Veilguard was…okay. But coming out after Baldur’s Gate 3, the series that DA was inspired by, really showed the massive gap in storytelling and character quality. I pirated it and was glad I did, as it was NOT worth anything close to $70.
“Looks like I have time to play with you!”
“Uhh, shake it, baby!”
That’s true, but that alone doesn’t account for how just how bad it did. The idea that Nintendo consoles are always bought up by lots of people no matter what is completely untrue. One big advantage they’ve always had that they no longer do is affordability compared to the competition. What will determine whether it’s a success will ultimately be how many good exclusive games they can pump out, and their track record has been awful since the launch of the Switch. A very large chunk were Wii U ports, which worked because nobody had one, but they’re already heavily shilling Switch 1 upsells. Diehards will of course snatch them up, but with 150 million Switches out there I question how interested the masses will be in them. If Nintendo seriously ups their game and consistently puts out new good games, I imagine people will stomach the prices. But are they even capable of that any more?
It really isn’t. Nintendo consoles always sell out at launch. It’s how they’re doing six months or so later that actually matters.
An intentional boycott, no. But we don’t know how a console will do by its launch. The Wii U and 3DS sold out at launch too after having very successful predecessors. It wouldn’t be people intentionally boycotting that would humble Nintendo, but the masses just deciding it’s not worth their money for them or their kids. We’ll see what they do.
And the masses have been conditioned to accept the corporate anti-consumer “you will own nothing and you will like it” MO.
Not yet. The 3DS and Wii U sold out at launch, too, but after the diehards all got them, nobody else wanted them. The 3DS recovered after they dropped the price by $80 6 months after launch, but the Wii U never did. Maybe that won’t happen this time and we truly are fucked, but time will tell. Historically, Nintendo fucks up after they have a successful console and get cocky with the next one.
I can only speak for the US market, but there’s no precedent for Nintendo having a lower-powered console priced similarly to the competition. They’re asking people to pay close to the same price for a console that’s significantly weaker. Maybe portability is so popular that people will go for it. We’ll see how it does after the diehards all get theirs and the normies decide whether or not to buy.
Their demographic used to include families with multiple systems due to the hardware being cheaper than the competition. They’ve never sold a basic console for nearly as much as the Switch 2, nor have they charged $70 and $80 per game as a standard. Maybe it will go well for them, we’ll see, but there’s no precedent for the way Nintendo’s pricing things now.
They’re sure pricing themselves to be in the “core” gaming space now.
Cyberpunk 2077 - a 5 year old game which most people have played and is still better on PC or PS5/Xbox; why is that a compelling launch title?
Because it’s portable! Oh, wait, it’s been playable portably for years on the Steam Deck and other PC handhelds.
I’m a Nintendo fan (of their games, not their business practices), have owned all of their consoles (even a Virtual Boy) and I don’t plan to go anywhere near a Switch 2 unless Nintendo gets humbled again. They’re at “Sony at PS3 launch” and “Microsoft at Xbox One launch” levels of arrogance currently (not to mention “Nintendo at 3DS launch”). The PS3 eventually came down to a reasonable price, but the 360 was my first and last Microsoft console.
cute and fun image yet they’re the most cut throat, “you’ll own nothing and like it” company
Them and Disney.
I know the Switch 2 is already doing stuff like Cyberpunk 2077
It’s 4 1/2 years old and already runs on other handhelds. Not really an impressive feat.
they already struggle to push out big budget tentpole franchises as is illustrated by Mario Kart World being the only big release title.
Yeah, I read that they only released something like 22 original titles in the 8 years the Switch has been around. That’s not counting any ports, remasters, and the like, which make up a hefty chunk of their Switch releases. They got away with it before because so few people had a Wii U, but they need to up their game to make the Switch 2 appealing to the masses, especially with the high price tag. It’s not a promising start, with announced titles being Donkey Kong Bananza (which looks great) and a whole bunch of Switch 1 upsells, including Metroid Prime 4, which will be released for both consoles. Feels like they’re trying to cannibalize their Switch 1 releases the way they did their Wii U ones, but 150 million Switches were sold. People already played these games if they were interested in them.
The difference is that nobody’s releasing games specifically made for the Deck. Some are including optimizations to make their games run decently well on it, but it’s not a AAA machine. I bought one knowing this full well and am satisfied playing less demanding games on it, but it’s not going to be playing new demanding games, unlike with dedicated consoles.
Does it count if you barely watched/played it?
$80? No problem! 🏴☠️