INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
I worked Circuit City when the PlayStation 2 launched
For weeks, we were sold out, and there was always a crowd around the blue demo unit in the gaming department
It easy to see why the PlayStation 2 was a hit looking back
It was powerful, inventive and excelled at local gaming
It was the right system for the time.
If Nintendo recent success proves anything, building for the time is more important than making for
the future.
Nintendo is coming off a massive quarter that saw 88% year over year operating profit on the back of the Nintendo Switch
The company has sold nearly 20 million Switch systems since its launch, surpassing the total amount of Wii U systems sold and closing in on
Gamecube tally of 21.7 million units.
The Switch is great
I can''t get over how good it is
Again, like other systems before it, the Switch is the right system for the time
It portable, it small, and it leans heavily on cloud services
It not the most powerful system on the market nor does it pack 4k gaming or VR capabilities
The Switch doesn''t even have YouTube or Netflix
It a game system.
The Switch was a big bet for Nintendo
The company was coming off of the nascent Wii U, which besides Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, was a game system without good games
It seemed Nintendo had lost its edge
The Wii U, in a way, was a trial for the Switch
It brought gaming off the TV and into the hands of gamers — but those gamers had to be in the same room as the Wii U base station
The Wii U didn''t go far enough in all sense of the phrase.
By the time the Switch came out, the looming threat of mobile games seemed to be
A few years earlier, it appeared that the smartphone was going to take over and eat up the casual gaming market
Even Sony got in on the theme, releasing a hybrid smartphone and game system called the Xperia Play
While the smartphone game market is alive and thriving, it never gobbled up the home console market
The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched and gamers settled into the couch
The Switch offers something different and timely.
To state the obvious, the Switch is mobile, and that what needed in today environment
It different from the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and in the best way possible
Like previous Nintendo products, the graphics are below the market average, and the capabilities are less than competitors
The Switch gaming experience, to some, is superior
I take my Switch on long flights
I can''t do that with a PlayStation 4.
Gamers agree
With nearly 20 million units sold since it launched in 2017, the Switch is nearing the sales amount of the Xbox One, which launched in 2013
and has sold between 25 and 30 million units
The PlayStation 4 is the clear winner of this generation of game systems, though, with nearly 80 million units sold — and an argument
could be made that Sony built the Playstation 4 for today gamers too, bypassing all the extras Microsoft included in the Xbox One and
instead focusing solely on games.
Nintendo has done this in the past, too
It launched in 2006 and went on to sell over 100 million units
In 2006 Sony and Microsoft were pushing heavily into HD gaming with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
And for a good reason, too
Consumers were heavily shopping for their first HDTV at the time, and Sony and Microsoft wanted to build a system for the future
Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 went on to long, healthy lives but they never saw the runaway success of the Wii.
The Wii was the must-have
Christmas gift for 2006 and 2007
It was novel more than beautiful
Compared to the graphics of the PS3, the Wii looked childish
But that was part of the appeal
First generation gamers were aging and having families, and the Wii was built for all ages
Anyone could pick up a Wiimote and swing it around to hit the tennis ball
To many outside the core gaming crowd, the Wii was magical
It was the right system at the right time.
The next part seems to be the hardest for Nintendo
Now that the Switch is a success, Nintendo needs to maintain it by building and supporting a robust ecosystem of games
And Nintendo cannot be the source of all the best games
Nintendo must court developers and publishers and keep them engaged in the advantages of the Switch gaming system
If it can do that, the Switch has a chance to be a generational product like the Wii before it.
