Nintendo handhelds have come in all flavors and colors since the original Gameboy. But is it a smart move to apply the strategy to a hybrid console like the Switch?
According to a paywalled article in the Wall Street Journal the Switch is about to get a redesign and better version somewhere after the summer of 2019. Is it really that time already? Has the current Switch already achieved its purpose and commercial climax to introduce the next upgrade?
Last summer Nintendo shared its goal: 20 million units by the end of its fiscal year. A month ago the sales climbed to a whopping 20,058,577 units. So the Switch as we know it has served the purpose Nintendo set for itself. With imminent the release of Smash and Pokémon I’m sure we’ll see another rise in these total lifetime sale numbers. But what other game is there to push slaes even further? Metroid is possibly still a long way down the line as it could be pushed back further than 2019 and besides Pokémon and Smash no other game comes close to their total gross or console sales.
Oh wait… Another 3D Mario game could come close to the sales of Pokémon and Smash but we just got one in the form of Odyssey, which is the best sold game on the system! Another contender could be the Zelda series but here again we already got one at release. Animal Crossing is also high in Nintendo’s bank account yet it is also still further down the road.
Maybe we should look at how the DS family succeeded one another: It all started in late 2004 with the release of the Nintendo DS. A system which was followed by the successful DS Lite in March 2006. Later the DSi came into play in 2009. It’s bigger brother the DSi XL came just one year later. It’s worth noting that the DSi family got a RAM update to 16MB substantially upgrading the original 4 MB. Access to the E-shop and the DSi Ware was exclusive to the DSi family. In 2011 we got the 3DS and close to only one year later we got our hands on the inevitable 3DS XL version in 2012. After this one we have a slight change in the strategy and had to wait until February 2015 to play on the NEW 3DS XL which also got an normal smaller version in September of that same year. This all amounts to an average of a new console every 1.8 years. Which is right about now?! The Switch is almost ending its 2nd year. A reveal after Christmas could be possible!
Now How will it look? Sources state it will utilize a larger OLED screen instead of the 6.2 LCD screen it currently uses. OLED is a more energy efficient solution which could lengthen the Switch’s battery life on the go. And we’re not even talking about the better quality, vibrant colors and rich details an OLED upgrade of the Switch could offer the fanbase. Imagine playing Smash on the go on a screen as presented below in our house artist mock-up. The Switch could also be thinner and might look even more like a premium product we’ve come to expect in today’s tech market.
Now with a thinner product comes the question of using older peripherals such as the many Joy-Con and game themed docks that are releasing every so many weeks. Fans would expect their older Joy-Con to work on the new one. If the Switch 2.0 would come packaged with a slide extension it could provide the solution to retrofitting the Joy-Con onto the new hybrid console. Newer Joy-Con (let’s call them Joy-Con Plus) could fit the new console without this slide extension. For the dock I guess it could offer the same solution with an slide-in extension and new thinner docks. The new dock might provide some extra power over the older one to accommodate some Switch 2.0 exclusives that won’t be bale to run on the older Switch. This would divide the market though and might accumulate some backlash from the fanbase.
Now the real elephant in the room is of course a power upgrade that could entice more third party sup(port) to Nintendo’s Switch 2.0. This is by far the current Switch’s (any Nintendo console) biggest problem. A strong release with good titles at launch and some nice games to look forward to. House games do extremely well and are quality products! But it would be nice to see an Nintendo product closing the gap between them and Sony & Xbox products. Of course the latter have already begun working on their next consoles too and they will jump ahead even more power-wise. Nintendo did deliver a strong hybrid console and it’s nice to see some 3rd party dev’s decently porting triple A titles to the Switch and showing it can run good and heavier games if ported correctly without compromising gameplay options!
So is an upgraded version too soon? I believe it depends on what we’re getting. Will it only have a bigger screen? Will it have more power? What about older Joy-Con? What about 2.0 exclusive games that need the hardware boost of an upgraded version? I think Nintendo has done really well up till now with the Switch and should look forward to the future. But I just don’t want to buy a new Switch every other 6 months to be able to get everything out this great system.
