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[MrCaliaztec]

Whats your question?

They doesn't use that to play their hardcore games on pc if that is your question. They see a console not as a hardcore gaming device but rather as something to enjoy. They are not going to take destiny multiplayer on a console seriously. They rather play it to enjoy it and probably as single player.

Oh man I must’ve totally missed all those professional hardcore gamers winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in SFV, Smash Bros, Injustice 2, MKX and MVC3 using Mouse and Keyboards...

Owning a Gaming PC and using a mouse and keyboard doesn’t make you a hardcore gamer... The majority of the best gamers and speed runners for games in the world are for the most part all played on consoles and with controllers...

Honestly your last few posts speaking on “hardcore gamers” is completely laughable.

 

[R00bot]

"I can buy a Switch so it must not be selling well."

 

[kc44135]

Completely disagree.

Subscription services are all the rage right now and Nintendo has one of the best back catalogues of beloved content outside of any company not named Disney. There is 0 chance that they don’t try and monetize that. Especially with NoA's head of sales and marketing having previously worked at EA when they were first introducing EA Access and the Origin vault.

Combine that with the hastily dropped subscription service plan that was meant to be running as a paid service around now. Chances are they are reworking that to follow a similar model and Nintendo are keeping silent until its almost ready to go.

So a subscription service like PSNOW or Xbox Game Pass? That's a fantastic idea, I think, and probably the best case scenario given nobody really wants to buy all these ancient games again, for like the third or fourth time. It's just that, well, these Classic Consoles are doing really well for them, and crucially, they aren't a limited release anymore. They're going to be selling both NES and SNES Classic through 2018, and there are some strong rumors suggesting that Game Boy Classic and N64 Classic are on the way. They seem to be putting a lot of effort into the Classic line, and it seems like a successful way of monetizing their back catalogue.

This isn't what I want for them to do, btw. Zero interest in the Classic Consoles shenanigans from me. It just seems like the direction they're going. Fwiw, I hope your right, because a VC/subscription service in Switch, and taking it all in the go would be amazing. I'm just very doubtful at this point.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

I have no receipts.

But I see a lot of posts from Euro GAFers who say you can stroll into any store and there are stacks of Switches everywhere.

Man, that ps4 sure is bomba, i see it everywhere since launch in spanish store shelves...

Again the switch is selling pretty good in the majority of europe. Most people that i know have bought it or are planning to buy it. The postive in the eyes of the public with the system is pretty great.
Just today I was talking with the GAME store guy in my neighbourhood and he was telling me if there is switches to buy, is because Nintendo is stocking 4-6 nearly each week.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Just today I was talking with the GAME store guy in my neighbourhood and he was telling me if there is switches to buy, is because Nintendo is stocking 4-6 nearly each week.

I've learned to not trust what GAF says about availability. Back when the Wii was popular, someone mentioned that they worked at a WalMart ~10 miles from my house, in the electronics department and that, "they had pallets of Wiis they just couldn't get rid of." So I sent him a PM, offering him $20 if he could set one aside for me, and that I could be there in 15 minutes to pay for it.

He sent me back a long, strange PM about how he didn't hate Nintendo, he just "didn't like the direction they were going in."

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

 

[SinCityAssassin]

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

Did he sell you a Wii though because if he didn't he's a bad employee.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Did he sell you a Wii though because if he didn't he's a bad employee.

I still drove up to Barboursville and checked. They told me they hadn't had Wiis in stock in two weeks.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

I still drove up to Barboursville and checked. They told me they hadn't had Wiis in stock in two weeks.

What a bad employee. :V

 

[Tenck]

Now is the time to bring back F-Zero Nintendo! Please for the love of god.

 

[brinstar]

I've learned to not trust what GAF says about availability. Back when the Wii was popular, someone mentioned that they worked at a WalMart ~10 miles from my house, in the electronics department and that, "they had pallets of Wiis they just couldn't get rid of." So I sent him a PM, offering him $20 if he could set one aside for me, and that I could be there in 15 minutes to pay for it.

He sent me back a long, strange PM about how he didn't hate Nintendo, he just "didn't like the direction they were going in."

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

lol wow

 

[Snakeyes]

I've learned to not trust what GAF says about availability. Back when the Wii was popular, someone mentioned that they worked at a WalMart ~10 miles from my house, in the electronics department and that, "they had pallets of Wiis they just couldn't get rid of." So I sent him a PM, offering him $20 if he could set one aside for me, and that I could be there in 15 minutes to pay for it.

