge. I'm suggesting they release something that is, relatively speaking, the same cost the Switch was on day 1. Which is naturally going to be significantly more capable

This would be a worthwhile comparison if you weren't still comparing 2 consoles to 1, as if PS4 owners upgrading to PS5 isn't incredibly common.

also yes the games with the best graphics which happen to have the most marketing behind them are often the best selling on PS5, how interesting, it must be because of the graphics and nothing else

@kkslider5552000 Honestly some of those games don't have much going for them without the fancy graphics. Not all certainly though. But the question was 'do people want fancy graphics or is Switch good enough forever'. I think it's pretty clear that many many people do in fact want fancy graphics.

If you don't like comparing two consoles to one, PS4 and Wii U started near each other, feel free to add those extra numbers in so it's 2 versus 2 😝

@GrailUK

Announcement first. Price cuts are for platforms that aren't selling well. And I wouldn't qualify 17.9m Switches sold last year as the platform not having sold well.

Probably the announcement of the next console if we're thinking from a business point of view but I think it'd be neat if they announced a price cut of the OG Switch at the same time (maybe with the return of Nintendo Selects for 1st Party games to send off the generation?).

One of the few times I agree with you @Magician re: what Nintendo should do. I don't think there's much reason for a price drop until there is new hardware. There's certainly no rush for it given the volume they're moving, even if sales are in decline. If they were to do something along those lines it would be with a paired back SKU and the Lite already covers that end of the market

I would think the new hardware will probably land around that $350-400US range. If so the OLED at $350US probably doesn't make much sense as a premium SKU anymore, it just ceases to be a sensible purchase. Why would you buy it when you can get faster hardware for a similar price? But to allow the old Switch hardware to still be viable I'd think probably the regular Switch drops down to $250US and the Lite down to $150US. The Lite in particular at that price, it'd remain one hell of a product even with a new platform out

The timeline will be something like:
1. Announcement of new hardware
2. Price cuts
3. New hardware launch
4. OLED quietly discontinued

@skywake

We may not see eye to eye often, but I always appreciate your point of view.

@skywake Careful, Mr Wake. You will have youtubers and forum posters having to change from Switch Pro to Switch 2 to Switch Premium or somwthing lol (I think they are currently on Switch successor!). I appreciate it's all just semantics, but pitching the Switch as the premium model of Switch might be the best way to keep the playerbase. Mind you, that tact didn't do the Wii U many favours. As always, dunno

@Magician @skywake Oh, I'm the first to admit I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but you guys always bring really good opinions

@skywake I mostly agree with your timeline, but I could see tweaking it a little bit.

1. Discontinuation of the base model of Switch (Maybe quietly) with a price cut on the OLED model
2. Announcement of new hardware
3. Price cut on remaining Switch models
4. Release of new hardware
5. Discontinuation of Switch

I also expect 2 and 3 to happen almost around the same time.

September 2023. Nintendo will announced the Nintendo Switch 2.

@LinkxPeach

I like your optimism, regardless of how very unlikely that'll happen.

More like September 2024 and even that's a stretch.

We will see if your claim comes true.

@Magician It's going to be a loooooooong year if that's the case.

@ElRoberico Thankfully we have plenty of distractions between now and then. I just assume Nintendo will continue to hold the Switch successor announcement until new software announcements cease for the current platform (Princess Peach in early 2024 for example). If we get to June 2024 and Nintendo's release schedule is relatively bare, I think that will speak volumes.