Topic: Switch 2 Has To Much Against It To Be A Commercial Success

Even for long-time Mario Kart fans like me, Mario Kart World is not something that many of us are excited about. Basically, lots of gimmicks and an empty open world with some Sonic Frontiers ideas applied. Like it or not, Breath of the Wild (a Wii U port) and the marketing of Nintendo Switch were a success right from the start, even if was a Jack of All Trades, Master of None, somehow.

The reiterative design, hardware and games being significantly more expensive, and fortunate lack of pandemics won't give Nintendo Switch 2 the same impact on the market besides early sales and unconditional fans. This is weird, because Mario Kart was the best-selling game on Switch, and it was also an expanded Wii U port, but the world and playing habits have changed and there's no infallible formula.

The size and poor battery of Nintendo Switch 2 (equivalent to base PS4 when docked in terms of results according to Digital Foundry) make it more a home or hybrid console than its predecessor. Moreover, Nintendo's new pricing is the same or greater than the most expensive to develop games in the industry, but Nintendo's games are much simpler and cheap to develop. Many of these copies are bought by parents for their children and no, the extra money won't go to the poor employees that don't have enough for the rent after the recession, that's either very naive or an absurd excuse (not made by Nintendo), it's just Nintendo feeling extra-confident after the worldwide success of Nintendo Switch. They said, they chose the price that they considered right. That's completely fine, they are free to charge as much as they want. Let's see how it works.

For many gamers that are not unconditional fans, they have more alternatives than ever before. People writing here (myself included) don't represent the market at all. Many Nintendo Life regulars are obviously excited about Nintendo Switch 2 and that's perfectly fine, but not every Nintendo Switch owner is. Remember that Wii U (that I love) was a commercial failure and that 3DS had its price reduced 33% (40% in USA) just six months later. We are gaming enthusiasts, the tiny crowd. Extremely tiny. Besides, even if someone compares Nintendo Switch 2 with Wii U or any other thing in any way, you don't need to be passive aggressive and just let people say what they want because they are not disrespecting anyone. Actually, I was more excited about Wii U than about Nintendo Switch 2. Suggesting that another person is stupid because of his opinion or feelings is something that actually don't apply best to the offended.

You are totally right.

Nintendo Switch 2 weighs 535g, it's heavier than the Wii Game Pad, that had better ergonomics because of its size and shape. Nintendo Switch 2 is Nintendo's heaviest "handheld" by far.

Folks who say the Switch 2 will be another Wii U don't understand how poorly the Wii U sold. Less than 14 million consoles over more than four years. Conversely, Switch 2 is going to sell that many in its first holiday season alone. The conservative estimate is 20 million consoles sold between June 2025 and June 2026.

@Buizel I think the argument being made is about the games themselves rather than quantity. Switch 1 had 4 tentpole releases in that window (BotW in March, MK8 Deluxe in April, Splatoon 2 in July and Mario Odyssey in October) meanwhile from what we can see so far, Nintendo's treating Switch 2's equivalent as:

• June - Mario Kart World
• July - DK Bananza
• TBA 2025 - Metroid Prime 4
• Late 2025 - Pokemon Legends Z-A

@Grumblevolcano Similarly, I don't see the issue outside of not having a mainline Zelda or Mario specifically. Mario Kart and Pokemon are both a big deal whether people want to acknowledge it or not. And I agree that DK doesn't have quite the same impact as the main man himself, but that seems to be our Mario equivalent this year and it looks to be receiving a similar level of care and polish, with 3D Mario itself inevitably coming to the system at some point.

I get if this particular lineup doesn't make certain individuals want the Switch 2 day 1, but I think there's a whole lot to appeal to the general Nintendo crowd. I can see an alternative reality in which we got Zelda and Mario in the first year...and people would be complaining that Nintendo played it too safe / it's too much like the Switch launch year.

Although I personally am also in the 'not too excited by MK World' camp, a fair amount of people are. Considering how many copies of MK8 continued to sell after a decade, I think it's fair to say any new reasonably good looking MK will sell games. And we have no reason to think the Switch 2 marketing is failing.

Personally I think it's a little odd to have a multiplayer focused game be the main launch game. If you want to play multiplayer in your house you need extra controllers which, given the Switch 2 price, people will not want to buy immediately, although perhaps compatibility with Switch 1 controllers will mitigate this. If you want to play online with your friends, they will all already need to have Switch 2, so having the game come out a couple months later would make that a little easier.

Personally even though I am not getting Mario Kart, I'm excited enough about Donkey Kong that I'll get a Switch 2 day 1 if I can because one month either way doesn't make that much difference. And I understand why they put the game with Mario in the name day 1 rather than the Mario-adjacent game.

In terms of advertising... I also think the Switch 2 version of Pokemon Z-A looks significantly better than the Switch-1 version. That made me both want Z-A significantly more than I had and also increased my urge get Switch 2 in 2025. Even though there isn't as much of a 'Nintendo classic' as BotW in the launch window, there is enough variety this year that it will likely tickle a lot of FOMOs.

@JaxonH I'm not seeing the tweet on any of the Fortnite accounts, and the only Unreal tweet is announcing the game for the system.

I did see someone saying it's up to 4k 60 and 1080p 120fps, but in a follow up tweet later in the thread they simply linked the Switch 2 specification page as their source.

Any ideas on where this tweet is? Interested to see if its concrete.

@Haruki_NLI
I saw it in my feed.

Oh I see it now. OK, so it wasn't from the official account, it was from this Fortnite Leaks and News account.

It's always difficult to gauge interest in a game based just on online consensus or communities. Especially for something as huge as Mario Kart. There's often a divide between what non-enthusiast consumers look for in a game, compared to more vocal online groups.