He sent me back a long, strange PM about how he didn't hate Nintendo, he just "didn't like the direction they were going in."

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

 

[Jon Carter]

Reggie litterally says this (for the power and influence he has) and you'd have to not pay attention to the majority of the software they've outputted over the years not to notice this difference. The marketing has changed the demographics chased has changed greater realignment to what they're competitors are doing rather than doing something completely.

You have to have not watched closely this year to have not seen the rather substantial shift.

Reggie actually talked about not chasing the red ocean in an interview before launch, but that was in response to a question about the Switch being weaker than the PS4 Pro and Scorpio. So I guess they’re not in either ocean. They want the purple ocean.

 

[Jubenhimer]

Reggie actually talked about not chasing the red ocean in an interview before launch, but that was in response to a question about the Switch being weaker than the PS4 Pro and Scorpio. So I guess they’re not in either ocean. They want the purple ocean.

All Blue Ocean really refers to is creating a new market that doesn't directly compete with others. The Switch continues this with the hybrid form factor, which is an untapped market.

 

[foxuzamaki]

I've learned to not trust what GAF says about availability. Back when the Wii was popular, someone mentioned that they worked at a WalMart ~10 miles from my house, in the electronics department and that, "they had pallets of Wiis they just couldn't get rid of." So I sent him a PM, offering him $20 if he could set one aside for me, and that I could be there in 15 minutes to pay for it.

He sent me back a long, strange PM about how he didn't hate Nintendo, he just "didn't like the direction they were going in."

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

Haha wow

 

[Jaded Alyx]

I've learned to not trust what GAF says about availability. Back when the Wii was popular, someone mentioned that they worked at a WalMart ~10 miles from my house, in the electronics department and that, "they had pallets of Wiis they just couldn't get rid of." So I sent him a PM, offering him $20 if he could set one aside for me, and that I could be there in 15 minutes to pay for it.

He sent me back a long, strange PM about how he didn't hate Nintendo, he just "didn't like the direction they were going in."

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

It was ninjablade, wasn't it

 

[psyfi]

Now is the time to bring back F-Zero Nintendo! Please for the love of god.

I've been playing F-Zero Maximum Velocity on my GBA SP and fucking loving it lately

 

[jorgejjvr]

What? Top players are surely on motion for Arms, it's much more flexible/powerful than pad control.

LOL top players use normal controls on Arms. On portable mode, grip, or more likely pro controller

I should know, my brother is a top player

You don't use motion competitively

 

[Colonel Mustard]

It was ninjablade, wasn't it

Haha, no. This was like late 2006, before my account was fully approved. Way before he was a member.

I do remember that he had a Disgaea avatar, which put me off the series for a while.

 

[Jon Carter]

All Blue Ocean really refers to is creating a new market that doesn't directly compete with others. The Switch continues this with the hybrid form factor, which is an untapped market.

I don’t know if they created a new market though. There’s always been a market for a Nintendo handheld and it arguably occupies the same one as those.

 

[Principate]

Reggie actually talked about not chasing the red ocean in an interview before launch, but that was in response to a question about the Switch being weaker than the PS4 Pro and Scorpio. So I guess they’re not in either ocean. They want the purple ocean.

The dude literally said they were no longer trying to expand the gaming audience anymore because there's no need to because of mobile (you'll notice how for the past decade Nintendo have been experimenting with games and hardware to get non-gamers play games). It's pretty obvious they've stopped doing that essentially just focusing on what they're doing best. That's chasing the red ocean (the hardcore user) he just doesn't want to talk about competing directly with the PS4, XB1 etc due to power difference limiting the amount of cross over possible in terms of library.

They're still focusing on that same hardcore userbase though. They not exclusively doing so because Nintendo still has a massive history of family friendly games but it's more of focus for than it has since the gamecube. Likely pound for pound now specifically that they're in the same popularity level so far. I'll imagine they'll be far more aggressive with this from now onwards. They don't have to act like they're in some separate bubble because that sorta userbase isn't buying their consoles.

 

[Jubenhimer]

I don't know if they created a new market though. There's always been a market for a Nintendo handheld and it arguably occupies the same one as those.

It could very well potentially create one. The Switch is a mobile home console, there honestly really isn't anything quite like it on the market at the moment, and it occupies a unique space between casual smartphone gaming, and powerful home consoles. It really is something unique.

