Downloadable Games for the Switch Will Be Locked to One Console at a Time

I'm just hoping to download my virtual console and eshop software without having to pay again

D'oh!!!!

Not at all surprising. Truth be told, I can 'share' my PS4 and Xbox One with friends (and do so in the case of the PS4), but after the first few weeks I already stopped using that feature. When I really want to play a game, I'll just buy it for my own console and be done with it.

With the Switch though, this would be a way more tempting feature. Being able to buy my girlfriend a Switch and then only having to buy each game once? Now that'd be something.

It's disappointing, especially as Sony allows PS1 classics to go on 2 PS3's and 2 Vita's at any one time on the same account. But as already said, the portable nature of the Switch makes it less of an issue. Would have been more of an issue if it was a traditional home console for those who have 2 of the same console in 2 different locales.

Makes sense. The main issue we all have is when switching hardware - it's archaic to have to go through nintendo to be able to do it.

Perhaps using my nintendo to verify one - or preferably a number of switches - as yours would help.

@Akropolon you can share games with other people on PS4, by crossing each other accounts. You can then buy games and share them with the other.

@arnoldlayne83 That's what I said in my post. I have that on my PS4; my PlayStation is a friend's "primary console", his is mine. We can play each other's games, but after the first few weeks I already stopped using that possibility.

@erv You can download it again with your account if you change your console. But you can't play the same game on two consoles, basically there's no family sharing.

Disappointing, but understandable.

Oh, the day we are able to lend, borrow and exchange digital copies of our games without hindrance...

And people said I was wrong.

Surely the point of the Switch is to be able to take it to your mates house and plonk it in to their dock? I can see why some might own 2 docks, but 2 Switches is a wee bit obsessive maybe lol.

Disappointing/greedy

@TbobB Did you read the article ? It clearly indicates the contrary man... Unfortunatly !

This is a very big disapointment on my side... I'm getting sick after already buying Super Mario Bros. at least 4-5 times since the NES. This (and the fact that the prices are too high) kills the digital/downloadable market : why would you buy a digital version of a game if you have to buy it once per system while you can use a retail version in every system ? Stupid and not-ecological IMO...

@ElGrego

"why would you buy a digital version of a game if you have to buy it once per system while you can use a retail version in every system ?"

You can still only use that retail copy in one Switch at a time though surely?? so I don't see what difference it makes..... unless I'm missing something

@ElGrego if you read the above it says you cannot share between other switches. Not other consoles.
Therefore does not say anything about Virtual Console, doubt they will let you, as they didnt with Wii -> Wii U (yeah they gave a discount but come on)
If worst comes to worst just buy the original game cartridge and console from Ebay

"we haven't made any final decisions about how we would approach that going forward in the future"

That doesn't mean no. It just means, it'll happen at some point, but they don't know that process will work or how to implement it. I imagine once the switch has launched and the games are all in steady flow to the console, that's when Nintendo will turn its attention onto that little feature.

@ElGrego
I read it as only one game on one Switch, not that previous purchases would not be allowed. I probably should have engaged brain a bit better! Oh well, I'm keeping my Wii U hooked up alongside my switch so no urgent need to redownload these.

Meh.
Am I going to buy 1 2 Switch?
Unfortunately I can't provide any concrete answer for you right now.

@pandarino Oh, big surprise: a company wants more money.

You're making it sound like they don't need money in order to remain in the industry. They're no different to any other company out there which sells goods and services in order to stay afloat.

Sounds like they're using a similar system to with their other systems... downloaded games locked to a user account, which is locked to one console at a time, and you'd have to transfer the user account over in order to transfer the games over.

yep. it's the same mess as on wii u/3ds, just like i've been saying.

and btw: SD cards are locked to the system just like on 3DS. which means you can't just take your switch sd card and put it into another switch. terrible!

there is pretty much zero improvement on nintendo's approach to this. and no: games on wii u/3ds are already tied to your nintendo account. all the reports from last week or whenever it was were erroneous.

@ElGrego That's not what they're talking about here, mate. @TbobB got it right the first time.

So pretty much the same song and dance.

@deKay You were wrong. This is about family sharing and the ability to play your digital games simultaneously on two different consoles with a friend.
Even though it sounds different from the NintendoLife article. But that's Gaming journalism for you. A week late (this is old news) and not even getting the basics right. This one is only missing a pie chart to make the joke complete.

@manu0 As a matter of fact, it's not.

@DragonEleven You can in fact link your Nintendo Account to different user profiles on different Switch systems.

