Hacker News Reader

Comment by kemayo | Hacker News Reader

There was a comment in the results call where Furukawa was asked whether it was a whole new console-type or another Switch, and he said "Switch next model is the appropriate way to describe it", so it sounds like they're staying the course on this one.

View on HN

Considering the explosive popularity of the Steam Deck and its doppelgangers, the Switch-esque form factor is clearly doing well right now, so it makes sense to stick to what sells.

Plus the fact that Nintendo's never been shy about iterative console updates: NES > SNES, GB > GBC > GBA, DS > 3DS > New3DS. And arguably Wii > Wii U, and then the Wii U was sort of the missing link between the Wii and the Switch.

Historically they haven't been great at the marketing/positioning around those iterative updates, but maybe this time they've finally learned :P

This is pure speculation, but I'm willing to bet that Iwata wanted the Wii U to be more like the switch, but the board was likely extremely nervous about cannibalizing their portable DS market, so they opted for the Wii U Tablet instead, to disastrous results.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. Certain games on the Wii U even had a "tablet only" mode with a Switch-like experience, although the gamepad couldn't be more than a few yards from the console before losing signal, so it was only useful if someone else wanted to use the TV while you played a game. (You couldn't leave the house or really even the room.)

In the end I'm just glad the Wii U's failure didn't put Nintendo off tablet-style hardware altogether. Turns out that the console market and portable market merged quite nicely :)

I don’t think so personally. The Wii U was extremely cool. The tablet controller was an awesome trick but it was a very non traditional trick that wasn’t going to work with typical games.

NintendoLand, the free game that came with it, was really good. The pitch that I got was effectively “asymmetric local multiplayer with no screen sniping”. Which is conceptually a really interesting idea that was very fun in nintendoland. But… it’s not a vision that supports a successful mainline product.

I saw someone post a chart yesterday showing their profit per year, inflation adjusted.

They've made more profit since the switch launched than they have since they released their first video game in the 70s. Hopefully they get the naming right with this one, unlike the WiiU.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com