Nintendo Switch (pro/super) variant has been cancelled (apparently) as per Digital Foundry

[Silverhand]

How do you guys feel about this. With the influx of powerful handheld PCs, Nintendo should have released a refreshed variant of the console specifically for games coming out in 2023, like ToTK (to compete effectively). The device is more than 5 years old now and thus is severely underpowered compared to present gen systems and requires some reinforcements for sure. Performance (or the lack of it) of Switch in recent games including marquee titles like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet proves this point. Is nintendo just being complacent about this whole issue?

PS- I am glad that the handheld PC market has caught everyones imagination, thus giving them (or rather will give them) some competition in the near future.

 

[kvn95ss]

My guess, Nintendo took a bet on ARM technology, but it seems nvidia has pulled their efforts on any ARM based GPUs (unless its for ML and data science, aka bigger cheque), and I would guess transitioning to rDNA 2 or other platform would take too much effort. I

n an ideal would, Nintendo could buy silicon from Apple and make a handheld console which could truly rival current-gen consoles.

But hay, one can dream right?

 

[AINDRASIS_GUPTA]

Nintendo is a company that does not care about its users unless it hits their bottomline. They carry out some of the worst practices in the gaming industry like going after modders or fan-loved Youtubers just because they don't like what they are doing. Also, they sell some of the bog standard games on the market with no innovation or improvement, while charging top prices.

Nintendo has always been complacent. It's now that they are being obvious about it. So, as long as the mainstream consumers continue to pay top dollars, Nintendo will have no incentives to improve. I mean, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet sold more 10 million copies inspite of being such a rubbish, buggy release. That just speaks about the ill-mentality of the Nintendo crowd and how braindead they can be. It's almost like following a cult.

 

[alekhkhanna]

Nintendo is a company that does not care about its users unless it hits their bottomline. They carry out some of the worst practices in the gaming industry like going after modders or fan-loved Youtubers just because they don't like what they are doing. Also, they sell some of the bog standard games on the market with no innovation or improvement, while charging top prices.

Nintendo has always been complacent. It's now that they are being obvious about it. So, as long as the mainstream consumers continue to pay top dollars, Nintendo will have no incentives to improve. I mean, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet sold more 10 million copies inspite of being such a rubbish, buggy release. That just speaks about the ill-mentality of the Nintendo crowd and how braindead they can be. It's almost like following a cult.

Toxicity level: Andrew Tate !

Jokes apart, pretty sure they'll something in their pipeline soon. They have finally merged their handheld + TV console with Switch, and I really hope they don't change the form factor. It's perfect !
Beefed up graphics and a faster processor and maybe better battery is all we need. Ignoring all the haters, Nintendo's 1st party titles are still (mostly) top notch for gameplay.
And they are anything but complacent. There's no other company which does gaming innovation better than Nintendo.

 

[Silverhand]

Toxicity level: Andrew Tate !

Jokes apart, pretty sure they'll something in their pipeline soon. They have finally merged their handheld + TV console with Switch, and I really hope they don't change the form factor. It's perfect !
Beefed up graphics and a faster processor and maybe better battery is all we need. Ignoring all the haters, Nintendo's 1st party titles are still (mostly) top notch for gameplay.
And they are anything but complacent. There's no other company which does gaming innovation better than Nintendo.

I agree to disagree.

Nintendo games are fun, but they are limited by an ageing hardware. They innovated with switch, but 5 years have passed since release. The least they could do was a mid gen refresh. Now that wont happen.

I hope they target the TV segment with their next gen console, keeping the switch as it is (maybe a handheld only console line).

 

[alekhkhanna]

I agree to disagree.

Nintendo games are fun, but they are limited by an ageing hardware. They innovated with switch, but 5 years have passed since release. The least they could do was a mid gen refresh. Now that wont happen.

I hope they target the TV segment with their next gen console, keeping the switch as it is (maybe a handheld only console line).

I really hope they don't segregate the lines again. One of the biggest draw is the ease of docking or portable play - taking it away won't be "Switch".
Maybe they can integrate extra hardware in the dock for better docked play.

