Why would they name the system after how the joy cons are attached?
I mean, the entire Switch branding is built around the Joy-Con click. I can argue for why you'd want to do this, but let me go on what seems like a tangent first.
But fundamentally we don't know what Nintendo's pitch for the generation is, and Nintendo is very good at building the whole product marketing around a clear pitch. To be clear I'm not talking about the pitch for the
hardware. Nintendo doesn't sell hardware. They sell experiences, and the hardware is only part of it.
"Switch" told you right in the name what the core idea of the hardware is. But the "click" sound and the Joy-Con clicking in branding connects the most
delightfully tactile part of the hardware to the
experience of Switching. That click isn't just an iconic part of the hardware, it is the sound of hardware switching between modes.
The other part of the pitch was big, full fat, meaty, core gamer experiences. Not just
on the go but
from Nintendo. The name didn't just say "this hardware Switches" but also said "We've been making these couch co-op and casual experiences for a while, but this is a Switch". And also "have you gone to Microsoft and Sony for these kinds of games? Well, consider Switching."
The folks who think that Switch 2 is a terrible, sterile name (most loudly, but certainly not exclusively
@Raccoon) and the folks who think it is the only name or the company will sink - I would just say that I think both are missing what Nintendo can and likely will do. Nintendo will almost certainly
not just pitch this as a sequel to Switch, even if that's what the hardware is,
because that doesn't mean Nintendo games will be sequels to their Switch versions. And Nintendo can pick Switch 2 and have that name reflect so much more than "joyless upgrade".
Let me pitch you a trailer for Nintendo's next hardware:
OPEN ON: woman, 30s, sitting on her couch, holding a video game controller in her hand
REVERSE SHOT: the television screen. MARIO is driving go-cart... behind him BOWSER shoots a cannon, the track destroys underneath Mario, reconfiguring the race permanently. This is our first shot of Mario Kart X.
SHOT ON: The door, enter a guy, boyfriend, home from work. He sits beside her.
SHOT ON: The controller, in her hand. She SPLITS IT IN HALF, the two Joy-Cons splitting seamlessly and effortlessly. She hands one half to the boyfriend.
SHOT ON: The game becomes split screen in an instant, and without restarting the game, the boyfriend is controlling Bowser.
LOGO: The Switch's iconic JoyCon logo splits in half and forms a roman numeral 2. Totally rad music plays
CUT TO: Teenager in an outdoor mall-like location. She's playing on an all metal gaming handheld. She looks up. Another teen with a skateboarder holds up her handheld. The first teenager glances down at her screen. It says "SKATEBOARDER WANTS TO PLAY!" Teen taps the screen "Share Splatoon 4"
SHOT ON: the two teenagers playing Splatoon 4 over local wifi connection. The shot pulls out as their two bodies align with the logo
LOGO: Switch II
CUT TO: Man playing sports game in beanbag chair. Friend enters shot from behind, and sits down beside him. Friend pulls out a Switch II controller.
REVERSE SHOT: The large screen television. We see Beanbag guy tap button on his controller. The TV says "Sign in as Beanbag?" on the left hand side. Friend taps his controller, a second window slides in on the right. "Sign in as BestFriend?" We see their teams load for Mario Mega Sluggers load in from the cloud automatically.
SIZZLE REEL: Woman on train, playing Mario Universe in single player. Man on couch playing Deathloop in an online match. Cut to woman losing that same match, but grinning, while she plays in handheld from a campground.
CUT TO: back to the couch and Mario Kart. Boyfriend has fallen asleep on the couch. Woman takes the half controller from him, and immediately locks it magnetically in place to the other half, and leans back to continue playing Mario Kart.
LOGO: Switch II
Now, I'm not saying
any part of this is what we'll get or what Nintendo wants. But I think you can see how a wishlist of random features: Cartless mutliplayer from the DS, magnetic Joy-Cons, a more modern account system - can be connected with game design - drop in multiplayer - to create a cohesive system that emphasizes a single clear idea. "Make sharing your game as easy as sharing your chocolate bar."
And you can see how the name "Switch 2" becomes slightly cheeky, playful, saying two things at once. "Yes, it's more Switch, but also, it's a new kind of Switching. Switching from single player to multiplayer, seamlessly." And you can see how the name (written
Switch II) and the logo (Two joy cons, splitting into pairs) and the branding (the sound of the 2-Cons snapping apart, the logo splitting into two parts) all connects the
physical feel of the console to
the gameplay experience that Nintendo wants to deliver.
Which comes back to Switch Attach. Nintendo probably doesn't want to name their console
just after the Joy-Con rail. But if they could find a way to talk about the games they wanna make, and the OS features they've added by referencing the rail, then I think they might. "Attach" can mean a lot of things, after all
