Topic: Switch Discussion Thread (Year 3: But where are the folders??!?!)

[Khushrenada]

Not that anyone was concerned about this, but I found some size comparison charts:

Actually, I kind of was but not that it would be too small but rather that it might be too large. One thing I was pondering over a day after the reveal was the portability aspect of the Switch. I know there were grumblings about the size of the NEW 3DS XL when it came out and how big and heavy it was to fit in pockets. Based on the reveal trailer, I was wondering just how big the controller may be and how easily portable it might be. It doesn't look pocket size and there seems to be no screen protector for it either. Seeing its comparison to the 3DS and Vita shows that it isn't as large as I thought though it is still a bit bigger than both of those systems. I wonder how well it will fit in a pocket or can be carried around. I have feeling one will definitely want to buy protection for it like an tablet or cell phone.

[ThePerm]

Broken down the Switch might not be too bad for pockets. I'd carry it in a case though.

We really have to worry, is it being too big for pockets a problem with the Switch or a problem with pockets?

[Ian Sane]

My pocket issues with the 3DS XL was not so much with the size of the system but with the scarcity of pocket space one has these days.  I've already got my pockets full with my phone, keys and wallet.  Now back when I had a flip phone I think I could have fit a normal sized 3DS in there but smart phones are pretty big and take up a pocket for themselves.

[Kairon]

If a game is budgeted at 30 million they make a profit if they sell a game for $9 when they sell 3.4 million copies. They usually sell games at $49.99 though. Which means they only need to sell about 613k copies. Also, I doubt only but the biggest budgets are going to be 30 million(the average Capcom budget).

You're assuming they pocket the full $49.99, but that's not true. Going off of this source, one can estimate that Nintendo, playing the role of Developer, Publisher, AND Console Owner, makes $34 off of a $60 game, or $28.33 off of a $50 game. If you're not the platform owner, and you're just the Developer+Publisher, then you're looking at $27 off a $60 title, or $22.5 off of $50.

If we're looking at a $30 million budget for both development AND marketing, then we're looking at a game that Nintendo needs to sell in excess of 882k units to break even at $60 MSRP, or 1.33 million units at $50 MSRP.

Nintendo has gone on record that they're hoping that their software can sell 2 million units worldwide, and that the games that outperform expectations make up for the games that fail in the market.

If we imagine that we are looking at a hypothetical "average" 2-million seller from Nintendo priced at $60, and we apply the same assumptions and estimates as above, then said hypothetical game might have a combined development and marketing budget of $68 million.

This sounds like a lot, but it's well known that many AAA titles have cost way more than $100 million to make when all things are accounted for (GTA V is a famous example, estimates hitting the $260 million mark). Also, one rule of thumb I've heard is to imagine that the marketing budget for a game equals the development budget... so whatever you spent to make it, you gotta spend again to sell it.

Given that thinking, almost all the games listed here likely cost more to make than the sort of game that Nintendo is aiming to budget for.

Uhhh... I'm pretty sure no one was discussing this, but once I started looking up the numbers this brought to mind I couldn't stop myself! >_< Forgive me!

[ThePerm]

I accounted for the 3 dollars(my source said disc and packaging costs about $3). I basically did the math to the single copy that made it profitable. a profit of a dollar is not great. Obviously they would want to do better. That's not counting distribution costs though.

[Lemonade]

Thats much smaller than I was expecting

[Spak-Spang]

If Nintendo was to show some goodwill, and ask for a much, much smaller percentage of the profits earned from the sell of a new game that would go a long way to help new games come out on the system. 

I think Digital is something all software developers want because they can charge the same price but cut the cost shares needed for retail stores. 

But still I would think the game industry could figure away of dropping the price of games...that would certainly help.  I like Nintendo's idea of trying to keep value in the pricing structure longer...but you should give consumers a break then.  I would rather a game continue to be sold for 29.99-39.99 for the life of the game, and know a day one purchase is just as good as a brand new purchase 8 months from now...then having the price be 59.99 and there is a $20.00 price drop in 6 months. 

I think you would sell more software that way. 

[Kairon]

If Nintendo was to show some goodwill, and ask for a much, much smaller percentage of the profits earned from the sell of a new game that would go a long way to help new games come out on the system.

If the article I sourced is true, then removing the retailer and returns from the equation Nintendo's $7 royalty is SMALLER at 18.4% than the typical 30% cut that Digital Appstores take.

I wonder if the royalty percentage is different for a digital game sale? Obviously the retailer's role is gone, but how is that piece of the pie therefore cut up between the remaining players?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Looks like Nvidia plans for a long healthy relationship with Nintendo
http://seekingalpha.com/article/4022322-nvidia-nvda-q3-2017-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

I guess you could also say that Nintendo contributed a fair amount to that growth. And over the next – as you know, the Nintendo architecture and the company tends to stick with an architecture for a very long time. And so we've worked with them now for almost two years. Several hundred engineering years have gone into the development of this incredible game console. I really believe when everybody sees it and enjoy it, they're going be amazed by it. It's really like nothing they've ever played with before. And of course, the brand, their franchise and their game content is incredible. And so I think this is a relationship that will likely last two decades and I'm super excited about it.

2 decades... that's 3-4 gens of Nvidia<3Nintendo, or Eninen, (aka N&N)

[Lemonade]

The fact that NVidia have been working on it gives me hope that it will be powerful enough and well supported.

[ThePerm]

I'm hyped for the second  reveal. I wonder what games we'll find out about. It had better not be delayed. I need two netflix players.