@ThatNyteDaez A lot of other companies allow to redownload digital purchases on a limited number of systems (like Google, Sony, Apple and so on) linked to the same account and manage to be financially more successful than Nintendo. We still don't know the details and it could be better thab it sounds but from a customer point of view I am disappointed.

@scamander source? I know that's what it said in the dev leak but that's a 3/4 year old and specs can change.

@scamander Don't blame the article for its reader's lack of reading comprehension. The first paragraph alone removes any ambiguity with sharing of software between multiple devices.

@Akropolon sorry, my fault. I thought you were talking about the share control function. 😜

It's not surprising - however it's getting ridiculous for anyone owning more than one console.

Want to play Splatoon or Mario Kart locally? Two Switches, two (not inexpensive) games for the privilege.

Once again - there is absolutely no incentive to buy games digitally from Nintendo. At least with cartridges I can easily share a between devices - plus it's cheaper.

Sigh. A little disappointed, but I was braced for this news.

@scamander I don't think you can... I think you can have multiple profiles using the same account, and multiple accounts on the same system, but there's no evidence of a single account being used on multiple systems... that seems to be what this very article is saying, seeing as they've already confirmed that digital purchases are tied to the user account, not the system.

@scamander Do you have a trustworthy source to back that up?

@DragonEleven the leaked dev specs said that you can use the same account on multiple switch. but we don't know if this is actually implemented.

So with the Switch I will stick to physical unless not available. Basically I have to provide storage for downloads and can't share digital purchase with family / significant other.

Well as long as you can delete it, and then download it on another Switch without transfering the entire system, they've come a long long way.

@SwitchVogel Well, I have the dev leak and the full transcript of the question that was asked:

"Q: So I have a general Switch question - so I have kids and ideally I'm just gunna have one, but if I take my system with me, and my son or whatever wants to play - if I were to buy a digital game, would I have to buy it once, or would I have to buy it multiple times so they can use the games?

A: Currently, we don't have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch. But we haven't made any final decisions on how we would approach that going forward in the future, so unfortunately I cannot provide a concrete answer."

And from that I don't come to the same conclusion you do. The father is asking if his kids can use his games on their console. He is not asking if HE can use his games on two different consoles himself.

Disapointed. What happens If you lose one Switch and you can't download the game on another console? Seems like you never truly own the game. Going physical only unless Nintendo stops with this greedness.

@scamander He is not asking if HE can use his games on two different consoles himself.
It's the same thing. He's asking if he can use his account (or a shared account, if you will) in more than one system so he doesn't have to pay twice for the games. He's basically asking if you can log into different devices with the same account (same as mobile systems), and you can't. I don't get what's so complicated about that, it's exactly what the article is stating.

@TbobB We all know that's not gonna happen

@Rondras ah ok. Then what's all the fuss about? Isn't that normal? I get sharing a cartridge from time to time, but still - dual playing bomberman requires a dual purchase anyway.

Makes sense as seems would be open to abuse otherwise.
Would really appreciate if could redownload VC etc games from WiiU without paying all over again.

Is that suppose to be a big deal?

At least games are tied to our accounts. Still a pain. But I've given up on Nintendo making things easy for people.

People are getting so confused over this and all the guy says is "no solid info at this time". We'll just have to wait and find out.

@SanderEvers Only one profile can log into a Nintendo account on the system at a time, but other profiles will be able to access the assets of that account (download games, etc.) as long as they are logged in.

@manu0 Probably not at the same time... you will likely have to log out of the account on one system in order to log in on another... basically a more streamlined version of the existing account transfer.

I guess Nintendo will reveal nothing on eshop and digital purchases before Switch launch.

@MarcelRguez It's not the same and he's not asking that. It's also already confirmed you can link your Nintendo account to more than one Switch.

Can I lend a physical game to a friend or family member? Yes. Can I sell on the game whenever I want? Yes. Can I very often buy a physical game cheaper than digitally? Yes. Digital has a lot of catching up to do to make it attractive.

I cannot think of a situation where this would be an issue. If you can afford multiple Switches, you can afford more than one copy of an eShop game. If you're visiting a friend, your Switch can come with you! It's neat like that.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE

Nail hit firmly on the head...... that's the exact reason I'd never want to buy digital games anyway with the exception of the virtual console.

With a digital game if you don't like it for any reason... tough your stuck with it and it has no resale value

@BenAV While I agree, I belive the people that want any download on all switches with the same account are people with kids. That way they can only buy a game once, and this would certainly give incentive for purchasing the digital version of games.

Oh well..

