General Switch Discussion

[Hero-of-Time]

There's an old Yamauchi interview from 2001 doing the rounds on Era. 

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Business interview to Hiroshi Yamauchi by the japanese financial magazine Zaikai around early 2001:

Q: Mr. Yamauchi, you've always espoused that games depend on how fun they are, and not on how advanced the graphics or hardware is. With that in mind, how do you look at the downturn the game industry is currently going through?

Y: Well, what I see right now is lots of people who look towards the game business with all these dreams in their minds about how bright the future of the industry is. When you ask them why, they all say "Oh, all these new systems are coming out that're even more powerful than the PlayStation 2, we'll be able to create things that'll attract even more people to games," and so on.

I've been consistently saying this is wrong, but most of them look at what I say and respond "No, no, you're wrong", and as a result, this is what's happening today. There really are just an overwhelmingly huge number of people out there that know nothing about the business of games. The game business is a tough one, and it's not been around for that long, either, so there are people out there that find this industry incredibly interesting. Venture capitalists, in particular. That's why these people are pouring money into the field right now.

Q: Because they don't know how difficult it really is?

Y: Right. They give money to people that really should be unemployed, and they in turn round up some friends, start a company and begin creating software. But is this really the best way to go about this right now? The more amazing graphics and sound you put into a game, the longer it takes to finish. Not just a year, but now, more like a year and a half or two years. So then your development costs balloon, and when you finally put it out you have zero guarantee of it selling. That's what the game industry is today.

Because of that, I've been saying since last year that this industry will undergo a major shakeout between now and next year. The general public doesn't realize it yet, but most people in the industry know it's happening. I've just been saying that pretty soon, even the public will be forced to recognize what's going on.

Q: Along with the crisis at Sega, many companies have recently been reducing their earnings predictions.

Y: True. For example, Square claimed that they would produce several billion yen (ie. tens of millions of dollars) in profit for fiscal 2000, but more recently they've turned that into several billion yen in losses, which is essentially exactly what I said would happen to them before. And Square's a publically-traded company, too! There are still many, many private software companies out there, and now all of these companies have no idea what's going to happen to them in the future. With all this downsizing going on, I'm sure we'll be seeing many more announcements like that.

The thing with this industry is, no one actually needs what it produces. If what we were making was absolutely essential in order to live, then the consumer wouldn't complain about price or supply, because he'd be in big trouble if he ran out. On the other hand, we produce entertainment -- and there's a million other kinds of entertainment out there. If the game industry went away, it's not like people would keel over and die on the street. If it came to pass that people started saying "These games are all stupid, I gotta stop playing them all the time", then what do you think would happen? You don't need games to live, after all, so the market could fall right out. It could even shrink to a tenth of what it was.

Q: Do you think things could become that bad?

Y: Certainly. The average gamer's perspective has gradually shifted over the years. They're getting sick of games that are nothing but graphics and force; they want something to play that's actually fun. So why are companies still aiming for nothing but graphics and force?

The most impressive phenomenon that occured last year, in my opinon, was when Enix released Dragon Quest [VII] on the original PlayStation, and not the PlayStation 2. It was the newest game in the series, but it ended up selling far more than I predicted -- something like three million or so copies. However, when you look only at its graphics and sound, it looks very rudimentary compared with other PS games. If you compare it to other titles, you'll find that there are hundreds of PlayStation games that have far more impressive graphics.

Despite that, out of everything released last year only DQ was able to rack up such high sales figures. Meanwhile games with incredible, utterly beautiful graphics were completely dead in the marketplace. This just backs up what I've always been saying -- games have nothing to do at all with graphics.

Q: So if you don't keep your eyes on the game itself [during development], you'll end up meandering down the wrong path.

Y: Right. Up until now games have had nothing to do with movies, like I've kept on saying all this time, but now people are going on about how every game will be like a movie from now on. We've come all this way and somewhere along the line, we've forgotten that we're supposed to be making games, and not movies. Now, as a result of that, game development is turning into a circus, costs are skyrocketing, users get bored faster than ever before, and the development of truly new games -- new ways of having fun -- has all but stopped. And now, because of all that, it's getting difficult to make a profit producing video games.

If we don't change the way game development is carried out, I can't see the industry or the marketplace rejuvenating itself anytime soon.

Q: Several software houses have undertaken a multi-platform strategy - signing agreements with Nintendo and others to become licensees for several different game systems. Do you think this will have a rejuvenating effect on the industry?

Y: Well, let's say that we make a game called X and we port it to game systems from Company A, Company B and Company C. Then it doesn't matter if a user bought A's, B's or C's system, he'll be able to play game X on his own console. There's no difference between any of the game systems in this case.

