The financial year for gaming companies are coming to an end and new consoles are on the way. With the Sony PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X coming before next holiday season, it would seem like Nintendo would be on its way to introducing a follow up to the Nintendo Switch, right? Wrong. In fact, the current Nintendo Switch will probably be around for quite a while longer. This much became evident during a Q&A session with Nintendo President, Shuntaro Furukawa, and Representative Director, Shigeru Miyamoto.
One of the more important questions during this Q&A session revolved around whether new hardware from Sony and Microsoft was a threat. Apparently, Nintendo doesn’t see either company as a threat at all:
We believe that the position of Nintendo Switch in its lifecycle is different from that of hardware from other companies and that the consumers of our products are also different. Therefore, we do not believe that the business activities of other companies will be especially influential on Nintendo’s business
In short, Furukawa believes that the Nintendo Switch, which is now four years old, is only halfway through its lifecycle and there’s actually a lot left to explore and expand on.
When you think about it, none of this is that hard to believe or outlandish at all. First off, without some serious extra hardware, gaming on the go with an Xbox or PlayStation is practically impossible. The Nintendo Switch, however, can be played almost anywhere. I use mine on long flights, for example. Yet, when I’m at home, I drop it in its dock and get down on some Mario Kart with the same beautiful detail on the big screen. Secondly, the Nintendo Switch is the perfect medium from bringing older games back to life. Nintendo just proved that when it launched the remastered version of Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening.
In the end, the Nintendo Switch occupies a place on the market that Microsoft doesn’t touch at all and Sony can’t seem to conquer the right way. The PS Via and PSP were okay in their own right, but playing on the big screen too? It wasn’t exactly the best thing in the world. Hoping for a follow up to the Nintendo Switch right now is also a bit out of context. The Xbox One and PS5 have been on the market for a decade. If Nintendo was to follow up with a Nintendo Switch 2, for lack of a better name, it would just go to show that it’s trying too hard to keep up with the Joneses. Keep doing you, Nintendo. We like it.