@scamander Effectively, it's the same. The question boils down to "are accounts restricted to one device?" or "can different consoles use the same account?" The answer seems to be no/not yet, going by Takahashi's wording. Whether the guy asked in behalf of his children or for himself and his two Switches doesn't change the core question.

Where has it been confirmed that you can link your account to more than one Switch? I haven't read anything about that.

if they make so that I can transfer the software from one switch to another I'd be fine with that. I always worry about what I have to go through if my Wii U dies with no way to transfer the software to my other Wii U. I'm not interested in having the ability to put a game on more than one machine at a time because then you start dealing with having to be online for security checks etc... I don't want to deal with that and I don't think Nintendo wants folks to go through that either.

I can't understand people's complaining. If I want to play a game, I need to own my copy. I can borrow that to a friend, but we can't play at the same time unless we both own a copy.

When I buy software for my PC, if I want to use it on more than one computer, I need to buy a license that allows that. It happens with antivirus programs, Office, etc. Its part of the rules.

Why, then, would people expect that Nintendo would allow sharing software, for free, between systems? Even PS4 and XONE have limits on sharing to avoid abusing. If you buy digital, you only buy the rights to One license. Not two, not three. One.
If you're a parent, hand your Switch to your kid if he wants to play something, otherwise, buy him one. Video games are an expensive hobby.

Now, the good point is that now your games are tied to your account, so you can buy and sell Switches and not worry about system transfer with the annoying process of the 3DS. Just connect to the internet, sign in and ready, you can get your stuff. That's enough for me.

@MarcelRguez Here you go:
http://dystify.com/Overview/contents/Pages/Page_95699326.html

Also, what you're describing is your interpretation, not the info we're actually getting from the question/ answer. The question is "Can others use my games on their devices, when I'm on the go with my own device.", boiling down to family sharing.
It is entirely possible, that you can use your games on another device yourself. What we DO know for sure already is, that you can link your Nintendo Account to multiple Switch devices.

@Luna_110 I have two PS4 at home ... me and my brother share same digital games ! + I only pay PS plus for one account and the other PS4 can have free online play too without paying a yearly PS plus for that PS4 and we can play online on the same game at the same time together too ... free 8 games a month ( AAA ) games that you can keep for ever ! .... I'm a Nintendo fan ... but no stop comparing Nintendo to Xbox and PS4 because Nintendo will lose and they already did with Wii U

There you go, the NS account system won't be as good as the account system for Steam, GOG, etc. Wasn't expecting Nintendo to embrace DRM-free, but this clears up any doubt. Definitely waiting until at least Holiday 2017 before getting NS. I'd rather the $300 be put towards new PC components, so AMD can light up Intel's derrière and break their monopoly.

Boo. I have six kids. No way I'm buying six copies of the latest game they bug me for.

@TbobB Only if you can do a system transfer from Wii U to NS... Since you can't have them on more than one console at once... And Nintendo has revealed nothing of the sort, as of yet. See, that sort of thing is the reason why Nintendo needed to reveal more information before launch... But too many people are soft on them, so now it's going to be a crap shoot if you're a launch day adopter.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE took the words out of my mouth

@scamander Let's just say the question is poorly worded and that what that guy means is not relevant to the discussion. What's important here is if the Switch allows for all these things we're mentioning, namely account sharing.

About your link, what am I looking at, exactly? Going by "NX", I'd say this can be very outdated.

These, however, would mean you're right. Multiple accounts, not just profiles, in one system. Just not at the same time, obviously. However..

A single Nintendo Account can be linked to multiple NX systems. (See Fig. 1) When multiple NX systems link to the same Nintendo Account, the user nickname and icon is synchronized across systems. However, the application's save data is not automatically synchronized across systems. On the other hand, it is not possible to either link multiple users to the same Nintendo Account on the same NX system (Figure 2), or to link one user to multiple Nintendo Accounts (Figure 3).

Sounds half-baked to me.

Retail or pirate

@SLIGEACH_EIRE What do you mean, I can share my digital games all I want...

...I mean, uh... Greatly encourage them to also buy the product, by briefly showcasing it to them...

Hardly surprising. And it's something they may tweak in the future.

Kotaku just tweeted this

Virtual Console will NOT be on the Nintendo Switch at launch, sadly

The real issue isn't, that you can't "trade" your digital purchases, but its another situation that, should your system break and you decide you want another one, you are basically locked out of your content, since it sounds like they are system ID linked again, not active account linked.

So fingers crossed that this is just a case of "Lost in Translation" and its about being able to play one license on separate systems at the same time.

@Yorumi Yep, online for one comp at a time, offline for as many as needed for LAN purposes.