Now I certainly understand the reasoning behind a multi-platform strategy. As I said before, development costs have spiralled upward, and it's become difficult to guage how well something will sell in the marketplace. They want to cut their risks and be able to sell that many more copies of a single title, so they decide to just release it on everything. I can understand that.

However, if this becomes the norm, then it'll have a dire effect on the marketplace. If users can play the same game on every single system out there, then there'll be no reason to buy one system over the other. It'll be just like buying a TV; no matter which one you buy you'll still have all the same channels. In the game business, software is our lifeblood. If that software becomes the same everywhere then there'll be zero difference between companies. The marketplace will just turn into a giant hardware war.

Now, you'll agree with me that TV sets are a fairly indispensible part of life these days. More people have them then don't. Washing machines and refrigerators are the same way. People have to buy them no matter what, so dealers end up relying on added extra features and advertising to compete in the marketplace. On the other hand, game machines are far from indispensible. If the software was the same no matter which system you buy, then the only point we'd be able to sell on is price. This industry is based on producing fun, innovative games, but if that goes away then we're all done for. That's why, even though I understand where software houses are coming from, I think ultimately it could break apart the industry.

Q: That's why you continue to produce games only for your own systems, including the upcoming Gamecube.

Y: Yes. Nintendo's business is to make games that can only be played on Nintendo systems. Nintendo's games only run on Nintendo's consoles, and no one else's. Our aim is to get people to think Nintendo's games are the greatest, the best in the world.

We're devoting all of our effort to that right now, and we'll be able to show our efforts to the world this year. We'll see how it turns out after the Christmas season, or about ten or eleven months from now.

Q: What do you think is an appropriate price point for game systems?

Y: The cheaper, the better. Gamers play games, and not systems, after all. If a gamer wants to play game A and game B, then buying the game system is nothing but a secondary obstacle to that. As a result, the cheaper the hardware is, the easier it is for the users to buy it.

At the same time, though, we have to worry about our costs. Up until fairly recently it was safe to lose money on hardware sales, since you more than made up for it in the software you sold. It's impossible to get a system out the door that way anymore, however. So when you release a system today, you don't necessarily have to profit from it, but you can't afford to lose money on every single console you sell.

Q: What is your opinion of your rival Sony's PlayStation 2 game system?

Y: As a DVD player it's well worth the money; as a game system it has a few problems. It's just too hard to make software for it. It's absolutely vital that you design a system such that it's as simple as possible for developers to create games on. If you don't, then costs begin to rise, and it becomes more difficult for the designers to realize their creations. It just becomes a gigantic minus for the system in developers' eyes.

Q: There have been recent announcements that suggest game systems will function more as net terminals for online games in the future.

Y: There're a lot of ways of thinking about that. Personally, I think that most people going on and on about the net know nothing about video games. People who don't get game creation are going on and on about networked games -- probably because they can't come up with any better ideas themselves.

The salty PS2 quote and his answer about online gaming are hilarious but the majority of what he says is scary accurate about what we are seeing in the industry today. All hardware being the same, ballooning development costs, diminishing returns on visuals, looks over gameplay, all true today.

[Hero-of-Time]

With Paper Mario: TTYD  and Luigi's Mansion 2 now being dated (Pyoro was spot on again), I imagine that's Nintendo done for the first half of the year.

• Another Code: Recollection
• Mario vs Donkey Kong
• Endless Ocean
• Paper Mario: TTYD 
• Princess Peach: Showtime!
• Luigi's Mansion 2

Not a bad line up for the first 6 months, especially when you consider this will no doubt be the console's final year.

[WackerJr]

They’re decent games, better than I first thought for Nintendo’s first half for 2024. Four of the six are remakes mind.  I’ll happily play TTYD again though!

[MindFreak]

Suddenly Nintendo start releasing their games on Thursdays? Why's that? 

[Dcubed]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

With Paper Mario: TTYD  and Luigi's Mansion 2 now being dated (Pyoro was spot on again), I imagine that's Nintendo done for the first half of the year.

• Another Code: Recollection
• Mario vs Donkey Kong
• Endless Ocean
• Paper Mario: TTYD 
• Princess Peach: Showtime!
• Luigi's Mansion 2

Not a bad line up for the first 6 months, especially when you consider this will no doubt be the console's final year.

True, but you do have to consider that 4/6 of those games are remakes.

We're definitely coming near to the end now and it shows in the lineup.

And I suspect that the second half will be every bit as remake/remaster heavy as the first, if not moreso... surely Nintendo wouldn't want to waste Metroid Prime 4 as a current Switch exclusive at this point!?

[Hero-of-Time]

27 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

True, but you do have to consider that 4/6 of those games are remakes.

We're definitely coming near to the end now and it shows in the lineup.

And I suspect that the second half will be every bit as remake/remaster heavy as the first, if not moreso... surely Nintendo wouldn't want to waste Metroid Prime 4 as a current Switch exclusive at this point!?

