This is exactly why I'm avoiding Switch at launch. Combining handheld and console game development under one platform was the thing that got me most excited for the Switch. If Nintendo doesn't use a unified library between the Switch and their next handheld then I seriously wonder what the hell the point of this console was.
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Kimishima considering 3DS successor
- Thread starter Skeletos311
- Start date
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
To replace the Wii U?
Wow at people doubting Serkan Toto's japanese. Are people really buying into Nintendo's "3DS will be around for a while" rhetoric? Like the DS was supposed to be around for a while? Like Wii U production will be around for a while?
Nintendo are 100% already working on a 3DS successor. The fact that they're "considering" one at the very least shouldnt even be a question. The Switch we know today is not a proper device for most of the mobile gaming market.
Nintendo are 100% already working on a 3DS successor. The fact that they're "considering" one at the very least shouldnt even be a question. The Switch we know today is not a proper device for most of the mobile gaming market.
DangerMouse
Member
This. It would be nice to know for sure going in.
I would find it incredibly sad if their entire vision for the Switch is to fully realize Wii U's off-TV play.
i'll take a wait and see approach. When Iwata was alive, he thought of combining both console and portables as one hybrid, to cut down on development costs and bring some 3DS games to the big screen. I think Kimishima is either confusing the market or changed the companies direction. I think he's doing morq harm than good at this stage of rhe PR. Nintendo should keep quiet now about any 3DS questions and focus on the Switchs launch
There was no need for a hybrid just for that.
And that means Switch would be dead in Japan.
R&D has probably been working on it for years likely. Doesn't mean any will make it to market, but so long as hardware remains a tacit part of their business plan, Nintendo will always be working on the next in their labs regardless of what actually goes to market.
cubicle47b
Member
Nintendo is remarkably bad at messaging.
Roufianos
Member
Exactly. Slightly more powerful yet even more outdated. This is really more messaging from Nintendo or not. They're downplaying the biggest draw of the console for the sake of milking the 3DS a little longer.
To be fair that's mostly why the need 3rd party support. You think Sony and MS have a constant stream of first party games? Not at all
This will surely be a Switch mini. Iwata spoke about a family of devices and even now developers can target portable performance instead of docked performance on the Switch. I believe that Nintendo offered that option in part because they knew they would release a handheld-only device that is part of the Switch platform, or "family."
They are not going to divide anything guys.
They are not going to divide anything guys.
WrenchNinja
Member
Just make sure it's clamshell
Best decision they made since the SP
Best decision they made since the SP
Okay.
a) Switch is a hybrid--different styles of play united in same console to appeal to disparate audiences.
b) This comes at the cost of making it a luxury handheld and a weak home console.
c) It comes with the potential benefit of games originally for one audience filling in the gaps between games for the other audience and also pulling one sort of user to further Nintendo product.
Now let's toss out c) and only support the Switch as we would a home console. Let's just replace the Wii U. Moreover, let's replace 3DS with another, incompatible device.
d) Switch now cannot leverage the unique software traditionally Nintendo handhelds receive to make it more compelling as a console in the west.
e) It also will fail to get the games that drive Nintendo handhelds in Japan. It will compete and lose against Nintendo itself in Japan.
You likely end up with a failure on the level of Wii U when you could've had a platform approaching N64/SNES/3DS level of success and you keep yourself in the problem of disparate devices for disparate audiences that you can no longer support.
Yes to all of this.
Problem i see with a 3DS "successor" is that it will eat into the Switch user base. No matter how many times Nintendo says that Switch replaces Wii U only a new handheld will effectively kill of Switch. Think of the headache when parents walk into a store and see both Switch and the XDS, both are portable and play the same games but one is cheaper than the other by lacking features. Why even by a Switch other than having it for the TV mode?
rochellepaws
Member
Was obvious all along, Nintendo insisted from day one that the Switch was a home console and the Wii U successor. Never at any point did they claim it was a handheld or a hybrid device. It appears wishful thinking has been accepted as fact by a lot of people.
I expect 3DS support to continue for the next couple of years and for its successor to outsell the Switch.
The more I think about the Switch marketing and the focus on local multiplayer the more it makes sense that their new handheld will be focused more on the single player and personal experience as Nintendo handhelds traditionally are.
I expect 3DS support to continue for the next couple of years and for its successor to outsell the Switch.
The more I think about the Switch marketing and the focus on local multiplayer the more it makes sense that their new handheld will be focused more on the single player and personal experience as Nintendo handhelds traditionally are.
family_guy
Member
Why not make a true home console then that's not weak and just release a handheld that essentially plays the same games but in a scale downed fashion? Something like playing a game on PS4 vs playing it on PS Vita.
Then why even make a hybrid in the first place if you don't have confidence in this idea?
No no no nintendo your next console should be console only (switch tv without the portability, for those who just want the dock part but with all the bits built in & a pro controller)
Then you can shrink the handheld console part later on and remove the joy cons, but intergrate controls.
And we will have a seperate home console & hand held in the future that uses the same games.
Then you can shrink the handheld console part later on and remove the joy cons, but intergrate controls.
And we will have a seperate home console & hand held in the future that uses the same games.
