electrolite77

Still got it in my mind there might be a bit of a bait and Switch going on where a noisy NPC is used in the early stages for tutorials but then disappears to make the isolation more jarring

Pokemon games are very rarely technically impressive, so no surprise there. Doesn’t mean they can’t be fun, but they never seem to be graphically exciting.

Doesn’t sound great but I’ll wait until I see more. The companion character may just be some kind of tutorial section.

FYI Currently £17.99 on Loaded (formerly CDKeys) in the UK

@Max_the_German

There isn’t a Switch 2 physical at all. On Switch 1 there’s a code in a box and more expensive physical. Neither will have the S2 update on, that will have to be downloaded.

@Tainaru

You’re thinking of Code in a Box games, not GKC

Awful.

Those were dark times for Nintendo.

Very satisfied, haven’t run into any issues since Grid Autosport got fixed. There’s still more to do though, such as allowing Switch 1 games to run their docked profile on an undocked Switch 2. I know that would mean more testing but worth giving devs the option. I’d like to see more actual Switch 2 updates especially from third parties but I guess that’s a different thing and will hopefully come as the system continues to sell like mad.

Not something I’m going to be buying but that’s a lot earlier than I expected. Very close behind Mario Tennis.

@Hank_Scorpio

I don’t believe that last sentence is correct. It suggests you’re a person of excellent judgement.

I love this game.

Bit meaningless without actual figures. Getting top 5 in November may well mean more weekly sales than being Number 1 in August, for example.

Given that it's a spinoff, is on Switch 2 only and it's behind the two big football games which are on multiple formats, Pokemon which is on Switch 1 and MKW which is bundled with Switch 2, that's a good result.

It looks alright. Looks like Yoshi. Well done to the designers.

Looks good. Looks like Yoshi. What was required.

@Ultimapunch

Great post. The funniest bit for me is when they make out Nintendo amused to be all cute and cuddly and consumer friendly but have changed. You really have to ignore their history to think that. They’re the same as they ever were.

@Spamwich

Given that Yamauchi was driven by making money I feel confident he’d love what they’ve done with Switch Online.

Bricking Consoles is motivated by concerns over piracy. Yamauchi hated piracy. The industries first lock out chip, the NES10, was on his watch. Cartridges instead of discs in the N64 was Yamauchi.

Nintendo were the bully boys of the industry under Yamauchi. They were insanely litigious and found themselves facing Antitrust cases because of their behaviour.

They won’t get out of their current mess because they aren’t in one. They’re doing really well.

@Spider-Kev

Yamauchi was against DLC? When was this? He was for making money. Nintendos first remakes and remasters happened under his watch. Equally whatever Iwata said about DLC, microtransactions, F2start, Gatcha or whatever else they all happened under him. They were businessmen.

@Ralek85

It’s just simple numbers. For a third party game to be exclusive to Switch 2, Nintendo basically have to pay the third party in a way that would compensate them for the profits they would have made from porting to other platforms. For Nintendo they have to believe that money spent will be worth it in terms of hardware sales. It’s just really hard to justify. Hopefully Nintendo will continue to throw up a few Astral Chain, Bayonetta, Cadence of Hyrule, Duskbloods equivalent. However their first party games are their main profit driver so it will only ever be a small number.

I also don’t share your nostalgia for Wii U, I thought it was dreadful, but that’s another thing 😀

@the_beaver

I thought that. I’d be happy with a lower resolution in fact to get 60FPS in split screen.

1440p60 in Docked and 1080p60 in handheld is very nice on paper

@Ralek85

I think sadly the days of third party exclusives are pretty much gone. Unless Nintendo (or any other platform holder) are paying for them it’s really hard to make money just selling on one platform and ignoring all the others. Even Capcom couldn’t make it work with Monster Hunter Rise.

Yes it’s absolutely excellent. For a long time Nintendo fan it’s actually quite surprising. The first party slate is very solid and the upgrades to Nintendo games are great but I’m spending a lot of time on third party games.

Cyberpunk, Star Wars Outlaws, Hogwarts Legacy, FC 26, Fast Fusion, SF6 and No Man’s Sky are all quality while Madden is on my shopping list and Assassins Creed and Sonic Racing earmarked for the future. Keep them coming please!

It’s great to see such good third party support on a Nintendo system. I’ve already got Cyberpunk, FC 26, Hogwarts, Star Wars Outlaws and No Man’s Sky in my Switch 2 library and they’re all very good. It’s all positive and hopefully will lead to more.

@UltimateOtaku91

Yeah ‘TBC’ instead of ‘2026’ is a bit ominous

@Striker21

Nobody can predict what will happen in 10 years but current trends show absolutely nothing that suggest Nintendo need to follow Xbox, in fact exactly the opposite.

1. Nintendo make such a phenomenal amount of
Money from software sales and famously profit from hardware too the scale required to make that work as a subscription is going to be very hard to achieve.

2. Nintendos last demographic study showed 21% of their user base (and if their data is from Account ages that may be underrepresenting that age group) under 18. That’s plenty to build future nostalgia. On top of that, in the US at least, 43% of their users are aged 25-34 with an average age of 29.7 I.e.the demographic that’s having their own kids. Further, Parents play with their children on the Switch in 61% of US households. These are all very strong bonds being formed.

