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Nintendo takes a gamble with record-setting Switch production plans
The Nintendo Switch has been an unqualified success so far, with Nintendo recently promising increased holiday season production to meet demand and expectations of over 16 million total sales by the end of March 2018. Reporting now suggests the company is expecting that sales pace to increase markedly in the coming year, though, and another associated production increase would come with both a fair amount of potential and risk for the company.
The production news comes from The Wall Street Journal, which cites "people with direct knowledge of the matter" in reporting that Nintendo plans to make 25 to 30 million Switch units in the coming fiscal year (which starts in April 2018). That's a major increase from the 13 million produced for the current fiscal year, which itself was a sizable increase from the company's initial plans to make just 8 million units for the console's first full year on shelves. WSJ's sources say those production numbers could go up even higher if coming holiday season sales are strong.
Nintendo exec: Failed Wii U is responsible for Switch's success
The success of the company's latest gaming console, the Nintendo Switch, is the result of lessons taken from the failed Wii U, according to Reggie Fils-Aimé, the president of Nintendo America.
[...] The console also didn't have a consistent flow of new games supporting the system. "We've addressed that with the Nintendo Switch -- having a steady pace of new launches is critical," he said. The Switch includes games like "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," "Super Mario Odyssey" and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe."
Another issue with the Wii U was that it didn't have "strong support" from Nintendo's third-party partners, Fils-Aimé said. "Whether it's the big companies like Electronic Arts, or whether it's the smaller independent developer, we need those companies to create content to support us. We have that now with Nintendo Switch," he said.
Previously: Will Third-Party Developers Support Nintendo's Switch?
Nintendo Switch Available on March 3rd for $299
Nintendo Switch Stolen by Distributor's Employees Ahead of Launch, Details Leaked
The Ghost in Nintendo's Switch - Game Unlocks on the Date of Satoru Iwata's Death
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday November 12 2017, @06:00PM (7 children)
How about something original for a fucking change?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 12 2017, @06:18PM (2 children)
Yes but, coincidentally these are the only games that I would want on that console. This isn't like the movies, if the sequels sell why do they need something else?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 12 2017, @06:24PM (1 child)
What about golden eye?
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday November 13 2017, @01:42PM
They'd need to drag Rare out of Microsoft's clutches first.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 12 2017, @07:02PM
Breath of the Wild actually plays a lot different from other Zelda games. But because it has the name "Zelda" you figure it's the same as the rest?
I haven't played Odyssey to comment, although I've found most mario games actually do original stuff each time with respect to powerups, level design, etc.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a GotY version of Mario Kart 8 that was on a console nearly nobody owned. It's new enough. :p
Truth be told, I can see where you're coming from. I said the same things about Halo on the Xbox. I say the same about Call of Duty ALL the time. I say the same thing about Assassins Creed. I say the same thing about Gears of War. I say the same thing about every explansion of World of Warcraft. I say the same things about Marvel Vs Capcom. I say the same things about Street Fighter for that matter. And the list goes on and on.
In the end, if you don't like a particular series, don't bother playing them.
With respect to the Switch, there are a lot of games on there already, and a ton more due to hit next year or so since most developers were caught with their pants down about the popularity of the machine. Square Enix for instance has essentially come out and declared it will be putting in the resources to develop on the Switch. So we know you'll get some high level rpgs on the system at the very least. For the next while though you'll have to pick and choose from 1st party titles, low level indie titles that are digital only, and remakes of games that are already out. As I said, devs were caught with their pants down and are now scrambling to release games on it. But that's going to take a little while to really flourish.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Mykl on Monday November 13 2017, @02:23AM
According to the Nintendo website, there's already a fair bit available - about 235 released items [nintendo.com]. Of course this includes DLC and multiple versions of some titles (e.g. 'premium edition'), so the actual number of titles is probably closer to 100 or so.
In terms of originality, I thought Snipperclips looked pretty great, particularly for a launch title.
There's an Indie section [nintendo.com] if you want to look further for original stuff.
Disclosure: I will be buying a switch for Mario and Zelda. Everything else is just a bonus
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @08:51AM
Like Wii Sports and all the other "out of the couch" games? That's where they are coming from, so going back to normal Nintendo games is kinda a change. Those "something original" games were fun for about two days - they sold a lot of console, but many of them ended up getting sold again once those games stopped being fun.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @09:56PM
Original, like 90% of the me-too first-person shooters? There's no difference between Call of Duty, Halo, etc. etc. Just different software skins.
