StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (New Staff Post, Please read)

[SoldierDelta]

On the contrary, this is quite normal for Nintendo. Short reveal to release cycles are very much the norm for them. There are probably a wide variety of reasons they've chosen to market things this way, but one that's especially pertinent to hardware and Nintendo in particular is that it doesn't give other companies enough time to clone whatever unique features Nintendo has in store before Nintendo can make it to market.

Nintendo Directs are a big reason for this. They've gotten such a large audience that they can just announced "Hey, we're porting and releasing Metroid Prime Remastered today" and it'll sell well. It's a nice thing to have.

Additionally, Nintendo can get away with short reveals to release. Xenoblade 3 and Fire Emblem Engage had a reveal to release cycle of around 5 months, which is unheard of for a pair of AAA JRPGs in the year of our lord 2022/2023.

 

[Deleted member 1978]

But the biggest reason to do a longer marketing cycle - because it's a known entity. Because a longer marketing cycle will work, and the team that markets NG has done a bunch of them. A radical change in the marketing strategy is risky. What's the upside of that risk? They're already the dominant player, why risk an own-goal when you're in the lead?

I disagree heavily with the bolded since Nintendo has consistently demonstrated the capability to handle short marketing cycles. Super Mario Bros Wonder is their holiday flagship release and that had only several months between announcement and launch. We've seen releases like Metroid Prime Remastered do well despite being released on the same day as its announcement. What specific characteristics would make this new product more difficult or different from their prior product releases?

 

[Boxle]

But the biggest reason to do a longer marketing cycle - because it's a known entity. Because a longer marketing cycle will work, and the team that markets NG has done a bunch of them. A radical change in the marketing strategy is risky. What's the upside of that risk? They're already the dominant player, why risk an own-goal when you're in the lead?

Thanks for this, lots of good points here. Some of these I should have known, but for some reason flew right past my thought process.

 

[Concernt]

I disagree heavily with the bolded since Nintendo has consistently demonstrated the capability to handle short marketing cycles. Super Mario Bros Wonder is their holiday flagship release and that had only several months between announcement and launch. We've seen releases like Metroid Prime Remastered do well despite being released on the same day as its announcement. What specific characteristics would make this new product more difficult or different from their prior product releases?

Yeah, also a short marketing cycle is a known entity that the team has done before, more than once, to huge success.

Even Nintendo themselves have explicitly stated not to expect a long cycle. Not sure why anyone'd believe they lied, y'know?

 

[Machrider]

Things were just done radically differently in the past.

The Super NES was barely two years old in North America, and not even that in Europe, when Nintendo already announced the successor (N64), lol. Super NES launched August 1991 in North America, in August 1993 they announced the N64.

Imagine buying a "new" Switch in March 2019 and Nintendo going "We're developing Switch 2 with some state of the art Samsung tech for release in 2021!".

 

[BassForever]

I disagree heavily with the bolded since Nintendo has consistently demonstrated the capability to handle short marketing cycles. Super Mario Bros Wonder is their holiday flagship release and that had only several months between announcement and launch. We've seen releases like Metroid Prime Remastered do well despite being released on the same day as its announcement. What specific characteristics would make this new product more difficult or different from their prior product releases?

There's a difference between marketing a single game and marketing their main money making hardware for the next 6-8 years. If Nintendo somehow botches the marketing of the new 2D Mario and it under performs, it's more a disappointment that it "only" sold 5-10 million units as opposed to 15-20 million. If Nintendo botched the marketing for the successor, it could really put them in dire straights.

I'm not saying Nintendo can't find success with a shorter marketing cycle for new hardware. I just agree with the general vibe of "Nintendo needs to get this right".

 

[Neoxon]

Which begs the question: Can anyone provide a link to the logic or associated fact pattern that walks through the common view that the Switch 2 will launch in the back half of next year?

This was the logic given to VGC by multiple sources…

According to multiple people with knowledge of Nintendo’s next-gen console plans, the company is likely to release new hardware during the second half of 2024, to ensure that it has ample stock available on day one and to avoid the kind of shortages seen with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Fami is the only place where I’ve seen a sizable amount of its community seriously entertain the possibility of a 2023 reveal & a H1 2024 release, whereas everyone else is assuming H2 2024 as originally reported.