Thing is, these are games that deserve a remake/second chance. TTYD has long been a fan desire to be remade. Mario vs Donkey Kong was a GBA game which is 20 years old now. Another Code are 2 games from the Wii/DS era. It's not as if they are releasing games from last gen. They already done that throughout the Switch's life with Wii U games. 

The only one that is a little questionable is Luigi's Mansion 2 and I say that purely because why put the second one on the Switch but not the first? Barmy that the full trilogy isn't going to be complete. 

As for Metroid, I still think it's coming for Switch, with an enhanced version on the next console. I don't think they would want to annoy Switch owners after they've waited so long for it to release.

[Ike]

Now we know what games are coming until June.

We can assume Pokémon Legends is coming January if it follows the previous games reveal - release cycle. Or maybe they are aiming for before Christmas since they don't have a companion game this time? Edit: forgot they said 2025 already.

Professor Layton is scheduled for next year too, still for the Switch, unless that is cross gen (or banking on backwards compatibility?).

Edited March 10 by Ike

[Dcubed]

26 minutes ago, Ike said:

Now we know what games are coming until June.

We can assume Pokémon Legends is coming January if it follows the previous games reveal - release cycle. Or maybe they are aiming for before Christmas since they don't have a companion game this time? Edit: forgot they said 2025 already.

Professor Layton is scheduled for next year too, still for the Switch, unless that is cross gen (or banking on backwards compatibility?).

I'm guessing that's the ticket here.  Nothing we've seen from the in-game footage so far looks unachievable on the current Switch.

[Josh64]

Nintendo switch version 18.0.0 out now 

 

https://www.n-europe.com/news/nintendo-switch-version-18.0.0-out-now/

[Josh64]

There's a beta test for the newest INAZUMA ELEVEN if anyone's interested:

 

https://www.n-europe.com/news/inazuma-eleven-victory-road-worldwide-beta-test-demo-available-now/

[Helmsly]

8 minutes of gameplay footage for Epic Mickey:

 

[Dcubed]

Looks decent, quite a significant visual overhaul.

The camera looks better than the original from what I remember as well.

[Dcubed]

Gio Corsi, former head of 3rd party relations at Sony, has just joined NOA in a similar role!

 

Big get for Nintendo.  Bodes well for 3rd party support on Switch 2

[Julius]

Nintendo won't be at Gamescom this year. 

Per VGC:

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In a statement issued to German publication Games Wirtschaft, a spokesperson for the company said it would not be an exhibitor at this summer's event.

Gamescom 2024 organisers have yet to announce the exhibitor list for the show, which is scheduled to take place in Cologne, Germany, from August 21-25.

Nintendo attended last year's Gamescom as an exhibitor. According to VGC sources, the company also used the event to show off tech demos for Switch 2 behind closed doors.

Not too surprising given the context of previous reports that the console's launch got moved back to Q1 2025. 

I'm really curious to see when they decide to actually announce/reveal this thing, maybe even more so than I am to hear about its launch plans. I genuinely think if it doesn't launch until late Q1 (as in, March) similar to the Switch, they could get away with waiting until January, so as to not potentially hurt Christmas sales and cause confusion. 

The only real argument I can think against doing that would be potential leaks from the production line, but so long as they aren't stupid and pulling a Wii U and they don't get too gimmick-heavy, I think you could absolutely blast out a 2-3 month marketing campaign for this thing and have it over with. You could even tease an event for Jan with a console silhouette and a bit of a teaser trailer at The Game Awards if you really wanted to, I think you could get away with that much, because as big as that is for the gaming space, I don't feel like TGA news and a console silhouette would permeate through to the Switch demographic without the console before Christmas was over and done with. 

Nintendo basically turned water into wine with the marketing and release of the Switch last time around compared to how they and competitors had done it before, so yeah, I can't wait to see if they've got any of that sort of magic up their sleeve this time around 

[Dcubed]

Yeah, that's basically confirmation of the Switch 2 internal delay rumour.

It's gonna be a real dry year for the current Switch...

[nekunando]

On 16/04/2024 at 4:26 PM, Dcubed said:

Yeah, that's basically confirmation of the Switch 2 internal delay rumour.

It's gonna be a real dry year for the current Switch...

Wave Race: Blue Storm HD would make it extremely wet 🌊

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, nekunando said:

Wave Race: Blue Storm HD would make it extremely wet 🌊

And break the damn thing!

Don't get consoles wet!

[RedShell]

So it seems there could potentially be issues with playing second-hand Switch games online now, if the information in this video is correct:

Pretty messed up if true.
Anyone heard about this before?

[Dcubed]

Yeah, I've heard about it.  I haven't heard of Nintendo actually banning anyone who has used a physical cart whose contents have been copied yet though... so maybe there's a way they can tell who's using it?  Dunno.