Topic: The Future of the Video Game Industry According to Nintendo's Switch 2 Presentation

[whilhorst]

After The First Look at Nintendo Switch 2, How is Nintendo Shaping the Future of the Industry?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/70621/the-future-of-the-video-game-industry-according-to-nintendos-switch-2-presentation

With the full reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2, it can be said that Nintendo has entered a new era. Last week Takashi Mochizuki wrote this wonderful article for Bloomberg that concluded with: ‘For many years, on the wall in the company’s headquarters hung a framed work of calligraphy depicting the brush strokes for “Ninten”, which roughly translates to leaving luck to the heavens. This embodiment of the company's founding philosophy has been consigned to the museum, an artifact from the company's 135-year history.That, perhaps, is the clearest sign yet that Nintendo is ready to move on.’.

And move on it has. The bells and whistles that the Nintendo Switch 2 (NS2) brings to the table are plentiful, but it is also the clearest sign that innovation in the games space wasn’t at the forefront of the creation of NS2. In fact, the head of development for Switch 2, Kouichi Kawamoto, confirms as much in their lengthy interview on the Nintendo Website: “After considering various new ideas, we decided it would be best to keep the Switch system's design and not make any “changes for changes' sake.”. In fact, the name Switch 2 was specifically chosen by the hardware team as to communicate clearly to customers that it is an improved Switch (they even forgoed the name ‘Super Switch’ as the Super Nintendo wasn’t backwards compatible with the NES, which was a design goal for Switch 2).

Getting these insights from those working on the system is important context, because in the end the Nintendo we’ve seen this week is a big departure from the Nintendo of old. The innovations developed for NS2 seem to all boil down to its improved processor and capabilities. It’s a ‘Switch Pro’ in everything but name, and the once so innovative Nintendo had to spend nearly ten minutes explaining that they’ve added voice chat and webcam support to their newest console. Games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza look stunning in motion, but are characteristically similar experiences to the Switch’s Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Odyssey. There is some playful design to be found in titles like Drag x Drive, which sees users moving the Joy-Con 2 in mouse mode back and forth to move wheelchairs and score points via hoops (which I’ve personally dubbed as HANDS). But Nintendo Switch 2 Tour, an interactive guide through the hardware and specs of NS2, will be sold as a downloadable title at launch, something that rival Sony did through Astro’s Playroom in 2020 but as a free pack-in and extensive 3D platformer. Nintendo (Japan’s) strict rule on avoiding pack-in titles whenever possible still seems to hold true 40 years after releasing the Famicom.

But even alongside the flood of third-party support, with some varied looking games both in offerings and terms of quality, there is something here that feels at times like Nintendo being a bit lost with its own success. The four-part interview talks about accessories and the design goals for NS2 at length, but the excitement from the directorial team is interjected by their reaction to how the R&D responded to their ideas like the Mouse mode for Joy-Con 2 and GameChat as: “Ah yes, we’ve thought of that before”. Innovation isn’t something you can conjure up at a whim, but it needs to be inspiring for those in creative industries. The Wii didn’t just catch elderly homes by storm, but especially the internal design teams of Nintendo who went nuts with looking for creative uses for the Wiimote. From 1:1 swordplay to grabbing starbits and from playing the drums to shooting a crossbow. Switch mostly had its most inventive ideas paired with ‘exclusive’ peripherals like LABO, Ring Fit Adventure and even Mario Kart: Live. Tetsuya Sasaki even states it outright: “rather than equipping the new console with new hardware features, we thought we'd have the option to offer new gameplay experiences by packaging additional accessories together with games, just as we bundled the Ring-Con with Ring Fit Adventure.”.