No VC at launch lol. Just another reason to hug my Wii U (and every other video game console I have).

@Moneyjaypr7 Considering they haven't announced any VC games for the Switch yet, that's hardly surprising.

There is no reason for Nintendo to allow you to use your software downloads on more than one machine. Your home console is now 100% portable. The thing comes with you, why would you only take the game?

When my old 3DS completely broke I literally BEGGED NIntendo of Poland to unlink my NNID and transfer it over to the new system, so I won't lose ALL of my purchased digital titles. So if the games are still locked to one console, I just hope at least I'll be able to do it myself this time around.

Basically, when you live in an unsupported country (with only the distribution branch), with no official repair service, you're in some deep triple S when your console stops working. Please, for the love of God, please, don't do this again with the Switch.

@MarcelRguez Is the day the games industry dies. Or becomes solely free to play with in-game adverts which is worse than dying.

The problem with not having an answer for this at launch is that I don't know what strategy to use when I purchase games. Do I buy game cards so that I can 100% definitely share across systems, or do I buy digital downloads in the hope that me and my kids can play single-player games simultaneously?

Google's family sharing would be a perfect solution to this problem. You have a master account that links several other accounts, then each device can download purchased games. Purchases on the other devices use the master account's credit card and go into the shared library.

If restrictions are required to prevent abuse, simply use a check-in/check-out system for the games. Player A downloads Game A and checks it out. Player B downloads Game A and cannot check it out until Player A checks it in again. Checked-out games can be played offline this way, but an internet connection is required to check in/out.

I just wish they would make it concrete instead of fannying around.

@DragonEleven I agree just sad news. While there's plenty to keep me going with Zelda, I was still excited to see what VC games were going to be available.

Man... Nintendo sounds like they really rushed the Switch to market in a lot of their answers. A lot of "well, not right now. Not initially, no. We're still fleshing this out."

@Yorumi
You can do pretty much whatever you want with the games you purchased on GOG, which is awesome. I used to just take the executables and data files from my GOG purchases, and play them classics on my oldschool DOS/Windows 98 machine (just like to good ol' times), and they worked great.

As for Steam I don't know how exactly it works between two PCs, but when I got a new notebook, I just downloaded Steam, logged to my account and that's it - I had all of my cloud saves and library ready to be downloaded again (dunno about the old PC, as the hard drive failed in that one, but I guess it must've somehow unlink it?)

This isn't exactly surprising is it? It's to stop you from buying games and then have mates or family members freeloading by just logging into your account and not paying for their own games on their own system. Just like we all do with Netflix, giving out our account to friends so they can watch without subscribing lol. Nintendo isn't stupid, they know people would take advantage this if they allowed it. One person will not own more than one Switch to play at the same time, will they? Unless they bring out a mini model like we've seen with 3DS and XL models. It's not the case of Apple products where you have a phone, tablet and iPod...plus your music library on your computer. You need to be able to download across multiple devices for those things because they have different uses and you're encouraged to own more than one. This isn't a problem on Switch until they start releasing other variations of the hardware. It's still a far better system than having it tied to the console, as if you break it and need to buy a new one you don't have to start from square one...they just need a way to remotely log out of the previous system if it's beyond recovery...

Just let me transfer my purchases and my account to another console without needing a full system transfer please. I don't mind if I have to uninstall them on the first system first. Having 2 Wii Us at home, it's a pain to need 2 nintendo accounts just to play my brother's games.

What I'd like to see happen is a family subscription where you can register for example 4 accounts to it so that if I have a switch for myself & each of my kids then I only need one subscription for online play & hidden in that subscription would be the ability to only purchase a digital game once & have it available for all accounts to download if it wasn't blocked due to age restrictions. That way I would only have to buy mk8 deluxe once & my kids could download it to their switch console as well which would save me money from buying 4 copies of the same game, if Nintendo did this then I'd be more inclined to buy a system for each child rather than just one system for us all to share or fight over depending on mood swings.
I hope my ramblings make sense to those who can be bothered to read it.

@Baker1000 ..."they just need a way to remotely log out of the previous system if it's beyond recovery..."

...And then unlink the system from having access to the account, in case of any limitations of how many systems can be linked to the same account... Hm... That sounds familiar, somehow...

The place I dislike this is is if I use Switch like I used 3DS which is to say I have 2 (or more) over the years, and I like to move a game that I like to play in shorter bursts or try to collect "all the things" to the older console, and put whatever my newest main game is in my newer console. That means I'd have to buy the game again on the second console rather than both consoles, that are mine, and logged into the same account, rather than just downloading the game to the second one when I'm done with it on the first.