[Soren]

Bethesda's Todd Howard pretty much confirms Skyrim for Switch.

http://www.glixel.com/interviews/skyrim-creator-todd-howard-talks-switch-vr-and-elder-scrolls-wait-w451761

What do you think of the Switch, Nintendo's newly announced console that is portable but also hooks up to your TV?
I love it. I got to play it. I will tell you – well, maybe that's an N.D.A. thing. One of the best demos I've ever seen. Probably the best demo I've ever seen. At E3.

Was it a Nintendo game?
I mean the device itself. I think it's really smart what they're doing. We're definitely going to be supporting it. It's the first time we've done something on Nintendo. If you don't count the old NES stuff. Home Alone. Or Where's Waldo?

Can you really bring Skyrim with you on the go?
It's the same game on the TV and on the other screen.

[Ian Sane]

Why was Skyrim for the Switch iffy?  It was in the debut video!  I can't think of a better confirmation than that.  It's not like Nintendo would just grab random footage of third party games to pass off as Switch titles.

[Kairon]

Why was Skyrim for the Switch iffy?  It was in the debut video!  I can't think of a better confirmation than that.  It's not like Nintendo would just grab random footage of third party games to pass off as Switch titles.

It's Nintendo. Third party vaporware is very real on Nintendo systems, especially after the Wii U launch.

[Lemonade]

I like the idea of Skyrim on Switch, but I dont think I would buy it. I always play those games with god mode on and you can only do that on PC.

[Mop it up]

Yeah, it isn't announcements I'm iffy about, it's whether or not those games actually release. That will still take a while to find out.

[ThePerm]

I've been watching a lot of youtube Switch Rumor videos lately, and also just videos that discuss the switch.

I frequent the rumor thread, but I have to say the media literacy of the modern generation is alarming(on youtube). I understand that some of the rumors ended up being true, but all information not confirmed by Nintendo is only rumors and speculation. I've heard people take it as complete fact that Switch has 2GB of RAM, or has a certain TFLOP speed. I've seen too many videos lately that talk about uninformed nothing. I wish nvidia would convince Nintendo to announce specs so there isn't this mysterious hyperbole. It's one thing to speculate, and use history or relevant information, it is another thing to treat rumors as truth.

January 12th and 13th  I guess.

[oohhboy]

The tech specs doesn't matter all that much to Nintendo and announcing them wouldn't satisfy the rumours. Even post-release and after having the chips X-Rayed, there are still people(Although there are far less today) out there who think MS double stacked the chips or there is some sort of secret sauce in there MS is waiting to unlock in the xBone. Remember how DX 12 was going to save them, MS ditching the Kinect to save a few processor cycles and clawing back RAM a couple MB at a time.

Whatever specs they release won't be enough. No matter how detailed it is, it is going to be misconstrue, twisted and buried under even more BS. With the Internet making everybody think they are an expert with a world of "knowledge" at their finger tips, people just aren't using their critical thinking skills or never had any. Buzzwords like TFLOP, DDR 3, GDDR5, billion Transistors, Clock speed, ARM, AMD, Nvidia, latency, V-NAND, SSD, HDD etc, all noise.

It's not just video games, it got personified by this year's election into an actual human being. Another example is the people who think the Panther Tank is the best tank of WW2 by comparing Raw stats without any context to real life limitations. Recognise it? Console Wars.

Whatever the specs are, all I really want is a new Advanced Wars. That is 1/3 to 1/2 of my demands. The rest is in the "Surprise me" category.

[ThePerm]

You make a valid point. When Nintendo was pumping out Perfect Dark,Conkers Bad Fur Day, Eternal Darkness, had an exclusive Resident Evil remake, and upcoming exclusive(at the time) Resident Evil 4 they were still kiddy.

[ThePerm]

This is interesting

[Lemonade]

The time is perfect. 12pm for me, just in time for my lunch break


Yooka Laylee for Wii U CANCELLED!
But, Switch version confirmed.
http://www.playtonicgames.com/yooka-laylee-reptile-rolls-towards-release/

[Adrock]

It's weird and quite frankly, total bullshit that Playtonic is citing "unforeseen technical issues" as the reason for cancelling the Wii U version when the Kickstarter was launched with Wii U as one of the lead platforms. Everyone has known for years that Wii U wasn't going to make it to 2017, or at best, would drag itself on broken limbs to get there. Kickstarter backers are most of the people who wanted the game on Wii U. Playtonic would be trying sell the Wii U version to practically no one.

I mean, I get it. There's no nice way to spin, "Releasing out game on a dead platform is financially irresponsible." The PR is still just wholly unbelievable.

[Shaymin]

It'll be interesting to see how the Bloodstained switch is phrased, since it's basically inevitable at this point.

- They're a *2018* game
- If you thought Unity ran like ass on the Wii U, Unreal 4 doesn't run at all (and I highly doubt the team behind Recore and worse, Metroid Prime, are going to get it working)

[Spak-Spang]

They are making the Wii U backers upgrade and spend more money to back the Switch version.  BOO!!!!!  Let them have any version for free.  You made the mistake.

[Soren]

It's safe to assume that any indie game announced for Wii U that hasn't released yet will most likely come out for Switch.

They are making the Wii U backers upgrade and spend more money to back the Switch version.  BOO!!!!!  Let them have any version for free.  You made the mistake.

I'm assuming by the language in their press release that Playtonic is just being careful about over-promising as they probably know as much about Switch's digital storefront as we do. Anyway, Playtonic is being upfront about refunds so backers are free to choose any option, including a refund.