The dude literally said they were no longer trying to expand the gaming audience anymore because there's no need to because of mobile (you'll notice how for the past decade Nintendo have been experimenting with games and hardware to get non-gamers play games). It's pretty obvious they've stopped doing that essentially just focusing on what they're doing best. That's chasing the red ocean (the hardcore user) he just doesn't want to talk about competing directly with the PS4, XB1 etc due to power difference limiting the amount of cross over possible in terms of library.

They're still focusing on that same hardcore userbase though. Likely pound for pound now specifically that they're in the same popularity level so far. I'll imagine they'll be far more aggressive with this from now onwards. They don't have to act like they're in some separate bubble because that sorta userbase isn't buying their consoles.

Right, Nintendo is no longer focused on expanding the amount of people who play games, because Smartphones have taken over that role. But that doesn't mean they're targeting the hardcore audience. Neither Reggie, Koizumi, Takahashi, or Kimishima said anything of that sort. Look at the commercials, the first party games, the premise of the Switch itself, Nintendo is primarily targeting the casual gamer. This is very different from the target audience of the Wii because Nintendo is going after people who already play games. But the type of gamer the Switch targets is very different from the type of gamer the PS4 and Xbox One target. If Nintendo really cared about doubling down on the "hardcore", they wouldn't have even made the Switch in the first place. They would've made a generic home console that was much more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One (rivaling their respective Pro upgrades) and prioritized things like a traditional controller with no extras, competitive online, and every third party game available on the other systems. But they didn't, because the Switch's target audience doesn't really care about that stuff.

 

[Jon Carter]

The dude literally says they no longer trying to expand the gaming audience anymore because there's no need to because of mobile (you'll notice how for the past decade Nintendo have been experimenting with games and hardware to get non-gamers play games). It's pretty obvious they've stopped doing that essentially just focusing on what they're doing best. That's chasing the red ocean (the hardcore user) he just doesn't want to talk about competing directly with the PS4, XB1 etc due to power difference limiting the amount of cross over possible in terms of library.

They're still focusing on that same hardcore userbase though. Likely pound for pound now specifically that they're in the same popularity level so far. I'll imagine they'll be far more aggressive with this from now onwards. They don't have to act like they're in some separate bubble because that sorta userbase isn't buying their consoles.

I don’t really agree with that. I see the Switch as occupying the space of their next-generation handheld. I don’t think that’s a red ocean or a blue ocean.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Nintendo's definitely targeting the "core" market with Switch, at least presently. The nice thing about Nintendo IP though is that it has broader appeal than the segment of the "core" market MS and Sony tend to target. There are more gamers out there beyond the 18-35 male demographic.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Capcom better hope their bet on the ps4 in MH World will pay dividends.

How ironic that they left Switch to ps4 to pursue 'western market' right at the moment when Nintendo managed to mount a comeback at that very same market.

 

[Principate]

I don't really agree with that. I see the Switch as occupying the space of their next-generation handheld. I don't think that's a red ocean or a blue ocean.

It's consolidating their Handheld and console audiences under one roof. That's as red ocean as you can get. They consolidating not branching out.

Capcom better hope their bet on the ps4 in MH World will pay dividends.

How ironic that they left Switch to ps4 to pursue 'western market' right at the moment when Nintendo managed to mount a comeback at that very same market.

Capcom lacked faith. You gotta have faith.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Haha, no. This was like late 2006, before my account was fully approved. Way before he was a member.

I do remember that he had a Disgaea avatar, which put me off the series for a while.

Wonder what he feels about it on switch lol

 

[Jon Carter]

It's consolidating their Handheld and console audiences under one roof. That's as red ocean as you can get. They consolidating not branching out.

The Switch is too different from the PS4 and Xbox One for me to consider this being a red ocean strategy. Obviously they want a piece of that pie but they’re under no illusion that they’ll get PS4/X1-level AAA support and consideration. The portability makes the Switch not a red-ocean console.

EDIT: Found the quote:

For us, it's not about specs, it's not about teraflops, it's not about the horsepower of a particular system. For us, it's about the content...We're focused on bringing our best entertainment to both the Wii U as well as the NX in the future. So for us, whatever Microsoft and Sony are doing in terms of talking about new systems, that's for them to fight out in that red ocean.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/06/16/nintendo-on-the-nx-its-not-about-power-its-about-content/#3086f88844e7

 

[D.Lo]

It's consolidating their Handheld and console audiences under one roof. That's as red ocean as you can get. They consolidating not branching out.

