Nintendo never seems to learn from their mistakes. While Nintendo is often lauded for launching some of the most incredible titles of our generation, they aren’t exactly recognized for their common sense department being properly staffed. Now after the failed launched of the Wii U, a console which confused consumers and had an abysmal game library, Nintendo decided to cut its losses and replace it with the Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch is a tablet type console with a portable screen and detachable controllers for multiplayer; designed to be a hybrid between a portable and a home video game console. This is all great and good, seeing as Nintendo’s history with handhelds has been nothing short of stellar, but did anyone ask for this, besides Nintendo? The Nintendo Switch is still hampered by its specs with some speculation that it’s only going to be slightly more powerful than a Wii U. It’s also important to consider that the strong third party support Nintendo promised for the Switch might not stick around for the same reasons as the Wii U. Keeping this in mind, here are three major reasons why you should not pre-order the Nintendo Switch.
3. Nintendo’s recent launch history
Let’s cut to the chase and make it clear that both the Wii U and the 3DS launches were abysmal. Terrible naming thematic and consumer confusion caused potentials buyers to think that they were simply expansions or add-ons to pre-existing consoles. While Nintendo finally realized its mistake and named the Switch differently, it’s still easy to be a little bit wary. However, thanks to their awful launches, Nintendo started offering programs and incentives to get people buying the consoles: the 3DS ambassador program and the Wii U’s Mario Kart 8 free game offer. Both of these generated consumer interest and boosted sales for both consoles, but had Nintendo not been pushed into a corner they wouldn’t have been forced to face the music and shift gears. If Nintendo notices a large quantity of pre-orders, it might end up relaxing its guard, and that’s something the company can’t afford to do at the moment. Nintendo needs to push hard if it really wants the Switch to be successful, especially if it intends for this console to be the savior Nintendo wants and needs. Even more so if we consider how the specs fare against the PS4 and Xbox One.
2. The specs aren’t up to par with the next iteration of the PS4 and Xbox One
By now, it’s no secret that both Sony and Microsoft plan to release an upgrade to their current generation of consoles. While this improvement goes a long way in making consoles more similar to computers, it’s just one more step in widening the gap between the Nintendo consoles and theirs. The Nintendo Switch specs have revealed that while it is more powerful than a Wii U, it is still far apart from their company rivals. Many third party developers complained that porting games to the Wii U was a challenge due to its lesser power and different architecture, but some believed this was an excuse to avoid responsibility for poor sales with lesser quality ports. It still stands true that the Wii U is only slightly more powerful than an Xbox 360. This is made even worse by the fact that Nintendo is going back to a cartridge based system for the Switch.
1. The Switch’s cartridges uses 16GB SD card for games
This is one of the biggest examples of how Nintendo refuses to learn from its own history, for the first time in almost two decades, Nintendo is going back to cartridges for both portable and home consoles. During the Nintendo 64 generation, an often cited reason for its lack of games was the restrictions that using this archaic system offered. The Switch’s cartridges guarantee that some of the largest games this generation will not fit into the system unless compressed and that always comes at a price. It’s a given that most fans would never expect a Grand Theft Auto game in a Nintendo home console, but this is the final nail in that coffin. Grand Theft Auto V has 65 GB of data and, while not many games require this amount of space, it’s important to note that many Nintendo fans would like to play it without owning a separate console. As games continue to get larger, the amount of space required will increase, and so will the demand for larger storage. If this is the case, then we’ll have to say goodbye to some major releases, and once again, Nintendo will be left in the dust of third party software. This is without mentioning that Nintendo themselves will never be able to make a game of that type of size and scope. Yet, Nintendo does have a way of surprising people, so perhaps they’ll learn a secret to making games fit and then proceed to withhold them from everyone else.
Nintendo has an uphill battle to face with the Nintendo Switch, and while the hype is surprisingly strong at the moment, how long will it take until it dies down and the fresh car smell dies down? No company is entitled to your money, and pre-ordering games or consoles has led many terrible games into commercial success. If we don’t want this to happen to Nintendo, we need to make them open their eyes towards the fact that simply having Nintendo in the name will not equate to success. Sadly, the best way to do this is with our wallets, even if it hurts them at the beginning. A little tough love never hurt anybody in the road to the success, after all.