This all flows back to this new era of Nintendo and it is one that cannot be separated from the biggest news that wasn’t in this direct. Let’s talk about price. Looking back at the Switch 1 presentation in January 2017, the price was revealed nearly up front for multiple regions. It framed the following hour of reveals and information about the original Switch quite differently. When you know a system will cost you a certain amount, viewing the following games and reveals places it all within a certain context. But the structure for the NS2 Direct left that answer ambiguous till after the presentation. A Nintendo gotcha, bringing the worst tendencies of the company to the forefront, upsetting expectations and not just that, but coming with a ton of asterisks for the releases, upgrades and requirements to access all features.

The system being such a high price isn’t that big a surprise to most. Inflation, world events and the increased price of resources made that inevitable. But the jump in price for both digital and physical software is Nintendo not just breaking the dam, but blowing it up with a grand display of fireworks. Digital prices for first-party games seem to now be standardized at about 10 USD higher than they were, with Mario Kart: World spanning the crown and jumping to 79,99 MSRP and in Europe the physical edition of Mario Kart: World will cost 89,99. I can say that rarely has my jaw dropped after seeing a price, but this shift is monumental. Where with most first-party Sony titles you can wait out a pricedrop, Nintendo will hold true to their mantra of retaining value for their games. It is Nintendo following in the footsteps of companies like Apple that will inevitably cause other companies to follow suit.

For those working in the games industry it’s not a surprise. Games cost millions to create, even for smaller companies and teams and it is simply not enough to offer these titles at a price of 59,99. It was always unsustainable, but few had the guts to rip that band-aid off. Sony tried this on PlayStation 5 with Spider-Man 2, but as players had grown accustomed to waiting out sales, it didn’t make that much of a difference. But here is Nintendo, the only company that has games at its core, using duct tape to rip this band-aid straight off the skin. And it will not just hurt for a little bit at launch, but it is safe to assume this will be the new base going forward. Possibly pricing out a lot of players that have been with Nintendo for decades. I’ve talked to so many die-hard Nintendo fans yesterday and a lot of them echo that the company is going down a path they cannot justify following. Let alone with the few offerings sprinkled throughout the presentation yesterday.

Unfortunately gaming is becoming a more and more expensive hobby. We’re taking this first hit now, but you can set your clocks that when Grand Theft Auto VI will announce their inevitable 89,99 or even 99,99 price tag, this will become a new normal for other publishers to follow suit. It may even become a necessity, given the massive layoffs and impacts from the financial crisis within the games industry. That is, if we consider this from the perspective of the major publisher. Indies may now be, more than ever, vital in keeping players engaged and entertained. It’s not a surprise to me that Hollow Knight: Silksong, Deltarune and (to a certain extent) Hades II were essential to showcase in this presentation. Not just exemplifying the massive success indies can have on the system, but immediately marketing them to Nintendo’s core fanbase. It’s incredibly difficult for indie developers to have their games catch the attention of buyers on the eShop and while there have been changes announced for the eShop on Nintendo Switch 2, I still think that indies will wait out the Switch 2 wave to see if their audiences are able to move on from Switch 1. Given the comments of ‘manually checking over 10.000 games’, simply ‘porting your game’ from Switch 1 to Switch 2 is definitely not a given. Paired with the rumors of very limited availability of developer kits, I am skeptical to see how eager this 3rd party support remains after their ‘older titles’ have moved over to NS2.

Nintendo is not about to radically change its approach, which stands in contrast with what we’ve seen during the direct. Three younger heads of development, that new generation that Nintendo’s been training for the last decade, were given the chance to make the next Nintendo system at the height of the company’s success. Their results come across as awfully safe and perhaps restricted by the many asterisks their work had to adhere to. It’s a Nintendo that has passed the crossroads and perhaps is seeking to build a canal from their blue ocean to a red ocean, filled with PC handhelds and third-party riches. What it will bring to this red ocean is clear, higher prices, more profits and a wider supported gaming ecosystem. But as I’m getting flushed downstream, I’m left wondering if I’d rather not get onto one of those other ships that’s sailing over there. Can we, as players, as media, as critics, leave the comfort of what used to be a Nintendo that was carefree of what others would think? It remains to be seen as June 5th approaches.