3. Mobile Phone gaming is of course huge, in fact I’m surprised how well Nintendo has withstood it. What may help them is the growing scepticism towards Mobile Phone use among children and Tweens. Schools are banning them and there are campaigns to make their use illegal for under-16s. I’m not sure the latter will happen but-as a parent of boys aged 8 and 11-there is great concern right now. Nintendo are selling a portable device that yeah, has Resident Evil and GTA and Assassins Creed but doesn’t have Roblox, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok or an easy way for strangers to talk/send pictures to kids. That’s not a bad sales pitch.

@LazyDaisy

They had two big first party exclusives in June/July, and have launched a couple of Eshop games. There’s now Pokemon with 3 more coming before the end of the year, 2 being Switch 2 exclusives. They’ve got 8 games announced for next year (including the Duskbloods) 6 of which are Switch 2 exclusives. So quantity of first party games isn’t an issue.

Apart from MKW there seems to be a focus on spin offs and B Tier franchises but that is actually starting to make sense. With sales momentum like this why not keep their biggest hitters back for 2027 and beyond?

Those are really good numbers for DK Bananza BTW

Ok that is hugely impressive. Almost no drop off in momentum. If Christmas sales spike in a consistent way it will have irresistible momentum and be well past the point where there’s any risk of failure.

I like the design but nah, too expensive for me

Hyrule Warriors, Kirby Air Rider, Metroid Prime 4 and probably Assassin’s Creed (if it’s ported as well as Star Wars Outlaws). Already got a Switch 2 backlog building.

Still a really good fun time even if it’s obviously been surpassed by the brilliant third game. Not the longest which is why it got criticised a bit at time of release and it’s a bit obtuse on occasion but a great addition to Switch 2.

@SteveDaSteve

Not having to play it on the 3DS screen is the big plus in my eyes

A very welcome addition even if I got bored of waiting and am halfway through a play through on my GameCube. Enjoy everyone, still a great game and nice to have all 3 LM games on the same system.

Why? 😂

It was rubbish back in 1995. Got a lot of hype because of its graphics but it was a dreadful game compared to Tekken and even the original Virtua Fighter let alone VF2.

So biggest for a new physical game on any format since TOTK.

A period of time that has seen the release of Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, 3 Madden’s and 2 CODs

@Chimichanga

Digital sales are very hard to find. If the Platform holder/vendor doesn’t release them all that’s left is pointless guesswork. The lack of transparency here is on Nintendo/TPC.

@Sindayl

I’ve always found that response to MS very strange. They’ve been making games longer than Sony and making Consoles for only 7 years/1 generation less.

@Paraka

When I saw the development cost for Spider-Man 2 I knew that a crash was coming

@jojobar

I see your point (and the US Console crash in the 1980s backs it up) but it’s not quite the same in terms of numbers. We’re about to go from 3 competitors in the Console market to two, both with different approaches and both with previous for arrogance when they think they don’t have competition.

Remember whenever you see anything from Xbox executives at this point that a lot of the decision making has been taken out of their hands. They’ve been tasked with achieving profit margins of 30% (phenomenally high for the games industry) and now have to justify decision taken to justify that.

Sony and MS are doing just fine selling Consoles with exclusives. It’s just that the sheer spend needed to make AAA exclusives make it really difficult to achieve a 30% ROI.

Anyone who ever thinks Nintendo should be making a super powered home system to compete with Sony should just take one look at a company with MS resources failing to do so and forget the idea. Especially now with so many players embedded in their Friends lists and digital libraries. Part of the reason Nintendo are still doing so well is because they aren’t throwing money at competing in that market and seem to have a very good grip on their development costs.

@BrokenCiv

Less competition is never good for the consumer

Another game incomplete on physical media, and in the distant future when the servers go down. Another one for Collectors to avoid.

@Mommar

I played through the campaign in MCC last year and it was superb

@GamingGod

They’re porting Indiana Jones so I don’t think power is an issue. Far more likely there’s an issue with availability of dev kits/xbox not wanting to release everything at once

@datamonkey @SalvorHardin @Stormcloudlive

We now know Spencer isn’t really driving the change in tactics

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/report-microsoft-cfo-amy-hood-has-forced-xbox-to-deliver-an-insane-30-percent-profit-margin-which-is-why-everything-is-crazy-right-now

@vio

It’s not that crazy really. Activision decided to port to the Wii U because their Wii versions had made them plenty of money. Then like everything else on the Wii U they sold about 35 copies so they never bothered with the Switch. There’s plenty of evidence in the Switch library that it’s easy enough to port PS3/XB1 games but Activision didn’t think it worth their while. I suspect that will change now Xbox are full third party.

@Chlocean

I don’t think it needed it, played a bit of MCC recently and it looks fine. My theory is like with Gears of War* they’ve done a very low level remake so they can have something ‘new’ for Xbox/GP and PS5 at the same time.

*Edit-and Fallout 4

@Maxz

Well into the Switch era actually.

In fact I saw someone on Social Media suggesting they still needed to do so as they’re being ‘left behind.’ Because Elden Ring was delayed.

I have a Series X but would love Halo on the go. Silly MS.

@UltimateOtaku91

Apparently so. Says a lot, and certainly clearly suggests the GKC uproar isn’t actually about anything to do with consumer choice.

Impressive stuff. Half the sales being on Switch 2 is pretty mad actually considering the disparity in the two systems userbase.