Opinion: A Smaller Nintendo Switch launch lineup may be better long term
Since Nintendo’s Switch Presentation last month, a good number of people have been doubting if the games that are coming to the new system at launch are enough.
“How in the world is anyone going to want to buy a Switch when the only ‘good game’ at launch is Zelda?”
These concerns are valid. 100%. However, you know what? I think things are going to be a-okay. I think the Switch is going to be fine, and I think any of you who might be buying a Switch on day one are going to be alright. Hopefully!
So, hear me out. Yeah, it definitely seems weird that there’s only going to be around 10 games on launch day, with 7 of them being ports (and not all of them available physically). It looks bad. Look at the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. They’ve got so many games now, How in the world does the Switch even hold a candle to that?
Firstly, I want you, the reader, to think about how many games you might buy a month. How many games do you buy at once whenever you visit your local EB Games or Big W? Chances are probably not too many, right? When 4 or 5 games I really want come out in the same week, that destroys me. I can’t handle it at all. I spend hours staying awake in the dead of night wondering which one to go for. I can’t afford all of these! When it comes down to it, that’s the thing. For a lot of early adopters of the Switch, they’ll probably buy Zelda. People love Zelda. After buying a $470 system, there’s not going to be much breathing room to grab much else.
Now, I want you to think back to the Wii U’s launch. The Wii U’s launch had a lot of games. In PAL regions, 31 games were on store shelves the day that system hit the market. 31! With that many games, why in the world does the Wii U have a reputation of being this lame console with no games on it? Simple reason. After this massive wave of releases, not too much happened afterwards. There was a drought, almost a whole year of nothing.
None of the other games sold well on day one. They suffered bad. I truly believe this is because there were too many games at launch. There was no breathing room. In the end, this just led to all these third party developers to believe that their games just weren’t meant for the Wii U when that just wasn’t true. People just couldn’t afford many other games, so they’d stick to just a small handful, while the other games were all forgotten and overshadowed.
With that in mind, let’s get back to talking about the Switch’s launch. So, 10 games. That’s Zelda, 1-2-Switch, The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+, Skylanders Imaginators, Super Bomberman R, Just Dance 2017, I Am Setsuna, World of Goo, Little Inferno and Human Resource Machine. That’s not all, though.
Let’s look at this release schedule. After the initial launch, we have Snipperclips, Fast RMX, Has-Been Heroes and Shovel Knight later in the same month, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Constructor in April, Rime and Puyopuyo Tetris in May, Disgaea 5, Snake Pass and Cube Life: Island Survival around the same time, Splatoon 2 in Winter, Fire Emblem Warriors sometime after that, and Super Mario Odyssey in time for the end of year break. On top of those, there’s roughly 40 other games I haven’t mentioned here to avoid making this a ridiculously long and hard to read paragraph. Insane.
I’m feeling really positive about 2017 when it comes to Nintendo. I think it’s going to be a great year. With all these games spread out throughout the year, each and every one is going to get the attention they all deserve. The pessimism and concern is all understandable. I totally get it. However, I don’t think there’s any need for alarm. The Switch is going to be great and 2017 is going to be a good one for Nintendo fans!
I believe the main purpose of this weak (other than Zelda, of course) launch lineup is as they said in their resent presentation to investors, to do what the Wii U failed to do; not having long gaps between game releases.
“Our thinking in arranging the 2017 software lineup is
that it is important to continue to provide new titles
regularly without long gaps. This encourages
consumers to continue actively playing the system,
maintains buzz, and spurs continued sales
momentum for Nintendo Switch.”
-https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/170201_2e.pdf
Despite being 10 (as announced so far), it’s still got more than most other console launches in history.
Launching without a Mario title, even a port on physical media (MK 8 Deluxe) or VirtualConsole (Mario Sunshine GameCube or Suoer Mario 64) is unbelievable. MK 8 Deluxe is already rated for Australia. Having no backwards compatibility (not complaining if it means having a hybrid console) but porting and updating something just for eight week delay is just not right.
Mario is heavily associated with Nintendo and that is what many people I have spoken to first ask me about the Switch. I am buying on the console and Zelda on launch and will just have to wait for MK 8 Deluxe and the rest of the titles I want to play.
I have hopes for the Switch but I will not be buying games just because I want to experience HD Rumble (1-2-Switch) or other system features, even if they are tech demos. The console, in my opionion, should have had some included some game/demo content (eShop and free, doesn’t need to be on a physical card) to show potential of the Joy-Cons.
Launching without Mario is definitely disappointing, I agree. It’s just a situation where if someone really cares about Mario but not so much about Zelda, they have no reason to grab the system right away. Still a better situation than we’ve seen from Nintendo before, with Mario only popping up on the 3DS nearly 8 months after its launch. I’m with you, though! It’s a shame that the Switch isn’t going to appeal to everyone right off the bat.
Hi Skye. I would argue that with Nintendo, you are likely to pay full retail price for a console in the short to medium term (see Wii U recently) and with recent stock shortages (for whatever reasons) that if someone wants to play MK 8 at launch on April 28th, there is little benefit in cost savings or stock availability in waiting until that title is out to get a console. Especially since EB Games “do you want to pick up at launch?” question to pre-order customers (even when money has been paid for a year and/or could be mostly paid off) vs wait until second shipment in April, hopefully, validates this for me. Nintendo’s ciureent plan of drip feeding titles might bring people into shops (because they have to), they might pick up a platform accessory but not everyone buys physical, or in store or gets their release schedule from retail catalogues or Nintendo pamphlets. Most people who visit here know when titles are released (the count down timer and release schedule here is great), so early adopter word of mouth and titles actually released for network multiplayer (share a quick game with someone you know, they consider purchasing a system and the game to play themselves) to me would better serve sales and ongoing promotion.