On the other hand 3DS retail solves that problem just fine. But do we know if saves are stored to the Swtich Gamecard? From what we've heard it sounds like they're not, in which case, we'd need cloud save features for me to move my game from Switch A to Switch B.

soooo games are locked to the console then

@gatorboi352 I'm getting some déjà vu, myself. The NS is releasing in March, of all the months they could pick. The system costs almost $50 more than it should. The launch line up is incredibly sparse, although BotW Wii U was made into a sacrificial lamb to alleviate that this time around. (But what else will people buy afterwards?) The 2nd and 3rd quarter first year sales are in trouble of tanking, followed by possibly a timely price drop in time for 4th quarter to move units during the holidays. Various online and media features have to be patched in later.

Reminds me of a certain system that managed to recover after a tough first year... Except this time, there won't be any backwards compatibility (or possibly even library transfers) to ease the transition...

@PlywoodStick So you're suggesting the launch of the Switch parallels Nintendo's tremendously successful 3DS rather than their dismal failure WiiU? That's some very positive thinking!

I think Nintendo would be quite happy with that. 3DS was a big success for them. Not DS/Wii levels, but that's kind of unrealistic today.

Though while the 3DS had the backward compatibility as a selling point, it did NOT have a very forward looking games catalog that year. 3D Land wasn't even showcased until E3, Ocarina remake was slated for Summer, it had Vita biting at its heels the following Winter, and there was almost nothing of major note in the coming game lineup beyond the pale "ACNL sometime in the future." It didn't really pick up momentum until after that.

For Switch it has the new Zelda, new Mario, new Xenoblade, Splatoon, MK (irrelevant to WiiU owners but not to everyone else), plus some other things including Skyrim Portable Edition all supposedly to come out before 3D Land came out on 3DS. That doesn't even cover the 2018 stuff and anything that comes out of E3. And lurking somewhere in the deep dark is Pokemon...

Par for the course with Nintendo. I can't wait to see everyone's reaction when they start the Switch virtual console library ALL over again from scratch!! lol unbelievable they are!!

@PlywoodStick unlink/log out same difference. Can't be hard to have a way to see what devices your account is linked to, through the website. Same way Apple can tell you the same thing.

I don't necessarily think I would use a share feature, but I'm not sure I get why they can't use account locking. You could limit it to 2 devices if you want, so you can't have your account on multiple systems if they are afraid of this affecting sales.

It seems such a wasted opportunity for good publicity this close to the launch.

No surprises here!

Please understand.

Wait so if I have more than one user on the switch, only the users account which I bought the game on will be able to play it?

What did you expect to buy it once and to be able to give it to all of your friends?

@deKay I immediately thought of you when I read the title from all of those comments in the last article. I expected to see 4 or 5 apologies or congratulations from people arguing with you last time. Not only wasn't there a single one, but somebody was still saying you were wrong. So I just wanted to say "good job".

As I can only afford one Switch at launch this doesn't bother me. I can understand the argument for this though. Microsoft and Sony have both had solutions for this on their consoles for some time. After all software generally has become more license based over the years, so technically you could have dozens of games on your system but if you don't have a license for that game then you can't play it. For example if you have Mario Kart 8 Deluxe digitally on your SD card theoretically there should be nothing stopping you from placing the SD card with that game data into your friend's system and if they have a license for it then they can play it. But even with current consoles hard drive data is encrypted for that console alone. The biggest benefit of an account system is being able to sign into any number of consoles with your profile and being able to play any and all games that you own (though not simultaneously). I think Nintendo with DNA's help will update their system eventually (maybe within the next year, maybe).

This was pretty much a given.

It wouldn't be a big surprise if they didn't allow. I am disappointed that they are not explaining more of this before it launches.

I'm more interested in no longer tying purchases to one console once and for all, too. Vita allows using the download on up to two or three units IIRC, but I don't see the point, since the only thing I picture having one game on two own consoles for is local multiplayer without worrying about matchmaking or server status late into the game's lifespan (say, for trophies, trades etc). And exploiting that to one's benefit would usually require TWO different accounts anyway.

I think as long as they can be transferred easily, then the Switch will be fine. I can understand not allowing digital transfers without certain safeguards first.

@nhSnork Sony changed its system last year I think. Only 1 PS4 per account (with exceptions) and up to two Vitas.

Physical for life!

@Yorumi Which I don't agree with. So long as I can I transfer my purchases be it via a one call to Nintendo or whatever I'm good.

It is abit of a bummer if you got more than one Switch system in the house and being able too access the full downloadable content would be pretty cool but makes each Switch personal too the individual.