 

[Silverhand]

I really hope they don't segregate the lines again. One of the biggest draw is the ease of docking or portable play - taking it away won't be "Switch".
Maybe they can integrate extra hardware in the dock for better docked play.

Then technically, itll be a "switch pro" only.

 

[solo_wing]

I

Nintendo is a company that does not care about its users unless it hits their bottomline. They carry out some of the worst practices in the gaming industry like going after modders or fan-loved Youtubers just because they don't like what they are doing. Also, they sell some of the bog standard games on the market with no innovation or improvement, while charging top prices.

Nintendo has always been complacent. It's now that they are being obvious about it. So, as long as the mainstream consumers continue to pay top dollars, Nintendo will have no incentives to improve. I mean, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet sold more 10 million copies inspite of being such a rubbish, buggy release. That just speaks about the ill-mentality of the Nintendo crowd and how braindead they can be. It's almost like following a cult.

I don't totally agree with you but there is some point to what you said about Nintendo does not try to please it's fan base much but it has always been like this.

The part that I do not agree is innovation..if there is any gaming company that does take risks and innovate it is Nintendo.

Mind you wii and wii u and Nintendo ds and 3ds and now switch were all huge risks.

Wii u was big failure and even with 3ds I believe it took time to make money.

Switch too was quite a risk and infact even with switch lite it feels risky.

The design is very poor . I find it quite difficult to play without external controller.

As for their games It is still so much fun. Some of these games you can just keep going back like Zelda, lugi mansion , Mario, donkey Kong....

I actually wanted Nintendo to go back to DS like dual screen and give the option to play on bigger screen or come up with proper wii 2.

 

[alekhkhanna]

Then technically, itll be a "switch pro" only.

They can choose to call it with a different name - or NIntendo being Nintendo - can really surprise us with a new concept. They are top on the gaming innovation chain (not so much for graphics, but gameplay is top notch for most 1st party titles)

 

[superczar]

Nintendo is a company that does not care about its users unless it hits their bottomline. They carry out some of the worst practices in the gaming industry like going after modders or fan-loved Youtubers just because they don't like what they are doing. Also, they sell some of the bog standard games on the market with no innovation or improvement, while charging top prices.

Nintendo has always been complacent. It's now that they are being obvious about it. So, as long as the mainstream consumers continue to pay top dollars, Nintendo will have no incentives to improve. I mean, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet sold more 10 million copies inspite of being such a rubbish, buggy release. That just speaks about the ill-mentality of the Nintendo crowd and how braindead they can be. It's almost like following a cult.

Wow!

I agree to disagree.

Nintendo games are fun, but they are limited by an ageing hardware. They innovated with switch, but 5 years have passed since release. The least they could do was a mid gen refresh. Now that wont happen.

I hope they target the TV segment with their next gen console, keeping the switch as it is (maybe a handheld only console line).

The switch can surely do with an upgrade - but nintendo does well where it really matter - designing fun games.
My PC has a single user, me, ps5 gets limited usage by kid and I
I had gor an xbox SX which was effectively orphaned and so i sold it recently..

The switch is the one that gets used the most by a wide margin, including my wife.

End of the days Games are meant to be fun..
high power hardware, and the eye candy it enables helps.. but it's just one of the many variables that go into making a good game.

 

[Silverhand]

Wow!

The switch can surely do with an upgrade - but nintendo does well where it really matter - designing fun games.
My PC has a single user, me, ps5 gets limited usage by kid and I
I had gor an xbox SX which was effectively orphaned and so i sold it recently..

The switch is the one that gets used the most by a wide margin, including my wife.

End of the days Games are meant to be fun..
high power hardware, and the eye candy it enables helps.. but it's just one of the many variables that go into making a good game.

The issue is that they arent even releasing enought games to combat the influx of other handheld in the market. We only know about totk (a marquee release) for 2023. What about the new metroid game, what about donkey kong series etc. So many IPs are sitting dormant. During ds/3ds era, they launched a lot of games each year. including several second/third party exclusives. 2023 (so far) seems to be barren.