 

[Machrider]

There's a difference between marketing a single game and marketing their main money making hardware for the next 6-8 years. If Nintendo somehow botches the marketing of the new 2D Mario and it under performs, it's more a disappointment that it "only" sold 5-10 million units as opposed to 15-20 million. If Nintendo botched the marketing for the successor, it could really put them in dire straights.

I'm not saying Nintendo can't find success with a shorter marketing cycle for new hardware. I just agree with the general vibe of "Nintendo needs to get this right".

I don't think there's much link between how far ahead you unveil something and marketing success though.

The Wii U was announced 1 1/2 years before launch, the Switch was only like 4 full months from launch, the Switch is going to sell like 15x more.

If Switch 2 fails at launch it's largely likely going to be because the hardware has some glaring problems or the software library is poor.

 

[Deleted member 1978]

I also feel like the concerns regarding visibility of third-party releases and announcements also makes very little sense since it is predicated on the unfounded expectation that Nintendo will somehow be insufficient in promoting their third-party support catalog in the Switch 2 product announcement.

There's a difference between marketing a single game and marketing their main money making hardware for the next 6-8 years. If Nintendo somehow botches the marketing of the new 2D Mario and it under performs, it's more a disappointment that it "only" sold 5-10 million units as opposed to 15-20 million. If Nintendo botched the marketing for the successor, it could really put them in dire straights.

I'm not saying Nintendo can't find success with a shorter marketing cycle for new hardware. I just agree with the general vibe of "Nintendo needs to get this right".

The problem with this argument is that salvaging a botched marketing cycle is incredibly difficult to do as improvisation since there's so much planning and coordination already in place for the current marketing plan. As such, an effective rescue plan needs to be also planned in advance, and they would need to be executed ASAP to stem the bleeding. A long period between announcement and launch wouldn't do them any favors here.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Sony and Microsoft are not their only competitors, even if most of the others aren't big enough (in the gaming space) to be a threat except in aggregate.

BotW was technically revealed in the famous panic Nintendo Direct of January 2013. Mario Odyssey was not shown prior to the Switch reveal trailer, but was also not technically announced until the Switch presentation in January, like everything else shown in that trailer that wasn't BotW.

So the idea here is to randomly rush this marketing period so that… Apple or Google don’t somehow rip this off?

A gimmick that not a word has gotten out about so literally no third party must have been informed about (meaning few to no games will utilize it) but will be very meaningful to the Switch 2?

And shrinking the marketing period from a normal 9 months to an unprecedented 3-4 months, sabotaging potential announcements pre launch, would be… very helpful for avoiding cloning?

 

[Machrider]

The only system that I think you could say had sales issues because of a lack of pre-hype build up was maybe the Sega Saturn, but even the Sega Saturn had several bigger issues than just the "drop launch".

$399.99 was a lot of money in 1995 ($722 in today's dollars), and the industry was much younger, like even teenagers still needed their parents to pay for most of their game purchases at that time.

And second to that, Sega had just released the 32X seven months prior (November 1995) and that was also marketed as a 32-bit system, so like the Saturn is also a 32-bit system ... and like people just kinda threw their hands up in frustration.

Third the Saturn launch lineup really wasn't great. No offence to Clockwork Knight fans, but that basically was the standout launch title as Virtua Fighter already had ports on the 32X and even Genesis I think. They didn't even launch with Virtua Fighter 2, VF1 was kinda old hat by 1995. No Sonic game at launch was a big omission.

 

[BassForever]

I don't think there's much link between how far ahead you unveil something and marketing success though.

The Wii U was announced 1 1/2 years before launch, the Switch was only like 4 full months from launch, the Switch is going to sell like 15x more.

If Switch 2 fails at launch it's largely likely going to be because the hardware has some glaring problems or the software library is poor.

Nintendo was talking about the NX long before October 2016.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Sega Saturn is a weird point of comparison because the shadow drop only happened in America (I don't know about PAL)

 

[SirArthur]

The Console comparison is out. Really interesting on the Series S front.