The Wii didn’t launch with a Mario title unless we include Super Mario Bros. The Wii sold gangbusters. The Gamecube also did not launch with a Mario title and did horribly. The Wii U launched with a 2D Mario title and also sold terribly.
However what the Wii had was Wii Sports (Twilight Princess helped too). A system seller. I think Breath of the Wild fills that role for the Switch. Probably not as well as Wii Sports did (after all Wii Sports was bundled in with a cheaper console) but I think it’s enough to give the Switch a healthy start out the blocks. Bomberman and Just Dance are also proven sellers which will provide support. The wildcard here is 1-2 Switch and it’ll depend on what it’s like as a game.
At the end of the day people don’t buy consoles to experience features by playing tech demos IMO. They buy it to play the games they want to play. Zelda is that game and I think it will sell gangbusters.
I agree about people not buying consoles to play tech demos. From my experience as a launch 3DS player, the built in software and AR cards were fun things to show people and play with while the (continued) excuse for poor software at launch day while we wait for fully fleshed out games to play. A free demo download of a MK 8 track or even a 1-2-Switch mini game, like the Wii U with amiibo did would help.
My point s that tech demos give players a practical idea of how things *could* be used in future titles, which I believe gives more imigaination and discussion on experiences than release a title, wait two months, bring people back into the shops/eShop.
I seriously doubt there are that many Just Dance players that will spend $470 for a console and the game just to play that title. I would love to see some stats of cross over genre Zelda and Just Dance pre-order percentages customers and happy to be corrected. Zelda for sure is a system seller but it has been promoted for years in the Wii U and a is a 30 year franchise. Bomberman is a classic but hasn’t been massively relevant the last several years, in my opinion, and the people I know who are interested in it aren’t going to pay the $90 AUD RRP for it (they might wait for a price drop or import for much less).
Wii U version of Zelda won’t sell that many, mainly because there aren’t actually that many Wii U’s out there. I’d be interested to see the stats too though but I imagine it would be majorly skewed towards the Switch version. But I think it will be the primary driver of sales of the Switch at launch. We can’t underestimate the power games like Let’s Dance have even if they aren’t games that you and I are into but you may be right, I might be overestimating its selling power. With Bomberman, I think the Wii VC and the NES Classic more recently has shown that people LOVE the classics, as much as if not moreso than modern games. Having said that, Bomberman would be a lot better off at that lower price point that 1-2 Switch is at.
It’s a very varied launch lineup and I think that helps it too.
Totally agree with this article. My only complaint so far is Nintendo haven’t stepped up their game to announce more Switch games that are coming through this year. Rumoured Smash Bros would be awesome. What about a port of Pokemon Tournament? I’m still keen to get that but not for the Wii U right now.
I know there is more coming and so far I’m happy with what’s announced – really for us Aussies, I just wish we were getting more physical releases (I am Setsuna and Binding of Isaac I’m looking at you!).
Gotta agree with the article. The consistency of releases will help the Switch grow far better than a stacked launch followed by nothing. Remember when the Wii launched? It had Wii Sports and Zelda right off the bat, Excite Truck in February, Battalion Wars and Metal Slug in March then Mario Strikers came out a few months later, Mario Party the month after that, Super Paper Mario in September and then the big end to the first year with Metroid Prime and Mario Galaxy. The stream in Australia continued until the middle of 2008 with Mario Kart and Smash Bros, which is when the release calendar ran out of steam for a while. But it was a consistent stream supplemented by weekly Virtual Console releases, along with the greatness that was happening on the DS.
Now they have both handheld and home console teams working on games for one system, it should be easier to continue a stream of games for a while. Just looking at the chart above, I already have Zelda on preorder and definitely getting Mario Kart, Splatoon, Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade 2 over the course of the year. That’s not including other stuff that I enjoy which I’ll get into (FIFA, NBA2K) and indie games which will be cheaper (I’ve never owned Minecraft and I’m keen to have a copy).
I’m pretty excited with what the Switch has to offer, and this is coming from someone who bought and loved the Wii and never bought a Wii U because I couldn’t justify it to myself.
I’m excited for the launch of the Switch. Of the 6 physical retail launch games I have 4 preordered. I like what I see on the release schedule, not to mention that these are only the titles that are announced so far, not other ones that are unannounced and maybe still due for release later in the year, or in development. As time passes I’m sure the release schedule will be even more fleshed-out. I’m a Nintendo fan but I can’t say that their strategies with the Wii U Were Ever employed wholeheartedly. I’m glad this time around they seem to be trying a lot harder and all it’s going to take is people having a little optimism and giving them some support in other words buying the system goes a long way towards showing developers that might be on the fence that it’s okay to throw their hat into the ring; and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more come E3.
“breathing room”
Nice article and as an Nintendo fanboy, I am hyped for the switch. But at the same time, I can’t ignore the fact that if the other third party games (anything from mass effect 4 to For Honour etc) came to the switch too, then we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Make no mistake, the wii u 1st year drought was terrible and stunted their growth. E3 has a lot riding on it now. If we don’t see at the very least the next assassin’s creed or COD on the switch then it’ll be all on Nintendo first and second parties to come to the rescue. Which is kinda like wii u all over again…as much as I love indie games, they’re a bonus/side dish in a release schedule, I wanna see those AAA titles too.
This video makes sense to me. Switch: The Soft(ish) Launch https://youtu.be/4f457Q3p1EU