 

[AINDRASIS_GUPTA]

And they are anything but complacent. There's no other company which does gaming innovation better than Nintendo.

They are top on the gaming innovation chain (not so much for graphics, but gameplay is top notch for most 1st party titles)

We might have a different understanding of the word innovation because Nintendo first-party titles are anything but innovative.

Please explain, if Nintendo is truly "innovative" as you say they are, why are they allowing Game Freak to continue making such shit-tier Pokemon games even after they have shown such little interest in the franchise? Also, while you are at it, please also do explain why they never tried to implement a proper story in a Pokemon game or tried to change the core gameplay of Pokemon, like ever?

Enough of Pokemon. Let's talk about Zelda. If Nintendo is truly "innovative", why are they banking on remakes like the Skyword Sword or Link's Awakening to push the franchise on Switch? The last proper Zelda release was in 2017 and we are at the end of the Switch's cycle.

 

[Silverhand]

We might have a different understanding of the word innovation because Nintendo first-party titles are anything but innovative.

Please explain, if Nintendo is truly "innovative" as you say they are, why are they allowing Game Freak to continue making such shit-tier Pokemon games even after they have shown such little interest in the franchise? Also, while you are at it, please also do explain why they never tried to implement a proper story in a Pokemon game or tried to change the core gameplay of Pokemon, like ever?

Enough of Pokemon. Let's talk about Zelda. If Nintendo is truly "innovative", why are they banking on remakes like the Skyword Sword or Link's Awakening to push the franchise on Switch? The last proper Zelda release was in 2017 and we are at the end of the Switch's cycle.

I kinda agree with this. They have ported WII u/wii games in the majority of switch's lifecycle and yet charged $60 for them.

 

[superczar]

The issue is that they arent even releasing enought games to combat the influx of other handheld in the market. We only know about totk (a marquee release) for 2023. What about the new metroid game, what about donkey kong series etc. So many IPs are sitting dormant. During ds/3ds era, they launched a lot of games each year. including several second/third party exclusives. 2023 (so far) seems to be barren.

there were plenty of decent to good releases in 2022.
Splatoon, Switch sports and Kirby are three that have got plenty of play time in my household. There were at least a few more like Bayonetta and Mario Strikers that also come to mind.

Having said that, Sony surely did better , Microsoft failed miserably otoh.
Could 2022 have been better, sure. Was it as bad as being alluded to on this thread, far from it…

As for the other handhelds, they are targeting a very different sub segment of users.
I seriously considered getting a steam deck last month, largely because I am a sucker for any new gizmo.
But then decided against it - The reasons for it would be a complete digression from this thread so I won’t get into it - but in summary, i realized it won’t fit any use cases that I have .

By the way I do completely agree that the switch hardware is overdue for an upgrade. The wireless stack is seriously dated and the processor really needs a bump.
Apple had a chance with arcade to compete (or even with paid titles that are truly good) but they have almost completely failed to capitalize on it

 

[Silverhand]

there were plenty of decent to good releases in 2022.
Splatoon, Switch sports and Kirby are three that have got plenty of play time in my household. There were at least a few more like Bayonetta and Mario Strikers that also come to mind.

Having said that, Sony surely did better , Microsoft failed miserably otoh.
Could 2022 have been better, sure. Was it as bad as being alluded to on this thread, far from it…

As for the other handhelds, they are targeting a very different sub segment of users.
I seriously considered getting a steam deck last month, largely because I am a sucker for any new gizmo.
But then decided against it - The reasons for it would be a complete digression from this thread so I won’t get into it - but in summary, i realized it won’t fit any use cases that I have .

By the way I do completely agree that the switch hardware is overdue for an upgrade. The wireless stack is seriously dated and the processor really needs a bump.
Apple had a chance with arcade to compete (or even with paid titles that are truly good) but they have almost completely failed to capitalize on it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1608760857848315904

Some images of a probable Zelda Ed Switch OLED have leaked. If this is indeed true, then we might not see a variant with a refreshed internals, ever.