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

This was the logic given to VGC by multiple sources…

Fami is the only place where I’ve seen a sizable amount of its community seriously entertain the possibility of a 2023 reveal & a H1 2024 release, whereas everyone else is assuming H2 2024 as originally reported.

except for the part where when you always bring up the this article you always ignore the more recent article for Eurogamer which is more reliable than VGC who have heard Nintendo wants it to come out ASAP
"though on timing I understand Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible."

Nintendo demoed Switch 2 to developers at Gamescom

In Cologne last month, Nintendo's public Gamescom showfloor booth let you play Pikmin 4 and Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. …

www.eurogamer.net

 

[ILikeFeet]

The Console comparison is out. Really interesting on the Series S front.

I find it interesting that the Series S outputs to 1440p, from 720p.

a hypothetical Drake port would probably be 360p > 720p and 540p > 1080p. maybe some settings lower than low

 

[Machrider]

Nintendo was talking about the NX long before October 2016.

No one in the casual buying audience knew what an NX was or cared. They've even said the only reason they had to announce the NX was because they were announcing smartphone games and they didn't want the media to go crazy and start saying stuff like "Nintendo has abandoned game hardware! Going smartphone only!". So they had to say they were still working on future hardware to prevent the media from running misleading stories, not for marketing reasons. They said nothing about the NX basically after that not even telling us what kind of system it was.

The truth is hardcore industry watchers like us really are maybe 0.5% of the market, and that's probably being generous. For all intents and purposes "Switch" wasn't a thing to most core consumers until October 2016. Regular consumers probably not even until after that.

 

[Gobias-Ind]

The "short marketing cycle vs long marketing cycle" argument is weird considering there's like a 2-3 week difference between the OG Switch reveal to release window and the most optimistic reveal to release window for Switch 2 I'm seeing discussed here.

 

[redmutineer75]

I feel if they were willing to sacrifice Christmas sales, we'd have already seen actual price cuts as a stock cleaner.

That's what the bundles are. An OLED bundle at $350 is effectively selling the console at $290.

 

[CalmMind]

Logic and reason dictate that if this thing is launching in the foreseeable future and H1 is still a viable option, a late February to March announcement and a May release is the cutoff point.

 

[ziggyrivers]

Why are people suggesting that the next Switch will be treated as a mid gen refresh?
• Switch is seven years old
• A successor in this part of the life cycle is expected
• A midgen refresh already came
• Drake is too powerful to just be a midgen refresh

 

[SirArthur]

I find it interesting that the Series S outputs to 1440p, from 720p.

a hypothetical Drake port would probably be 360p > 720p and 540p > 1080p. maybe some settings lower than low

Yeah that seems reasonable. Fingers cross it gets a solid 30 lol

 

[SoldierDelta]

Why are people suggesting that the next Switch will be treated as a mid gen refresh?
• Switch is seven years old
• A successor in this part of the life cycle is expected
• A midgen refresh already came
• Drake is too powerful to just be a midgen refresh

Worth pointing out that we were mainly discussing it as a hypothetical, I wasn't seriously discussing it as something that would happen.

It's fun to discuss about things like this, namely because it's interesting to think about.

 

[CalmMind]

This was the logic given to VGC by multiple sources…

Fami is the only place where I’ve seen a sizable amount of its community seriously entertain the possibility of a 2023 reveal & a H1 2024 release, whereas everyone else is assuming H2 2024 as originally reported.

I could see that being the case if we were in a similar position as most were in 2020 but we're not. There is an overabundance of resources. And prices for those resources have never been lower. The first half makes a lot more sense financially for Nintendo overall.

 

[redmutineer75]

Hot take: I hope the Switch 2 doesn't have achievements. Games like Mario Odyssey and TotK are built around giving the player a foundation to make their own fun, and an achievement system would harm that. Besides, if developers want an achievement system, they can always just put it in the game itself (e.g. Enter the Gungeon)

 

[SoldierDelta]

Hot take: I hope the Switch 2 doesn't have achievements. Games like Mario Odyssey and TotK are built around giving the player a foundation to make their own fun, and an achievement system would harm that. Besides, if developers want an achievement system, they can always just put it in the game itself (e.g. Enter the Gungeon)

A hot take that I don't take issue with.
I feel like achievements would be cool to have, but aren't a hard and fast requirement. Hell, I don't really care about getting 100%s that often outside of games that offer active rewards for doing so (ala The Binding of Isaac Repentance).