I think it would be ideal and fit everyone's needs if it simply had an option for digital software like a lot of PC software has that basically makes it work more like moving a physical cartridge, where I can go into a menu and "unlicense this device for this application." kind of like removing licensed devices for a Kindle book so I can than license it under my account on another system. That would suit my needs to move it to another console, and suit Nintendo's needs of preventing you from giving a login out to a group of friends and sharing games.

Then again, physical or digital, I still will eventually need to move my save games somehow without doing a system transfer! I imagine adding another Switch at some point since that worked so well for my 3DS.

@Yorumi Shrugs. I've not encountered any issues with transferring or accessing my games. So I'm not going to tar and feather a company for the heck of it. I can only speak to my experience. A digital game is a software license, so no I don't expect to be able to able to toss a game on everything under the sun. As long as I can transfer and can gain access to my purchase on my current hardware (in case of upgrades) I'm good. Not hard to understand. Even if you don't agree.

@BenAV what if down the road i Buy another one for my kids? Now i have to buy Mario kart two times?

@NEStalgia I have always like the limited licensing approach. Apple does that with iTunes for instance. So if you are a power user or you have multiple devices for whatever reason you can register and un register devices. It is a bit annoying if you toss a computer (nothing a phone call can't fix) but I think it is a nice compromise. I like Nintendo's single kart abilities on ds and 3ds which I personally feel is very generous. Yes, I feel in general if you want to play multiplayer with a handheld game that you need to buy multiple copies. I remember parents used to gripe at me when I was at game stop because I have that stance. Always good for a chuckle around the holiday season.

And it starts again. If VC is the same system as always on Switch I will not support it.

Lol. Typical Nintendo, Switch is releasing completely unfinished and Nintendo are non the wiser online.

@BinaryFragger I suppose that's the case since only 200,000 Vitas are out

So it's basically the same as before. We are going to have to rebuy games we already own on VC etc. I bought Axiom Verge on my Vita the other day and I can also download it to my PS4- I don't have to buy it twice and why should I? On DS systems I buy a physical game and the kids share the cartridges in their machines. I refuse to buy digital as they can only be on one DS and I'm sorry b ut that isn't right. So if I buy digital for Switch and down the line the kids each have a machine I have to keep deleting the game and reinstalling it on a different system. Sorry I don't have to do that with PSN so why should I have to on Nintendo yet again. I knew this was going to happen and it's the main reason I cancelled my preorder. Nintendo will never, never learn. This system is going to fail as Nintendo simply don't want to change with the times. I'm sick of it!

Seems fair to me. If the console itself is portable, why do you need to access it on two different Switch's?

@NEStalgia Yes, I think the first year is going to be really rough for the NS. But in 2018, production will likely ramp up greatly, especially in Japan, since it will likely do better there than anywhere else in the world. So I have high hopes.

...Just not in 2017.

@BiasedSonyFan Uh huh, how well has releasing in 1st quarter worked out for the first year of any system, historically? During the most down sales quarter of the year?

Japan is getting the NS for ¥29,500, which currently equates to about US$261. So they're getting the NS about US$39 cheaper (or more) compared to everyone else in the world. In other words, it is priced right in Japan, and overpriced everywhere else in the world.

Several major first party titles that are... rather sparsely spread apart for the first year, to say the least... And a slew of third party offerings? Not for the first year. There's some nice indie stuff going on, but major third parties are kicking the can down the road until next year at least.

And I believe you're forgetting the over 100 million sales of the PS2, DS, and Wii, which all had... Oh, look at that, full backwards compatibility... BC didn't help Wii U, but Nintendo kind of screwed Wii U over in other ways. BC helped 3DS after the first year. Not to mention, all the demand that existed for the NES Mini which could be utilized in VC, but to no avail for the NS launch...

@Yorumi When you were growing up you had physical media, and the physical media still works the same exact way I'm not a digital fan and I'd prefer it worked the same way you did as I said above, but to be fair, that's a bad comparison because the direct comparison still works the same way it did back then (something I'm quite thankful for!).

@PlywoodStick Certainly possible, and not a bad situation by any stretch. That said 2017 has the launch early adopters. 2M units in a week isn't bad on the financials. Yes, it will slow down after March, maybe in time to keep up with production and build some reserves, but remember Nintendo likes launching handhelds in Spring in part because they push the Summer travel season for them. That probably has more oomph in Japan as well, but we'll see how sales move during Golden Week and Easter which traditionally shows a Nintendo bump in sales. Sluggish summer and early Fall I'm sure. But of course the big push will be Nov/Dec for 2017. IF they continue their marketing push and maintain it, by Christmas it could still be a pretty big seller. It won't be the best year in the Switch's lifespan, definitely, but I can see it being a popular item with a "good" momentum into holiday 2017, at least in the US and Japan.