(Score: 4, Informative) by crafoo on Monday November 13 2017, @01:10AM (1 child)
Well if we are lucky EA won't be around too much longer. From what I hear, the latest round of games includes quite a few aspects of gambling - randomized rewards for real money. Season Passes, DLC, real-money payments for "cheat codes", obnoxious DRM, network checks, never-to-be-fixed bugs that break the game if you go offline mode, day 1 patches that take the game from nearly unplayable to just the normally buggy but useable.
The only good thing I can say about Nintendo is that they at least release a mostly useable product. Poor support from the 3rd parties isn't really a bad thing. Most of it is trash. The rest you can play on PC.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday November 13 2017, @04:14PM
It depends on how obscenely rich they become off the current loot box / gambling cycle. I mean Ultima Online is still around and they just have a "normal" subscription based service. At one time, I thought that was crazy to pay a monthly fee to play a game. At least they're up front about the whole, we need to make x amount of money off you each month. Which is used to support servers and / or tweak / update the game. They have incentive to make a "good game" to attract more players. Where as the freemium model is draw them in with free, then fleece them for all they're worth. Then there's the much worse, let's cash in on our name / purchase our game (Certain unnamed Franchises), and Fleece them for all they're worth. The monetary incentive should be based on making a great game. Not making a game that is addicting and nudges your player base into purchasing obscene amounts of in-game currency / loot boxes / etc. Skins arguably are "ok" to do that with, but I would say Only for a freemium model. Otherwise, you should be giving those skins to your customer base, if they bought your game or at least make them reasonably priced.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @06:01AM
Penny Arcade said it best ages ago. There'll be lots of new retreads of old Nintendo titles.
Frankly, I'm way more excited for the news that KORG Gadget will be ported to the Switch. Games are entirely secondary on that ecosystem, to me.
(Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Monday November 13 2017, @08:02AM (4 children)
My family has a Wii U after having had so much fun with the original Wii. But the kids were 7 & 9 and had 0 interest in the social aspects of the Wii U universe (or whatever marketing name it was given). That meant every time you started the console you had to log in to get your game saves. It sites idle now even though it has some really great games.
Then we got an Xbox One(really wish I had been included in making that decision). Now it makes the kids login to just use a second player! But they put up with it because they are a bit older and it plays minecraft.
For both of them, its a games machine, I want to play games. I do want to link my account to FaceBook and any other dodgy social system.
Am I the only one that wants this?
Oh and the wife is threatening to get a Switch for Xmas, between them ...
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Monday November 13 2017, @08:34AM (2 children)
You do?
I don't think Wii U's profile system is in the way much. You can link your profile to a Nintendo Network ID, but it's mostly optional (I think Super Mario Maker allows you to upload and use other ppl's levels). And you don't have to type a password, so once it's set up, you can just click and have your own save games ready for you.
Maybe it's different for the games you have.
The Wii U is our first and only console, and will probably stay this way for the foreseeable future. PC games and the Wii U cover our gaming needs.
(Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Monday November 13 2017, @02:31PM (1 child)
drat! why could it not have auto corrected :)
The problem with the Wii U games is that they do not offer to save n number of saved games meaning different users have to have their own account hense the having to login each time. In the past all games used to offer a minimum of 4 slots any one could play and anyone could save into any slot. Sure they could overwrite an existing save but I prefer that. PC game used to offer unlimited slots.
But Nintendo and Microsoft (and I presume Sony) want you to login so you can play that game on another console. Not my use case.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday November 13 2017, @04:22PM
Admittedly -> PS3, but most games had multiple saves available. I haven't had a chance to play with PS4. Last console we got was a Wii, we played that thing quite a bit. Still fire it up on occasion, but I've mostly transitioned to Steam / GoG. Mostly due to GoG being awesome, Steam having sales, and now especially 'cause of Humble Bundle. Though, I've seen the occasional console game bundle on Humble Bundle.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @06:31PM
I agree, if you have a Wii U there are some great games for it. The main problem is that most of the good Wii U games are also available on other consoles, and those other consoles each have way more good games than Wii U does.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by linkdude64 on Monday November 13 2017, @04:56PM
Not stepping on the unsuccessful efforts of the Wii U's development teams to appear that much taller in the eyes of investors and business rivals at large, but instead saying that their contributions were valuable, is a great thing to see. EA, Activision, M$, any of the rest, would have pulled out the rug from underneath their development partners at the drop of a hat. RIP all victims of the AAA gaming conglomerates.