Topic: The Nintendo Switch Rumor and Speculation Thread

@skywake I would have thought the margins are there to go for a higher spec. The Switch is selling for $299 still. It's price is a reflection of demand, not specification. I dare say valued from purely a technical point of view, it's strictly speaking not worth that these days. Any new revision would have an inflated cost in association with the actual cost price of Switch, not it's retail. Gah, I know what I'm trying to asy lol (even if I'm wrong hahah.) But if it's going to replace the current Switch, then $399 would make sense until they are ready to make the wholesale swap, and maybe we see a price reduction as it wouldn't be so cutting edge. If they are swapping models, $299 is such a sweet spot for the concept, I can't imagine them wanting to mess that up in the long run.

@Mr-Fuggles777
Well the Switch as it is has already outsold the XBOne and 360 and will soon overtake the the PS3. In 2019 it overtook the PS4 to become the best selling platform for that year and last year it outsold all other platforms combined. So whatever your concern is the market doesn't agree.

I mean, the Switch is also a portable console, that's the reason you'd get it over a PS4 Pro. It's the console you can take with you on holidays (not that there are much of those lately) or to play on the couch or in bed. Then if you want to you can play it on the TV. I don't think a Switch Pro changes that core appeal much. All it means is that the experience you get on the Switch is better than it otherwise would have been.

@GrailUK
Speaking for myself, I'll buy one regardless assuming there's a tangible boost in performance. But I'm sure there are some people with tighter budgets than mine who are less keen. To be blunt, that's probably where some of the pushback against the mere idea of a Switch Pro is coming from.

@skywake I fully agree with that, but like you said the Switch has sold like hot cakes - how many of those customers are going to upgrade to a new switch, especially one that is still less powerful than current gen systems?

The Wii sold really well (and hit the same casual market the switch has) and the wii-U flopped because those same casuals were happy playing wii sports and Mario Kart on the existing hardware.
There is a high chance the same thing could happen with a switch Pro- especially when price wise its going to be in a similar field as a Seies X or PS5.

As for portable, what's the chances that the switch Pro will manage PS4 games handheld without significant downgrades and of I need to be docked to achieve that why would I want to tether myself to a TV for old hardware?

@Mr-Fuggles777
I don't think the Wii and Switch demographics are at all similar. The Wii appealed to non-gamers and families and you're right that that market largely evaporated. Some shifted to Nintendo's direct competitors and others moved onto things like iPads, smartphone and fitbit. And yes part of the Wii U's failure was an assumption that those people would come back.

But that's not the Switch's demographic. The core of the Switch audience are "core gamers", they're just either buying the Switch in addition to PC/PS/XBox or as a jack-of-all-trades gaming platform. The Switch demographic as I see it is a combination of the old Vita/PSP market and dedicated Nintendo fans with a touch of family friendly in there like Nintendo always does. But with a broader appeal than the Vita had because there's no competition in the portable space and the Switch spec is less behind than the Vita was, relative to when it was released. A higher spec would only boost the appeal of the Switch

@skywake I reckon you are right

@skywake possibly, but I would want a significant power boost to buy a new Switch.
I have a PS4 along with the Series S (that I bring to work) and a Series X, so why would I want to drop £400 on a machine that gives me access to last gen hardware when I can pay the same and get a PS5?

The only way I would consider buying the Switch Pro would be if it gave me 1080p 60FPS access to last gen games handheld, I can already play 4k games at 60FPS or 1440p at 120FPS on the TV, so upscaled 4k DLSS at 60FPS docked is a step back - especially when it's unlikely we would get current cross platform games on the new switch.

@Mr-Fuggles777 It sounds like you are fine for consoles for the next 4 years, mate, regardless of what the next Switch is hahah!

@Mr-Fuggles777
It doesn't have to appeal to you specifically to make sense but also yes, the appeal to people like you is what it offers as a portable platform. Speaking for myself I have a Switch and a reasonable mid-range PC (Ryzen 3600X + 1660Ti). Upgrading my GPU would be a good $1000AU with the market as it currently is, I'm not doing that. I could get an XBox Series S for $500AU but I'd get about as much from that as I would just plugging my PC into the TV. I could get a Series X or PS5 but then we're approaching the cost of a GPU upgrade again.

But a Switch Pro? I can move my current Switch to a second TV or an additional console for local multiplayer or something. I get an upgrade for my portable gaming experience from ~PS3 era to ~PS4 era. And when docked Nintendo's exclusives, which I can't access on PC, run at a higher level of detail than they previously did. To me it's an obvious choice, even if it ends up being $100US more (which would put it at $550AU)

@GrailUK I'm a sucker for impulse buying. I only got the Series X because I spotted it was in stock when I went to pick something up for the Mrs and panick bought it just because they are so hard to get hold of lol.
I'm a little more sceptical for the switch, as I only play mine handheld intermittently as there isn't a lot of exclusives (I've still got the wii-U kicking around with most of the games library) and I'm not sure if the improvements are going to offset the price for me. I'm sure a lot of people will also be thinking the same

It does seem at this point that sometime between mid-July (week after Skyward Sword HD) and early September (the traditional September general Direct slot) is most likely for reveal with the point at which it happens depends on how much Zelda news we get in Tuesday's E3 Direct.

If all we get is Skyward Sword HD trailer and Age of Calamity DLC news then I'd say mid-July reveal for the revision is most likely along with a Zelda Direct (not in the Direct itself, rather both happening in mid-July).

If however we get more announcements like BotW 2 and more ports such that a Zelda Direct in mid-July doesn't make sense then I think closer to early September announcement is more likely, perhaps in a traditional early September general Direct.

March 2022

I believe this is the very definition of the gaming-positive spouse. My regards to Mrs. Fuggles.

OTOH...

I'm not accusing you personally of doing this, of course. Your post simply makes me wonder if this is the kind of thread where we... er, set aside our prior erroneous prognostications...

@COVIDberry oh let’s not accuse anyone of moving the goal posts. At least as far as I know no one here is getting paid on YouTube to move them.

@COVIDberry I always thought the revision was tied to BotW 2 news but was torn whether they'd announce BotW 2 news before Skyward Sword HD launched given BotW 2 news would directly affect Skyward Sword HD sales.

Well, it's only what people here have said they think might happen, @COVIDberry ..... While even for other sources, if they get new information that causes them to revise their predictions, it's better they let us know when that happens! At the best of times, it can be tricky predicting things in gaming & particularly with Nintendo, while there's still extra factors increasing uncertainty going on

She knows she got a keeper in me!
I was also treated to a new 55" Samsung QLED TV alongside it so that I could fully appreciate the 4K visuals and play games at 120 FPS - and the accompanying sound bar for Dolby Atmos

This gaming malarkey is an expensive hobby, but she says it's still cheaper than when I used to play 40k competitively

@BruceCM well now Nate is saying we can see games at the show, which will be developed to have switch pro enhancements but they won’t tell us that and they will just show the current switch version of the game running. Now isn’t that a huge bold prediction.

Where exactly do I send my $100 to have a podcast dedicated to me.

I think comparing a Switch Pro to the Wii U in that it'll flop is disingenuous given one was a whole new system and the other is an add on to an already 85m+ system.

Watch it be called the switch U. Oh man even if this thing is real it's gonna suck so hard! People will be like oh look it's like half a PS4. LOL Nintendo is so behind the times and so forth. That sorta thing that I've been hearing since N64.

@sixrings Hmm, I'll keep my eye out for those!