 

[alekhkhanna]

We might have a different understanding of the word innovation because Nintendo first-party titles are anything but innovative.

Please explain, if Nintendo is truly "innovative" as you say they are, why are they allowing Game Freak to continue making such shit-tier Pokemon games even after they have shown such little interest in the franchise? Also, while you are at it, please also do explain why they never tried to implement a proper story in a Pokemon game or tried to change the core gameplay of Pokemon, like ever?

Enough of Pokemon. Let's talk about Zelda. If Nintendo is truly "innovative", why are they banking on remakes like the Skyword Sword or Link's Awakening to push the franchise on Switch? The last proper Zelda release was in 2017 and we are at the end of the Switch's cycle.

I've never played Pokemon, and I really don't care about it.
Instead of listing everything great which came out this year and keeps on coming every year, I'll direct you to Nintendoforce - an excellent independent magazine which comes out once every 2 months, covering everything Nintendo.

 

[BurninFenix]

Nintendo is not driven by graphical advances.. they are more focused on gameplay experience.. graphical advances has slowed down.. the difference in graphics between ps2 and ps3 was great.. but not that much comparing ps3 with ps4.

nintendo games are more family oriented and casual.. therefore they don't worry too much about graphics or competing with next gen

 

[Rajs64]

Nintendo is not driven by graphical advances.. they are more focused on gameplay experience.. graphical advances has slowed down.. the difference in graphics between ps2 and ps3 was great.. but not that much comparing ps3 with ps4.

nintendo games are more family oriented and casual.. therefore they don't worry too much about graphics or competing with next gen

Yes, agree with you. Nintendo doesn't care about bringing any new system till their current hardware and titles are minting money. They had huge fan base way out in Japan. Titles like Mario Bros, Zelda, Pokemon has been a huge hit amongst these fan base. It will be unfair to compare their graphics with current gen console. Even with Nintendo super/pro comming, I'm not sure on how it will compete against the influx of latest handheld consoles like deck, Aya Neo, win gpd etc etc.. you know, switch was an undisputed handheld king after Sony vita's discontinuation. This was until steam deck and others jumped in. I still feel that Nintendo won't be caring much since they already got huge customer base in Japan.. they also know on how to bring out the titles, again and again which their fans in Japan like, and not what's needed outside.

 

[alekhkhanna]

Whiners keep whining, meanwhile Nintendo..

As Everyone Waits for a Next-Gen Switch, Nintendo Increases Switch Production

With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arriving in May, there's little reason for Nintendo to launch new hardware now.

www.pcmag.com

 

[Silverhand]

Yes, agree with you. Nintendo doesn't care about bringing any new system till their current hardware and titles are minting money. They had huge fan base way out in Japan. Titles like Mario Bros, Zelda, Pokemon has been a huge hit amongst these fan base. It will be unfair to compare their graphics with current gen console. Even with Nintendo super/pro comming, I'm not sure on how it will compete against the influx of latest handheld consoles like deck, Aya Neo, win gpd etc etc.. you know, switch was an undisputed handheld king after Sony vita's discontinuation. This was until steam deck and others jumped in. I still feel that Nintendo won't be caring much since they already got huge customer base in Japan.. they also know on how to bring out the titles, again and again which their fans in Japan like, and not what's needed outside.

Nintendo might not be into graphical advances, i agree with this sentiment. However, now, in 2022-2023, even basic games (some from nintendo first/second parties) are struggling to get stable frames on the system. Games like latest poke for example.

Also, no one expects nintendo to give us hyper realistic worlds. To be honest, nintendo games are not compatible with such graphics. Atleast they should target pixar esque animation and livelier worlds, which are impossible on the hardware from 2017. The main selling point of switch has been the handheld capabilities.

A more powerful hardware would also give third party developers more room to work with, thus bringing more games into the system for diverse audiences.


Lastly, regarding the production surge, I am sure it is anticipatory, targeted at the release of the new Zelda title.