Japan buys "the latest thing", and already loves Nintendo. The US buys whatever seems to be "the big thing" and Nintendo's doing a good job so far creating that image. A little too good for their minimalist supplies But it does have more going for it going into Holiday 2017 than 3DS did, and that's when 3DS turned itself around.

Re your response to biased:
I still don't think the price is overpriced at all. The more we see of the hardware and tech the more proper the pricing seems. I do think they're prepared to cut pricing IF sales turn out to be too slow on account of pricing, but I think they'd only do that if they HAVE to to spur sales. Personally I think sales will be healthy enough for them to keep it where it is.

And it's still too early to talk major third parties. We can speculate based on Nintendo history, sure, but we know the majors stay silent until E3. We can only say factually there's little after that. Bethesda's "can't say" statement about the version coming is a reminder of that. We can revisit that in June

BC helped the Wii and 3DS, but not having it didn't hurt the PS4. It's never a bad thing but lacking it isn't always detrimental (and in fairness to the system, it's physically impossible to be backward compatible...) Besides, who would buy a Switch because it's backward compatible with WiiU? All 5 games the system had are coming to Switch in year 1! (I kid, I kid...)

@NEStalgia Well, the temporary free online multiplayer will be nice for the early adopters. Would that it stay free, but them's the brakes, it would seem.

You make a good point about Golden Week, the closest equivalent the US has to that is Spring Break, although that doesn't apply to everyone nationally like GW does.

I think the 2nd and 3rd quarter sales are going to tank, similar to how it was for the 3DS, but then some number of as-yet-unknown events plus the big releases like Super Mario Odyssey will bring a very nice 4th quarter. As a result, I think the NS will probably be in the top 5 most wanted gifts of Holiday 2017.

US$300 is still an acceptable pricing, however, it's effectively been pushed into the next highest price bracket compared to where it is in Japan. In Japan, it's pricing is very competitive with any other possible options there; it's definitely being priced to sell. I think we'll see Wii-like numbers there.

I, for one, will be looking forward to E3 to see all the announcements, to be sure... But then again, I recall during E3 2016 that a lot of NL'ers were responding to the extremely sparse Nintendo presentation by saying that physical events like E3 aren't as important as they used to be, and digital events or press releases can fulfill all the necessary functions now? So which is it, do we still need E3 for the big reveals, or not?

Not having PS3 BC didn't hurt the PS4 too much, but it really crippled the PS3, especially considering it's $600 launch price and very sparse launch line up. (PS4 does have PS1/limited PS2 digital BC, though.)

The IBM chip in the Wii U is definitely too outdated to bother including for the NS, so losing BC may have been an inevitability for this round. But VC could've alleviated that, to supplement the Wii U's five (lol ) most popular games getting up-ported.

@JohnSReid Big publishers don't tend to like digital. They see it as devaluing their IP. Which is a little true. I think the reason to go digital is that they stay tied to your account. I believe this here purposely to dissuade you from going digital. Because if you buy it physically, they don't have to let you keep it if they change for factors again.

@TheLZdragon point taken.

@PlywoodStick Yeah, for sales purposes Golden Weeks is really more comparable to Christmas here. Not quite the shopping frenzy we have, but their closest real equivalent to it as a commercial holiday.

Yeah, I think the Q2-4 thinking is pretty accurate, concluding with a top holiday item. It's a fairly predictable pattern, but should be in line with exactly what they intend to happen.

Pricing, yeah, but it's also fair to note that Japan has very different spending habits on entertainment these days, particularly compared to the US. They've been sucked into the idea of small, continuous payments with low up-front costs models, while Americans (and to large extent Europeans) are more prone to splash out big up front. In Japan, Switch's only legitimate competitor is 3DS, so they had to keep the pricing closer. Every single home console is a dismal failure there to the point of not even being a market category. PS4 "won" at 3.6M units. WiiU was right behind it at 3.3M. XBox we need to break out the fractions: just under 3/4M! A kickstarter project sells better than any of these. It really wouldn't matter if Switch were 80000Y and PS4 were 10000Y, Switch would still outsell it in Japan. The pricing is about making it a 3DS competitor first and foremost.