 

[MissingNo.]

Hot take: I hope the Switch 2 doesn't have achievements. Games like Mario Odyssey and TotK are built around giving the player a foundation to make their own fun, and an achievement system would harm that. Besides, if developers want an achievement system, they can always just put it in the game itself (e.g. Enter the Gungeon)

Yeah, I'd much rather they implement a solid activity log than system-wide achievements.

 

[CrossroadsCap]

The evidence is that we're five months from March with nothing announced (the shortest timeframe ever is 6 months) and Nintendo has already filled March with a semi-major release that clearly is not a Switch 2 launch title (Princess Peach Showtime)

No system since the Game Boy has launched in Q2 as all game systems aim for Fall releases.

Appreciate the response ItWasMeantToBe19. I think we're talking past each other or something was lost in translation, so let me try and clarify. I was referring to Nintendo's fiscal Q2/Q3 '25, so the back half of the calendar year '24. In other words, my contention is all of the evidence today suggests the Switch 2 will launch in the first half of the next calendar year, so 1H '24 (i.e., March, April, or May).

Point being, the disconfirmatory evidence I'm looking for has to do with why people think it's coming in 2H of '24. Make sense?

With respect to your specific points, I'd note we are 5-7 months away given the clarification provided above, which fits squarely into Nintendo's historical MO with respect to its launch windows. Also not sure why Nintendo's announced software pipeline is indicative of anything here as I'd argue that the known game release schedule into next year reinforces rather than contradicts my premise. It's basically all tier 2 filler consisting of remakes and remasters, so exactly the types of announced games you would expect immediately prior to a new hardware reveal.

I guess I hear you with Princess Peach, but this is very clearly a game that is geared to younger cohorts, primarily females, that has no need for Switch 2 horsepower and is merely a reflection of Nintendo's newfound dedication to a program of continuous software creation at all points of the iterative hardware "cycle". I guess I'm not exactly sure what your implying about the release or why you think it means the Switch 2 launch is coming in the back half of next year.

As far as no system since the Game Boy releasing in Q2, see the above but again, not following. After all, clearly the Switch platform itself was revealed/launched along the exact same timeline I'm suggesting we'll see this time around, no?

 

[OniLgnd]

Hot take: I hope the Switch 2 doesn't have achievements. Games like Mario Odyssey and TotK are built around giving the player a foundation to make their own fun, and an achievement system would harm that. Besides, if developers want an achievement system, they can always just put it in the game itself (e.g. Enter the Gungeon)

I will never understand this position. If you don't like trophies, or whatever they call them, you can literally just ignore them. It is that simple. Games like ToTK and Odyssey wouldn't change at all if they had trophies, and how you play them wouldn't have to change at all.

 

[Soralink91]

Appreciate the response ItWasMeantToBe19. I think we're talking past each other or something was lost in translation, so let me try and clarify. I was referring to Nintendo's fiscal Q2/Q3 '25, so the back half of the calendar year '24. In other words, my contention is all of the evidence today suggests the Switch 2 will launch in the first half of the next calendar year, so 1H '24 (i.e., March, April, or May).

Point being, the disconfirmatory evidence I'm looking for has to do with why people think it's coming in 2H of '24. Make sense?

With respect to your specific points, I'd note we are 5-7 months away given the clarification provided above, which fits squarely into Nintendo's historical MO with respect to its launch windows. Also not sure why Nintendo's announced software pipeline is indicative of anything here as I'd argue that the known game release schedule into next year reinforces rather than contradicts my premise. It's basically all tier 2 filler consisting of remakes and remasters, so exactly the types of announced games you would expect immediately prior to a new hardware reveal.

