Today, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa made an announcement through a post on Twitter regarding Nintendo's plans for the next Fiscal year as follows.
"This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation.
Credit: https://twitter.com/NintendoCoLtd/status/1787736518762881197
What do I think about this?
Even as I type this blog, there are many Nintendo fans that are REJOICING about this news. I've even seen a few tweets with people shouting "we won!" You "won?" What did you win? Another Fiscal year of silence regarding the next console? He did not even promise a RELEASE of the console within the next Fiscal year. He said that Nintendo will make an announcement within the next Fiscal year regarding their next console which ends around March/April of 2025. There is a good chance that the next console may not release until the second-half of 2025. Now, it is fair to point out that they have done a quick turnaround before with a console. In fact, they did it with the Switch. Even though Project 'NX' was officially announced in 2015, the actual Switch "reveal" took place in late October 2016, and the console was released in early March 2017. So, that is about 4 1/2 months from unveiling to release. At the time of this blog post, it is May 7th, 2024. We do not even have a code-name for the console. We don't know what it is. We don't know what it does. We don't know the form-factor. We know nothing...............officially. There have been many "rumors" about Nintendo's next-console regarding the form-factor, the chip-set, the Joy-Con technology, the type of RAM and size of the RAM, etc. No confirmation or denial from Nintendo on any of this. So, he goes on to say that the upcoming June Nintendo Direct will be to showcase games coming to the Switch in the latter-half of 2024, and he made a point to stress that there will be NO MENTION of the Nintendo successor during that presentation. That's pretty smug if you ask me. We all know that the Switch was a runaway success with 141 million units sold and counting, but it ain't that sweet where you can just string people along. Sure, your die-hard fans will accept whatever you feed them, but everyone else will look at this tweet and say, "Wait a minute? We have completed and exceeded a FULL console-cycle from Nintendo, we are basically going into overtime now, and you can't even give us a code-name for the thing??" Those games coming to the Switch later this year had better be pretty darned good, but how good could they realistically be? You don't want to drop power-house titles this late in the game on a console that is on it's 18th hole. You would want to save that for the new device, whenever that happens. Metroid Prime 4, a new Donkey Kong game that has been rumored, another Mario Kart, you can't put those games on the Switch. Even if the rumors are true regarding the new console having full backwards compatibility with the Switch and using a custom form of Ray-tracing as well as DLSS 2.2 upscaling, you would THINK that Nintendo would rather build those games from the ground up on more powerful hardware than to build them on inferior hardware and then upscale them to 4K in docked-mode with Ray-tracing and higher frame-rates. It just doesn't make sense to do it that way. Especially with heavyweight titles like that. Anything new in development in my opinion needs to be going to the new console to make sure that their new console has a deep-pool of games to back it up with no long droughts without games which is (allegedly) the reasoning behind pushing the console release to 2025. I have two questions that I want to propose about Nintendo's "plan" for the next Fiscal year. 1. Is the reasoning for this delay based on the fact that Nintendo Switch is within striking distance of the (OFFICIAL) PS2 record of 155 million consoles sold? Could the Switch sell 15 million units over the next Fiscal year? That's all that it would take. Depending on what games are coming later this year, yes it is possible, but not probable for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Any game that would be a guaranteed system-mover would most likely be on the next console. Now, they could still reach back and hit us with a cluster of GameCube and/or Wii remasters. Super Mario Sunshine remaster? F-Zero GX remaster? Super Smash Bros. Melee remaster? Metroid Prime 2 and 3 remaster? Zelda: Twilight Princess remaster? Maybe even a Super Mario Galaxy remaster?That could be enough. I guess we'll see. 2. Nintendo already has a significant amount of competition in the hybrid-gaming space that have cut into the sales of the Switch. Mostly from people that had no allegiance to Nintendo but were just curious of the hybrid form-factor in-general that upgraded to more powerful and versatile alternatives such as the Steam Deck, Ayaneo 2, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go. Many of these companies are already working on successors for their hardware. However, there are two key elements in this situation that could pose a MAJOR problem for Nintendo. What happens, if during this time Nintendo expects everyone to be sitting on his hands doing nothing, Microsoft, Sony, or BOTH announce a hybrid-console?..............
Think about that. Think about PS4 and PS5 games on the go. Don't even get me started on the prospect of a hybrid-PC from Microsoft that has a fully-function version of Windows and access to XBOX Game Pass. That would be a SERIOUS problem. So, I hope Nintendo knows what they are doing. I hope that this is a case of them having something more than what the rumors have suggested and are waiting for everyone else to play their cards before they show their hand. I know hardcore Nintendo fans will love whatever Nintendo does. As I mentioned earlier, you literally have Nintendo fans celebrating BAD NEWS. They've got the Kool and The Gang music bumping and everything! For everyone else however, after waiting what will be at the time 8+ years, simply as somewhat more powerful Switch and that's it is NOT gonna get it. I'm sorry, but I feel that is dilapidated thinking at best in my opinion. That is why I will enclose by saying that I think it is confirmed that Nintendo's next console is not just another Switch. There is something else.....
ความคิดเห็น