@skywake For me I’m only interested in like 3 games and it’s all third party related. Hitman, Cyberpunk and Fast Fusion. Everything from Nintendo is just not doing it for me and I’m not sure patches/upgrades for Switch games justify the console. Donkey Kong could possibly be a game I get interested in but again, a game that’s focused around destructible environments looks like it’ll get old pretty fast so I’m hoping there’s a lot more Nintendo haven’t shown yet.

It’s really Mario Kart that I was hugely excited about but it’s such a let down. More racers on the track and a pretty barebones open world just doesn’t seem to do enough for me. I perhaps set my hopes too high expecting something as experimental as Sonic Team Racing Transformed or even the new game Sonic Team Racing Crossworlds.

You must be in a town that's big on tech or something. I also similarly live in a small town of just under 7,000 and there's very little tech around here. Most of the jobs here are low level laborers that make more around $15-20 an hour. Most of the online jobs are also ghost jobs.

Also in regards to the real unemployment rate, I found a site that is looking into it. Turns out the reported unemployment rate only finds people actively searching for a job. This site calculated the true unemployment rate also including those that don't have a job, don't have a full time job, or aren't earning a living wage and found it's actually around 24%.

https://www.lisep.org/tru

Technically this is more of an underemployment rate than an unemployment rate, but within the context of estimating demand for the Switch 2, the distinction doesn't really matter. If there's this many people struggling to find a decent paying job, they're going to be very sensitive to the kinds of price increases we're seeing from Switch 2 and the entire industry right now.

Yeah, I think they're going to lean hard into Switch 2 Editions as the sort of low effort filler titles that the Wii U ports served on the Switch. There's plenty of Switch games that could benefit from not just a graphics bump, but mouse control options, Gamechat support, and new content that could find new life on the Switch 2.

@Banjo-
Dude speak for yourself. I've been Mario Kart from the SNES day one, and I'm incredibly excited for this one!

Yeah it'll be interesting to see how many Switch 2 Editions they do next year, not counting Rhythm Heaven or Tomodachi Life since those are new games anyways (and I honestly think only the latter gets one, but I could be wrong).

@IceClimbers Nintendo has said NSO Expansion comes with 'select Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Upgrades', which to me implies more than just Zelda. Maybe the upgrades that don't come with any new content will be put on there? I think there will likely be one or two more unannounced ones this year. I think the amount will probably slow down next year, they'll probably have a few but I don't see them doing this aggressively for years straight since it's backwards compatible.

@Buizel I don't think there'd be complaints if Nintendo had released 3D Mario and 3D Zelda in the launch window because of the long gap since the last entry. In this alternate reality, TotK would've been a crossgen launch title instead of a Switch 1 2023 release so the new 3D Zelda gap would've been 8 years like with 3D Mario).

I do think mixing it up was the right choice though, it just has some unfortunate side effects. Like how a lot of the Kirby Air Riders discussion became about what its existence means for Smash 6 release timing.

@rallydefault Dude, this is a comments section where everyone has an opinion.

I like to read Banjo-'s opinion.

@Grumblevolcano Did people think Smash 6 was on the horizon? I was under the impression that Sakurai had put the series to rest...for a good while, at least. I know he seems to say that after every release but...how do you follow up Ultimate without some sort of massive reboot?

I'm more bummed that he's not working on Kid Icarus - with a bit more love that could become one of Nintendo's key AA franchises. Still, if Air Riders is a passion project of Sakurai's as we're led to believe...I'm fairly confident it will turn out great.

I'm still largely on break from the internet, but I just wanted to air out one of my bigger frustrations with the whole Mario Kart debacle (Hopefully I don't re-ignite any internet wars by saying it, that's not my intention.) My big frustration is that you know for a fact that a bunch of the people who say "Mario Kart isn't worth $80." (Which they're right, even people excited for Mario Kart think the price is awful.) are gonna eat up $80 (If not $100) GTA VI when it releases. Just some conversations I've heard before I took my break, but I find it incredibly silly. If you're going to hate, be consistent. The same people who say Mario Kart fans are "blinded by nostalgia" are going to be exactly that once GTA VI rolls around. That's just how it is. I just hate that so many ragebaiters are conveniently ignoring that little fact. Acting like they're above nostalgia and all that stuff. $80 is awful no matter what series you're fawning over, be it Mario Kart OR GTA. There's no need to downtalk or bully people for a pricing decision they did not make. Excuse me sir, I believe that horse of yours is a bit too high for racing regulations. That's it, rant over, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

I think my question is how is Switch 2 stock going to impact switch game sales for not released games. I’m culling preorders and one of the reasons is I don’t want to get stuck with a switch version and need an upgrade later. I really hope devs/publishers are really transparent about this. Also if Switch 2 stock is constrained are people gonna skip the switch version to wait for a switch 2 and then buy the game? Rune factory already got me but I refuse to cancel that CE. So I will either double dip or it will be a switch only game…warts and all. But I don’t want to go into a new system with too many same family double dips. I don’t mind double dipping for games that are coming over for the first time (SF6 is day one for me).

An option for some if all the upgrade carts do it is if they are all switch compatible and just have the upgrade data on switch 2. But if Nintendo isn’t requiring that for switch 2 version games then it could get really confusing really fast.

I haven't played Mario Kart World, but the track design (married with the new moves) looks like they weren't easy to design. Nintendo are ina weird place where they get taken for granted by folk that think they know better than most, yet inspire the people in the industry that do know better than most. The game looks like one of the slickest I have ever seen (and it's a bloody kart racer!) Now, do I wish it was $60...OF COURSE I DO! Is it worth $80? Not played it yet, but if I'm still slapping it on for a quick bash in 7 years time, then I dare say so. One thing is for certain, I'll probably buying fewer games haha.