I guess I hear you with Princess Peach, but this is very clearly a game that is geared to younger cohorts, primarily females, that has no need for Switch 2 horsepower and is merely a reflection of Nintendo's newfound dedication to a program of continuous software creation at all points of the iterative hardware "cycle". I guess I'm not exactly sure what your implying about the release or why you think it means the Switch 2 launch is coming in the back half of next year.

As far as no system since the Game Boy releasing in Q2, see the above but again, not following. After all, clearly the Switch platform itself was revealed/launched along the exact same timeline I'm suggesting we'll see this time around, no?

I like your train of thought but when has Nintendo ever done a 5-7 month reveal to launch for new generation? Switch(NX) was announced way before October 2016 and we knew for a long time it was coming March 2017. All of Nintendo's other console launches had closer to a year or longer. Unless you were talking about software launches which have tended to be shorter for most games?

 

[Machrider]

I like your train of thought but when has Nintendo ever done a 5-7 month reveal to launch for new generation? Switch was announced way before October 2016 and we knew for a long time it was coming March 2017. All of Nintendo's other console launches had closer to a year or longer. Unless you were talking about software launches which have tended to be shorter for most games?

Switch was for all intents and purposes a 4 month marketing lead time (last week of October, Nov + Dec + Jan + Feb, basically 4 months + 1 week).

Nintendo has even said they didn't announce "NX" for any marketing reason, it was only done to prevent shareholders from thinking Nintendo was leaving the hardware business in light of the Nintendo making smartphone games announcement.

They gave basically zero information on the NX after that, that's not a marketing campaign at all.

Saying Nintendo was hyping NX/Switch a year+ before launch is completely misleading and essentially false.

 

[Soralink91]

Switch was for all intents and purposes a 4 month lead time.

Nintendo has even said they didn't announce "NX" for any marketing reason, it was only done to prevent shareholders from thinking Nintendo was leaving the hardware business in light of the Nintendo making smartphone games announcement.

They gave basically zero information on the NX after that, that's not a marketing campaign at all.

Knowing when it was releasing was information. For example If Nintendo announced tomorrow that next gen code name NG was releasing in June 2024 the entire conversation right now would be different.

 

[Pokemaniac]

So the idea here is to randomly rush this marketing period so that… Apple or Google don’t somehow rip this off?

A gimmick that not a word has gotten out about so literally no third party must have been informed about (meaning few to no games will utilize it) but will be very meaningful to the Switch 2?

And shrinking the marketing period from a normal 9 months to an unprecedented 3-4 months, sabotaging potential announcements pre launch, would be… very helpful for avoiding cloning?

Again, you're not thinking broad enough with the competitors.

Nintendo has a long history of hiding major hardware features even from most third party developers before they're publicly revealed, they'll be fine.

Also, this is pretty precedented. The Switch was not meaningfully marketed until October 2016.

 

[SoldierDelta]

I like your train of thought but when has Nintendo ever done a 5-7 month reveal to launch for new generation? Switch(NX) was announced way before October 2016 and we knew for a long time it was coming March 2017. All of Nintendo's other console launches had closer to a year or longer. Unless you were talking about software launches which have tended to be shorter for most games?

This might be a matter of opinion and different people will have views that differ but... the Switch did technically have a 6 month reveal-to-release period. Sure the NX name was dropped, but we didn't actually know about the console's gimmick, final name, major titles, marketing, audience, the works until the device was fully revealed in October 2016.

I'm not going to discredit your view because, yes, Nintendo acknowledged and gave a codename for a system far in advance, but I wouldn't call that a proper reveal in the same way that other systems got reveals in the past.

 

[lemonfresh]

whats the point of marketing it for a few months only, what positives does it give Nintendo?

 

[Deleted member 1978]

whats the point of marketing it for a few months only, what positives does it give Nintendo?

Warehouse storage is not free, and units that are waiting in storage are units that are not being sold. There is a financial incentive to have a short announcement cycle, and time is a valuable and finite resource.

 

[Soralink91]

This might be a matter of opinion and different people will have views that differ but... the Switch did technically have a 6 month reveal-to-release period. Sure the NX name was dropped, but we didn't actually know about the console's gimmick, final name, major titles, marketing, audience, the works until the device was fully revealed in October 2016.