E3 2015 or 2016? I remember the outrageous whining here from 2015, when I thought the presentation was pretty good, the big problem was they showed all of 2015's games at E3 2014 and everyone was disappointed that everything they saw they already knew about. 2016 was sparse, but we all knew that was because WiiU was already dead, and E3 2016 was SUPPOSED to have Switch for a November release but they pushed it back to now and left a vacuum at E3. It had no games, but nobody should have been expecting any since it was a "we're doing Switch but can't talk about NX, but here's an NX game that we'll show you on WiiU" type thing. I don't think there was much excusing E3 as unimportant (yeah, some people said that, and it's true the industry is retreating from E3 a lot) I think most knew it had nothing because the stuff they had to show was hardware they couldn't reveal and what we now know is Arms, Splatoon 2, Xenoblade 2, Odyssey, etc....and could talk about none of them. Those are the actual E3 2016 games (+Zelda.)

That said, for 3rd parties, I'm not so interested in Nintendo's conference for that (which will still be focusing on Switch hardware, online, VC probably, games we know about but in more detail, plus any surprise winter-spring 2018 announcements.), but the OTHER companie's conferences. Bethesda will of course talk about Skyrim Switch at E3, and maybe or maybe not announce a 2018/2019 TES game that will go to Switch too (I don't think they'll do Fallout, but who knows.) Bethesda sandboxes have huge turnaround times, so an 18/19 announce isn't out of the realm. Ubi, EA, Acti will make their big franchise Holiday 2017 announcements at E3, and that's where we'll hear if "Switch" is in the tagline for platforms. Year 1 might be sketchy as a lot of these games have been in development for a long time before the Switch dev kits came out. Hard to port it at the end and meat schedules. Anything running on Unreal has a fair chance though as it should be a simple port.

I'm not expecting a full on PS4 style "all our games are assumed on all platforms" situation. But I'm looking to see if the big ones are listed (COD, ACreed, EA...ok, other than Fifa I've got nothing there...)

@PlywoodStick BC: Actually PS3 at $600 did launch with both PS1 and PS2 BC. It didn't help it much at all. They stripped out the PS2 chip (and SACD, and multi-OS and a bunch of other promised launch features) during the $200 price cut with the 40GB model much later and left in very sketchy PS1 BC that worked for only some games and not others. Then with the 60GB models and Slims they stripped the PS1 support entirely. PS3 is the poster child of why BC can be a needless expense that helps nothing. What BC you got depended on which model you had, and sales still tanked even with it until they got to the model that had none at all and then it became #1.

X360 had ok but limited BC to X. PS4 has none except for streaming, and X1 launched with no BC, then added limited BC on a per-game basis.

Nintendo's been the most consistent GBA->DS DS->3DS GCN->Wii, Wii->WiiU. But that's because they were sticking with the same architecture between those shifts. It was "free" to throw in. Switch certainly is a different architecture (as PS4 is), and even throwing in a PPC chip the problem is they're a relative power guzzler and heat thrower compared to the Tegra. It would need a whole different cooling solution and cost significantly more. PORTING games from WiiU to Switch seems easy enough. But running actual WiiU binaries would be all but impossible.

@Yorumi Yeah, I'm in the camp that wants my games (and saves) to run on 2 systems since I assume I'll have a second switch during the Switch lifespan (I like moving an older game to the B system to pick it up now and again.) So it's a feature that's important to me too. In this case, just another reason to stay physical, though I still wonder if I can move my saves or not. It sounds like saves write to the SD not the card.

Though it sounds hopeful since he said here that they haven't determined the way that could work yet...so it sounds like another in the list of "we'll figure out how the ecosystem will work after we see how people are using it" bullet points. Nintendo's slow but region-free shows they do eventually get there....

@Yorumi Yep, always physical for me for as long as physical exists (at least for the games it exists for.) I still feel like carts are one of the best features of the Switch.

@Yorumi maybe a family discount type option should be available, kind-of like what Apple do with Apple Music? Pay a bit more initially but have the option to allow up to 4 household consoles to use the software?

They changed absolutely nothing. Games were tied to the NNID, then tied to the Wii-U. The only difference is now I can contact Nintendo and get then to un-link my account, but that is an unnecessary hassle. They refuse to move into 2017. They think offering a random virtual console game monthly is parity. Only if the cost is 10-15 bucks a year. Sadly it will probably cost $50 or more yearly for so much less then anything else out there. Even Origin offers heavy discounts on games. The biggest discount you will ever see on a Nintendo digital game is 33 percent during an anniversary 4 years after a game launches. Digital games cost more on Switch because it costs ~$5 for their proprietary cartridge and digital content is forced to be the same price because Nintendo wants more money. This will hurt them in the long run, but the new president loves shooting himself in the foot.