Switch Fans Should Expect A Longer Console Life Cycle, Miyamoto Says
Miyamoto wants you to look forward to the Switch having a life beyond the expected five to six years of a home console.
In an investor call, Nintendo Director and Creative Lead Shigeru Miyamoto laid out some ambitious plans for the Nintendo Switch. Typically, home consoles experience involved life spans of about five to six years. Miyamoto wants the Switch to have a life that extends well beyond what other competitors may be anticipating for their own home consoles and aspires to have a Nintendo Switch owned by everyone in the Japan, US, and Europe.
"Our ultimate ambition is for a Nintendo Switch to be owned not just by every family, but by every single person," Miyamoto said during the call, which was covered on GameIndustry.biz. "The biggest attraction of Nintendo Switch is that the console can be carried around and used easily for competitive gameplay via
As it stands, the Nintendo Switch is the fastest selling home console in console history. This has been accomplished without the more robust online service in place, without major media companies like Netflix playing ball, and without the initial faith of the Pokemon CEO (and many journalists, to be honest).
"When you think about what can be done with Nintendo Switch as a device that can be taken on the go and that every person has in their hands to play, you realize it has many features not available on any other hardware to date," Miyamoto continues. "Nintendo also has a system in place whereby the software developers focus on these hardware features in their development efforts for the continuation of the Nintendo Switch business. Up until now, the hardware lifecycle has trended at around five or six years, but it would be very interesting if we could prolong that life cycle, and I think you should be looking forward to that."
The Switch has prospered on the backs of a larger and more critically well-received library than what the Wii U released in the same time span, a library that is beneficial to indie developers and is headed toward a historic milestone for Nintendo. Can the console exceed the five-six year life cycle? We'll have to wait and see, but it's looking very strong in its first two years. The introduction of the DIY Labo kits for the Switch give the console another level of appeal and initiatives like that along with the strong software performance the console is experiencing could catapult the hybrid console well beyond the expected lifecycle. There's a reason Nintendo is rated a "Super Mega Buy" in our Game Trader: Video Game and Tech Stock Ratings guide.
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replyCharles Singletary posted a new article, Switch Fans Should Expect A Longer Console Life Cycle, Miyamoto Says
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Miyamoto's quote there implies that the Switch's graphics capabilities don't matter because of all its unique hardware features, presumably referring to the joycons. I don't agree with that at all, most games use none of the joycon stuff. What sells it is the portability, and for that to remain relevant it needs to remain competitive enough to play modern games in the future. Otherwise it's back to nothing but Nintendo first party games and indie games sooner or later.
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Portability wasn't a thought for me when I bought mine. It's docked 99% of the time and I use a pro controller. It definitely doesn't have anywhere near the horsepower of PS4Pro/XB1X, but it isn't marketed as such. I think it will have a long life even for people like me, who don't play on the go.
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Thats fine with me. The Switch i'm sure will get iterated upon just like the 3DS -> 3DS XL etc. but hopefully all games will remain compatible with original units.
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