I'm not going to discredit your view because, yes, Nintendo acknowledged and gave a codename for a system far in advance, but I wouldn't call that a proper reveal in the same way that other systems got reveals in the past.

I think we focus to much on the Switch/NX cycle which was a weird one on a lot of fronts. Coming off the Wii u failure and Nintendo's announcement into mobile games. I think its better to look at other hardware launches from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Almost universally we are looking at a about a one year lead time. Now Nintendo has new management and this will be their first hardware launch. Modern Nintendo seems to hold things even closer to it's chest than ever before, so I'm definitely open for a much tighter marketing cycle this time around.

 

[CrossroadsCap]

This was the logic given to VGC by multiple sources…

Fami is the only place where I’ve seen a sizable amount of its community seriously entertain the possibility of a 2023 reveal & a H1 2024 release, whereas everyone else is assuming H2 2024 as originally reported.

Thanks Neoxon. I'm familiar with the VGC articles. In fact, that's kind of what I was getting at when I pointed out the complete lack of concrete evidence for the claim outside of baseless speculation from "sources" that contradict what is known in so many ways I'm left wondering why anyone would place so much weight on this in the first place.

Appreciate the assist!

AAOI

 

[qwerp]

except for the part where when you always bring up the this article you always ignore the more recent article for Eurogamer which is more reliable than VGC who have heard Nintendo wants it to come out ASAP
"though on timing I understand Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible."

As has been said before, "launch the system sooner if possible" does not automatically mean a H1 launch, as it could also mean "A September launch instead of November".

 

[carbvan]

whats the point of marketing it for a few months only, what positives does it give Nintendo?

What's the point of marketing it for a long time, either? The point of marketing is to get the word out about something. In the past when the internet wasn't as prevalent, long marketing cycles for a new system was necessary. TV commercials, magazines, etc. are much slower than the modern internet. Not to mention consoles can just tell users that the new ones is just around the corner, getting the word out isn't a problem anymore. Personally I think that all of the big 3 could get away with pretty short marketing times, it's just they've all done long marketing cycles in the past and it's safer to not take risks when you don't need to.

 

[Neoxon]

except for the part where when you always bring up the this article you always ignore the more recent article for Eurogamer which is more reliable than VGC who have heard Nintendo wants it to come out ASAP
"though on timing I understand Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible."

Nintendo demoed Switch 2 to developers at Gamescom

In Cologne last month, Nintendo's public Gamescom showfloor booth let you play Pikmin 4 and Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. …

www.eurogamer.net

The issue is that their wording of vague enough where it can mean either “Earlier than H2 2024” or “Earlier in H2 2024”. And considering that we’re approaching November with no reveal, the latter is looking more likely.

Nintendo has no reason to rush the marketing cycle, especially when they have a decent amount of games planned for the first half of next year (both revealed & rumored) to satiate Switch 1 owners in the meantime. And since the Switch 1 was a mega-hit, Nintendo also doesn’t need to launch the successor in March like they did last time.

What's the point of marketing it for a long time, either? The point of marketing is to get the word out about something. In the past when the internet wasn't as prevalent, long marketing cycles for a new system was necessary. TV commercials, magazines, etc. are much slower than the modern internet. Not to mention consoles can just tell users that the new ones is just around the corner, getting the word out isn't a problem anymore. Personally I think that all of the big 3 could get away with pretty short marketing times, it's just they've all done long marketing cycles in the past and it's safer to not take risks when you don't need to.

You still need at least 5 or so months to promote the system & its games to the masses. Even now, a quick marketing cycle is too risky for a new console.

 

[darthdiablo]

whats the point of marketing it for a few months only, what positives does it give Nintendo?

That was a topic that was discussed kind of quite extensively in the last page or two (and I'm catching up on that topic myself right now).

I think the takeaway (based on reading both sides of the discussion) is Nintendo can do both long and short cycle marketing, Nintendo is good at both. And Nintendo would not be beholden (limiting self) to either long or short cycle.

Long or short cycle marketing, I'm sure Nintendo have their own reasons.

 

[Kenka]

The Console comparison is out. Really interesting on the Series S front.

