Where is the hype on the eve of the Switch 2?

Welcome back to our new “Conversation” series! I sat here on the eve of the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, wondering... where is all the hype?

Steve: Here we are, mere days from the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2, and I can't help but feel that something is just... missing from this console launch. What should be a momentous moment for those of us plugged into the games machine, feels a little more like the blip of a new iPhone release. Nothing truly revolutionary, only a slight evolution.

There are a lot of factors that perhaps contribute to this feeling. When the original Switch was revealed back in 2017, it felt like a cultural moment. Coming off the back of the colossal failure that was the Wii U, Nintendo came out the gate swinging strong with their dockable hybrid console, that put the power of Nintendo's game design literally in your hands. Of course, you could argue that the Wii U had to stumble to allow the Nintendo Switch to run sprints, but that's a whole other discussion for another time.

Taking Mario Kart to rooftop parties with your overly-positive friend group who drink responsibly, and know how to have wholesome fun? That was a revolution. Playing an open-world Mario Kart, and paying $10 for an Astrobot-like that explains the inner-workings of a console you have largely already been interacting with for the past 7 years? That hardly feels like the future.

Am I still getting one? Yes, but I am a lifelong sicko for the big N. But am I excited about getting one? That is perhaps a very confusing question that I am choosing to ignore right now.

How about you Blue? How do you feel about Nintendo bringing another console into the market at the moment?

Blue: It's kind of funny how the hype machine works. I feel exactly the same ripples of excitement as you Steve (which is to say pretty minimal), but I feel that everyone was waiting for the thing that they wanted to get hype for. That there is this killer app or game in the wings that Nintendo hasn't announced that will be where they let loose all their fanboy energy.

Or maybe that's just how it goes for a console iteration whose main purpose is to bring it on technological par with the other big consoles. It is a huge deal that we're going to get better hardware and power on the Switch and it does make sense that it's a full console generation up. But for the average consumer, is that exciting? "Keep playing all the games you played before. They'll look better!" So much better that it warrants the price tag? The world is also not exactly in a.. stable position right now.

I reckon a lot of folks will be in a similar position to me where I feel my current Switch is perfectly functional and I can wait until I'm ready to replace that before considering the Switch 2. At least for now. The first couple of years in a new console tends to be pretty exciting in terms of first party support. There're a lot of big name games in the Nintendo pipeline that we can expect. Do you think that may be part of Nintendo's strategy as well? Go for a more drawn out console sale period that might spike at new game releases?

I can't even begin to imagine what revenue streams are going to be like over the next couple of years. I don't think Nintendo wants a lackluster launch, but maybe something that doesn't deplete all store shelves world wide straight away will be cheaper for the company in the medium term? No need to pay manufacturer premiums to step up production, etc. Then as new games come out, more and more people make the trade up, keeping the supply chain fed. That would be a wild business plan, and if the world wasn't operating on "the greediest idiot wins" rules at the moment, I might give them the credit.

But honestly that feels like tinfoil hat territory. My gut says that Nintendo will be a bit disappointed by initial sales and that it will pick up over time because they still have the clout. It will probably take a full generation of games (if not consoles) for that goodwill to burn out. And during that time, there's room for the new Metroid Prime, maybe a new 3D Mario, maybe a new Mario Party? There are a few titles that feel like sure enough successes the engine will keep churning. The company will experience a bad quarter or two, but since they're long sighted and don't react too quickly to shifting trends, it will stabilize over time.

Or maybe Mario Kart World is the killer app that we all wanted but didn't know and I'll be frothing at the mouth to get another race in within a month's time.

Steve: Exactly! Sure, I am excited that I might ACTUALLY go back and play Breath of the Wild and see it through, now that I know I am playing the very best official version that there is on offer, but your average consumer? I doubt that playing an old game that runs slightly better is really would the heavy cash investment. That in itself could also causing many to second guess picking one up at launch. When the Switch has been lagging behind in the hardware race for most of it's lifespan, it could be a hard justification to drop the same amount (or close to it) on a Switch 2 when the price of a PS5 or Xbox Series X is well within reach. More people working from home means that the portability factor of the Switch is less of a draw, especially when the PS5 and Xbox allow you to stream within the home to a secondary device, essentially allowing you to game without taking up the TV all night.

But I actually feel that what we are seeing with the Switch 2 is indicative of the future of gaming consoles, the Apple-fication of releases that bring slightly more power, some minor nice-to-haves, but serve up the same OS experience, the same apps, the same experience. We already saw this happen with the jump from the Xbox One to the Series X/S. When you unboxed your black monolith and plugged it in, you were greeted with the exact same OS as the previous generation. My entire game library was there, still in the same untouched state as it had been on the previous generation. Sure, I had a new Battlefield or something like that to play, but the experience itself felt more akin to upgrading a GPU in my PC than an exciting moment. Now that we live in a world where everything is an Xbox, and the PS5 keeps increasing its price years after release, perhaps the Switch 2 is just yet another unexciting upgrade, that most of us just... maybe don't really care that much about anymore? Which to be honest is really weird, because you are right, the leaks of the Switch Pro years ago had such a fervor around them, that it seems weird more people are not champing at the bit to get this console on day one.

I feel many people are like me. They are grabbing it because they feel they should. Because Mario Kart World will be a good time. But also because there's a non-zero chance that the Switch 2 may be even MORE expensive in a year from now. Who the hell ACTUALLY knows what is going on anymore?

Blue: I still remember the dream put out in public over 10 years ago now of a console to end consoles. The idea of just streaming the newest hardware to an older box if you can't afford the new stuff was very interesting to me at the time. Maybe this Apple-fication you describe is a kind of middle-ground. If less than the whole market is incentivized to buy the new thing, we can just slowly roll upgrades through the playerbase. If 40% of Switch owners trade up to the Switch 2, then maybe they can catch a different 40% on the Switch 3 years and years down the line. The industry can then focus on what actually makes them money: games. It's important to remember that in general consoles lose the manufacturer money. I think the lines in the budget have shifted since I learned the logistics of that factoid, but I can't imagine hardware can ever become a big revenue stream.

No no, it's much more profitable to just sell people digital hardware or keycodes in a plastic jewel case because I guess that's the state of video games these days. I appreciate the oddness of being on the precipice of a new Nintendo console but also have not that much to feel excited for. On the other hand, that's what every PlayStation release has felt like since 3. Or maybe we're both wrong and we're going to get reports in the news of customers suffering heat stroke or contracting hypothermia (from the Australian winter) to get their new Switch.

Either way, I'm still holding onto a small kernel of bottled hype. I'm saving it for a rainy day. I'm not sure what game will get me to pop off yet, but I think you rarely know before you see it.