I think people might be overly negative about the idea of continuing the dedicated handheld line. I could see a cheaper clamshell device released in the next couple of years, aimed at a younger demographic, that would get Pokemon (alongside Switch), downgraded ports of certain Switch titles (imagine a MarioKart 8 version that falls somewhere between 3DS's MK7 and Wii U's 8 in terms of graphics etc.), indie games, and ports of the android/iOS titles. A lot of that could be done without taking diverting development resources away from the Switch. It's not like Switch by itself is likely to sell more than - or even as much as - Wii U and 3DS combined.
rochellepaws
Member
They aren't making a hybrid and have never called it a hybrid. They've been very clear in explaining what their home console is.
ALLseeingEYE
Member
I hope this is what he's talking about, because them refering to switch as a console, and the lack of Switch support from traditional 3DS developers has me a bit worried.
Also, if they didn't build games to be readable from a smaller screen, with a scaling UI, that could be a problem. I always assumed the big screen on WiiU was partly due to making UI from console games readable.
I hope Im wrong though, and Nintendo are smart about this, and utilize that iphone style model for game systems and store purchases they were referring to.
moltonasty
Member
This seems like a terrible idea if they follow through with it. This is some 90's era Sega type shit AKA competing with your own products
Yeah, I don't think Nintendo are confident that the Switch can cater for both markets otherwise why would they be considering this? It makes their decision to compromise on tech in order to create a hybrid all the more frustrating. If a successor to the 3DS was under consideration then they could have just made a traditional box with enough power to put it in the same ball park as the XB1 and PS4.
Then they don't need to make it hybrid if this is going to be another full fledge console machine.
This is more like they are not confident it can completely replace 3DS and WiiU , so they make it open question for now, just like original DS as the third pillar product blablabla.
It's a hybrid that they are selling as a home console. It's portable, it has a screen and a mobile chip in it.
If they sell it as a home console the compromises in the tech are not justified.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
I don't think that's what he's talking about.
Handle on GameCube.. about says enough with how odd they can be at times
franklyshankly
Member
Tell that to all the people here who insist it's actually a handheld and Nintendo is just bluffing by calling it a home console first.
Really not sure which to believe anymore.
I don't understand why the default assumption for everyone isn't that a revised, smaller Switch will be the new handheld in 2018. It will still use the Switch game library because it is actually a Switch, and it will probably still have the ability to dock even if it isn't packaged with a dock. The initial Switch run will lower the cost of materials, the smaller screen size will lower the cost of materials, and the progression of technology will lower the cost of materials. All of a sudden you're in handheld pricing territory.
It's so obvious that I don't understand the concern. No one from Nintendo said a 3DS successor was necessarily not a Switch type device.
It's so obvious that I don't understand the concern. No one from Nintendo said a 3DS successor was necessarily not a Switch type device.
OrbitalBeard
Member
If there is actually a completely separate 3DS successor coming in the future with a completely separate library, then Switch is the worst move Nintendo has made in its history as a video game manufacturer. Like, worse than Virtual Boy. Worse than Wii U.
What I'm wondering is if it's possible that Kimishima has changed the company's direction since taking on his role as president. Maybe Switch was originally intended to be the company's sole piece of dedicated hardware, but now things have changed. Or maybe they're just being really coy, as usual.
What I'm wondering is if it's possible that Kimishima has changed the company's direction since taking on his role as president. Maybe Switch was originally intended to be the company's sole piece of dedicated hardware, but now things have changed. Or maybe they're just being really coy, as usual.
Skittzo0413
Member
It's also exactly what Nintendo has been saying they will do since 2013.
But nah, let's all assume that their PR about the 3DS being supported means the Switch will never get typically handheld games.
Or this is a poor translation (EDIT: misleading speculation rather) and what he actually was saying was that the Switch is a bit big for a handheld so they aren't ruling out a revised version. As was clarified early on in this thread.
If they call the Switch a handheld right now, they are signaling it is a 3DS replacement. They aren't going to do that, and it benefits them to do the opposite of that. The 3DS has plenty of legs left and there's no reason to do anything to change that in 2017.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Which is essentially what I've already stated previously in this thread. I already gave my thoughts a day ago. I'm just giving a "what if" scenario at the moment.
Skittzo0413
Member
I don't think it's even worth entertaining "what if" scenarios here personally, but I guess to each their own. It's amazing how freaked out people are getting over some poorly translated tweets.
Clearly people haven't learned from the DS "third pillar" talk.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Maybe actually wait to see how things pan out before making such weird, hyperbolic claims.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Skittzo0413
Member
Yeah, good point- "amazing" should be replaced with "expected"
There is nothing poor about the translation. There's a bunch of people who are extrapolating some far reaching meanings from a perfectly fine translation. A translation to a logical and expected investor question with an utterly non-committal answer.
This is people finding controversy for the sake of controversy. There is nothing concrete or finite in this statement, its effectively people freaking out over the notion that some hypothetical successor to the 3DS is being hypothetically considered. The horror, how could a business ever hypothetically consider something or have multiple contingencies!
Reading this thread, you'd think Kimishima said, "Oh ya, we totally have a successor. Look forward to it!"
This is insane. Kimishima was asked specifically about a successor to Nintendo's very popular, smaller, more affordable, more family-friendly handheld line that is still running. Of course his answer isn't going to be "Nah, it's over."
This is from the business press, it's not consumer-focused messaging. This is a manufactured controversy.
This is from the business press, it's not consumer-focused messaging. This is a manufactured controversy.
Probably not. Iwata spoke of their next platform as being potentially a "family of hardware" a couple years ago.
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