And sadly, it reaffirms what we have been dreading (ot at least I). Despite CPU-parity, the game runs at half framerate on the console with the smaller GPU.

This sucks.

 

[Machrider]

Knowing when it was releasing was information. For example If Nintendo announced tomorrow that next gen code name NG was releasing in June 2024 the entire conversation right now would be different.

It would be different on a message board but to the general public I don't think it means diddly squat. That's not marketing. Marketing is actual product information where a person can decided whether they want your product or not and get excited about it or not.

McDonalds saying to their shareholders they're launching a new hamburger in fiscal year 2025 isn't marketing, lol. Maybe it's big news on a McDonalds fan forum, I dunno, but that's not really marketing.

The Switch had for all practical intents and purposes a marketing campaign of approximately 4 months + 10 days give or take before launch.

 

[Strollin Stu]

While I'm not sold on it being announced this year (even with the new information, I remain a cynic!), I don't think a 5 or 6-month period between announcement and release is unfeasible whatsoever, especially if they aren't targeting a holiday release.

If the console releases later in the year, Nintendo has all of their Switch 2 stock being sold to both their avid core audience (aka people who browse Nintendo-based internet forums and have likely purchased dozens, if not hundreds of Switch games) and their casual audience (aka little Timmy who saw Mario and Pikachu on the TV and is asking his mom if he can please please please please get the new Nintendo for Christmas) at once. This is an easy way to get stock issues, because both little Timmy and NintendoFan1983 are going to want the Switch 2 at the exact same time.

However, if they release it earlier in the year, they can split up these aforementioned audiences. Assuming a November announcement and an H1 release, those initial sales within the first few months will predominantly be their core audience who don't really need the extra marketing to be convinced on buying the hardware. But once the holidays roll around, the console will have had almost an entire year to marinate in the limelight. Not only will Nintendo not have to worry about their early adaptors buying out all of their holiday stock, but they'll be able to go into their holiday season with a strong first year of titles, due to the system being a few months old at that point. I'd assume this method would be pretty nice in Nintendo's mind, given that it is quite literally exactly what they did with the Switch itself and it worked out great for them.

Not saying that it'll definitely happen, because if the console isn't ready until the holidays then it isn't ready until the holidays. But given what we know, I don't see any reason as to why it couldn't happen, especially when they did just that same six month turnaround with the Switch, especially if manufacturing is going to be happening soon.

 

[Deleted member 887]

I will never understand this position. If you don't like trophies, or whatever they call them, you can literally just ignore them. It is that simple

Of course it isn't. Cheevos are drip fed dopamine flashy-flashy machines, and gamers are highly vulnerable to that particular drug. Especially when notifications zip past you every time you play for a global alert logging your Official Game Completion Rate, and posting it on the Interwebs.

I am sick. I am an addict. I cannot resist the siren song of these damn things. It's like putting snacks in my house and saying you can literally just not eat them. Well, maybe you can, but I, weak and a sinner, cannot.

Put them in all the games you want, I'm all for it. Just like the entire box of cookies I literally just ate, I will choose to simply not buy them all the time. But I beg of you, keep them out of the platform core. I (genuinely) don't know what Platinum Coins are, and for all that is holy, don't tell me. My nieces depend on me financially.

 

[Saturnman789]

this may or may not be relevant regarding the release of the new console
could just be twich being weird, but figured it was worth bringing up

 

[carbvan]

this may or may not be relevant regarding the release of the new console

Unless the Wii U and 3DS versions of apps were discontinued near the reveal of a console, this doesn't mean much.

Edit: Just looked it up, Wii U Youtube and Netflix were discontinued well past 2017, and 3DS Youtube was discontinued in 2019. Twitch being discontinued probably means nothing.

 

[qwerp]

this may or may not be relevant regarding the release of the new console

I forgot there even was a Twitch app for Switch

 

[Starbreaker]

I haven't cared for achievements or trophies since the xbox360/ps3 days, just let the dev do them bespoke on a game to game basis. It's not like we unlock characters or weapons or special stages or outfits anymore since they're all behind a dlc paywall anyway.