Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Grumblevolcano
3DS lasted more than 6 years and that was the last portable, and Nintendo said they wanted to extend. So take 6 years and extend it and you're looking at 7-8 yrs. 2024 earliest, maybe March 2025.

@gcunit
Precisely. Switch will still be topping 20 million units next year. It's one thing to strike before disinterest ensues, its another to strike prematurely.

after have seen the port of dying light being so great now I have more hope for the port of kingdom Come: Deliverance (pretty sure all of you have forgot about this game coming on switch) and will be handle by SABER INTERACTIVE they are good in porting staff to Switch

@JaxonH Both the 3DS and Wii U's successor is the Switch which launched March 2017 (6 years after 3DS launch). Successor launched with the old system still being supported for some time (similar thing happened with GBA -> DS and DS -> 3DS). I do think the crossgen window this time would be both systems get the same 1st party games for a certain amount of time and then the Switch dropped rather than Switch getting games that aren't playable on the successor.

At least if, as I expect, any Switch successor is fully BC, it would make it much easier to trade-in the Switch towards it ...

Metroid Dread Battery Test (Max Brightness)
Switch Lite: 4.5 hrs
Switch v2: 5.25 hrs
Switch OLED: 6.2 hrs

@JaxonH That's interesting. How old/used are each of those Switch units? Is it possible to blame the differences on lost battery capacity due to age or usage?

@mjharper
All 3 brand new.

@JaxonH
I actually think we're looking at March 2023 for the successor to the Switch, which hopefully keeps the same hybrid concept and lets people bring over all their games and accessories. It would mean only 1 year and 4 months for the OLED as the 'premium' Switch but it would also be in line with what the Wii's cycle was. And fact is, the next-gen Switch does need to get here sooner than later. What I see happening is the new gen hardware hits March 2023, standard Switch and OLED both get price cuts, Lite gets dropped.

@Gamer83 There'd be no reason to drop the Lite, which they're probably going to keep as their budget option going forward, and it's likely much cheaper to manufacture. If they're going to drop anything, it'll be the non-OLED Switch.

I do also think we'll see a more powerful model launch in 2023, though, with BotW2 promoted heavily as a cross-gen launch title for the system.

@Gamer83
I won't rule anything out. Anything's possible with Nintendo. March 2023 is a little sooner than I'm expecting, but it's not so soon I can rule it out entirely like I can with a 2022 release.

I do think they'll want to launch next gen with a Zelda, if possible. It worked for Switch and they'll obviously want to repeat that. And that fact does lend itself to a "delay Zelda to March 2023 to align with and help push Switch 2". Can't deny the logic in that.

On the other hand, rushing out a new system simply because of Zelda's timing may not be worth it in a cost/benefit analysis. They could easily launch with Metroid Prime 4 and a new 3D Mario in the launch window (appeal to core fans and casuals alike) so as to not need to rush the timing to match Zelda. And, a reveal trailer for the next Zelda after BotW 2 could still get ppl excited for the hardware. Perhaps not to the same extent, but that's what Metroid and Mario are for.

I think it may also depend on momentum over the next two yrs. If Switch is still pushing 20+ million a yr, they may not be so quick to abandon that for a new generation. Especially with their stated intent to stretch this generation out. At the same time they won't want to wait too long, as they made that mistake with Wii, failing to launch a Wii HD until interest had plummeted. So they'll want to stretch it as far as it can go, without stretching it so far demand falls off a cliff.

I believe something is happening in 2023- be it a new revision, the next generation, or even just a reveal announcement for the next generation.

Late 2022-early 2023 seems quite likely. I wonder what will happen to backwards compatibility, it's Nintendo so anything can happen. As @Ralizah, I think that the 2017/2019 model will be replaced by the OLED model (2021) and that Switch Lite will be marketed as a budget option at least until the Switch Advance (to say a name) is released.

EDIT: So, my conclusion is that I should keep my Lite until late 2022-early 2023 and skip the OLED model.

You can now redeem eShop credit on the web. Had no idea. Did you guys know about this? I didn't know about this.

https://ec.nintendo.com/redeem/#/

@BlueOcean In general, Nintendo has historically been pretty good about backwards-compatibility when the devices can support it. All of their handhelds besides the Game Boy (which, by definition, couldn't be BC, since it was their first mass produced handheld gaming system) and DSi have supported BC at least one generation back. The consoles have obviously been less solid, as they've gone through more format changes, but the Wii supported GC, and the Wii U supported Wii.

So the only way I can see them not supporting BC with Switch titles is if they change formats again, which seems unlikely, as discs haven't historically been a great fit for portable gaming devices.

@Ralizah
I could see that scenario too with keeping the Lite. Either way, at least one model will be dropped.

@JaxonH
Yeah, I'd be shocked if something launched in 2022. I think sometime from February to April 2023 is the sweet spot. Get it out with Zelda and maybe Mario Kart 9 as a next-gen exclusive at launch or only a month later and you're off to a hell of a start.

@Ralizah Yes that's something I loved about Nintendo... until Switch. I know that the formats are different but they didn't support digital cross-buy either even though the Switch accounts can be merged with the Wii U/3DS accounts. So their future console could drop this "digital compatibility" again, who knows. If only they were third party!

@Gamer83 Yes by 2022 I mean late 2022-early 2023 like Grumblevolcano.

@JaxonH heh I conveniently discovered this two days ago. I wanted to redeem a card in preparation for Mario Party!

@Eel
Must be new. I bought some eShop cred from Raise on the Android app, and it said "Redeem" which I'm only used to seeing on sites that sell Steam games. So I clicked the button and it took me to the page to redeem codes. Even had a copy button to copy the code text.

That makes it super convenient. No more typing it in on Switch eShop.

@BlueOcean Cross-Buy only applies to a tiny number of the games on Wii U/3DS anyway, and none of the first-party stuff, as far as I'm aware, so it wouldn't have accomplished much on Switch.

Barring any major changes in format or form factor again (which is unlikely, given they've restructured their company is such a way that they're all in with hybrid game development), I don't think there's any reason to think the Switch successor won't be like the Wii U, which was able to play all of its previous system's physical and digital games.

@Ralizah Yes but you mentioned backwards compatibility and discs, so I answered that Switch doesn't support discs, it could have supported cross-buy because the accounts can be merged. I wasn't talking about the 3DS/Wii U cross-buy options. About future backwards compatibility, anything can happen considering how greedy Nintendo has become.

@BlueOcean Ah.

The Wii U --> Switch was probably the last time they could get away with not carrying over licenses and doing full priced ports from their last system, considering how wildly different the consoles are and how few people even owned a Wii U. Especially now with backwards-compatibility becoming more of an expected standard. There'll be a backlash if their next hybrid starts from zero again.

Anything can happen, of course, but historical precedent strongly suggests their next console will be fully backwards-compatible. I'd be shocked if it wasn't, actually.

Anyway, Nintendo has always been greedy. All of these companies are greedy. They're elaborate machines designed to make money. When they're riding high, like Nintendo and Sony are at the moment and Microsoft was back before the launch of the Xbox One, they make tone-deaf decisions and bleed their bases dry. When they're down, like Nintendo was with the Wii U, Sony was mid-seventh-gen, and Microsoft has pretty much been since the launch of the Xbox One (although that's definitely improving so far this generation), they become apologetic and attempt to curry favor with new customers through gracious deals, pricing, and services (Nintendo literally gave me a free $50 Wii U game when I bought Mario Kart 8 as part of a launch window promotion, lol). We've seen this song and dance so many times over the years.