To a certain extent I agree.

Though I think Nintendo has a 'pink' ocean out there - people who like their games but haven't bought one of their consoles recently. There would be up to hundreds of millions of people who bought a Nintendo console/handheld in the past and enjoyed it but didn't buy a 3DS or Wii U. Just getting all those people on board would be a big enough market.

This is the obvious target of the Mini/Classic series consoles, and their existence at this particular point in time seems to be specifically designed as a gateway back in for some people. But the Switch also seems to have been angled that way, particularly the SNES/N64 era gamers. Of all the games they (obviously) asked Japanese third parties to develop, you got versions of SNES classics, Street Fighter II and Bomberman for the tabletop joycon multiplayer. They also of course had Mario Kart ready for the same thing. The Switch is the new SNES.

It's also clearly for their big new home console 3D games (Zelda, Mario) - picking back up the N64/Gamecube 3D Mario fans specifically, their new Wii (motion focused games like Snipperclips and Arms), and will eventually be their new Game Boy/DS with handheld franchises planned - but in the future, when the hardware is cheaper, as the handheld market prefers cheaper.

 

[Renna Hazel]

Nintendo can go after the blue ocean with software rather than hardware. I believe they have every intention of doing that.

 

[Dreavus]

I know it was a niche use-case but I kinda wished the Wii U went harder into the "one player gets a second screen" angle that the Nintendo Land local MP games went with. Luigi's Mansion in NL is so goddamn good and nothing else seemed to make use of that kind of gameplay (kind of telling that the launch game for the system makes the best/only use of that feature.) The Switch has moved away from that stuff (it's one screen or the other) and of course you can use individual screens if you play MP in portable mode, but the potential for that specific mechanic never seemed like it was fully explored. It could be that it never had much potential to begin with, but Luigi's Mansion and those other NL games nail it so well.

EDIT: Of course I think they made a great choice with portability and I wouldn't trade that for what I'm talking about here, it just seemed like an underutilized feature of the Wii U at the time.

EDIT2: Scratch that, some of the 1v4 Bowser stuff in Mp10 is great too. Only 10 games but they are a lot of fun. That's what I'm talking about! Where was more of that stuff?

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I think the Switch's 'Blue Ocean' is dissolutioned gamers that identify (mainly) with the 16-32 bit era, where JRPGS, Arcade ports and Platformers were king.

It sure as hell isn't chasing the same casual market the Wii was. I don't think casuals are chomping at the bit for Street Fighter 2, Bomberman, Neo Geo games, SHMUPs or indie games that take direct influence from late 90s, early 2000s games. I think they're specifically targeting late-20s early-30s people with expendable incomes ,that are tired of samey, western-cinematic, "AAA" games.

Any console that gives me a lineup that reminds me of those times gets my money and enthusiasm. The Switch could do with some more fishing and light gun games though.

This seems to be the case to me, while partialy drunk at least.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I know it was a niche use-case but I kinda wished the Wii U went harder into the "one player gets a second screen" angle that the Nintendo Land local MP games went with. Luigi's Mansion in NL is so goddamn good and nothing else seemed to make use of that kind of gameplay (kind of telling that the launch game for the system makes the best/only use of that feature.) The Switch has moved away from that stuff (it's one screen or the other) and of course you can use individual screens if you play MP in portable mode, but the potential for that specific mechanic never seemed like it was fully explored. It could be that it never had much potential to begin with, but Luigi's Mansion and those other NL games nail it so well.

EDIT: Of course I think they made a great choice with portability and I wouldn't trade that for what I'm talking about here, it just seemed like an underutilized feature of the Wii U at the time.

EDIT2: Scratch that, some of the 1v4 Bowser stuff in Mp10 is great too. Only 10 games but they are a lot of fun. That's what I'm talking about! Where was more of that stuff?

The market rejected Nintendo's approach to asynchronous gameplay. It was a cool experiment that ultimately went nowhere. Fortunately, they were able to take what worked from Wii U and use that as a base for Switch.

 

[bionic77]

I've learned to not trust what GAF says about availability. Back when the Wii was popular, someone mentioned that they worked at a WalMart ~10 miles from my house, in the electronics department and that, "they had pallets of Wiis they just couldn't get rid of." So I sent him a PM, offering him $20 if he could set one aside for me, and that I could be there in 15 minutes to pay for it.

He sent me back a long, strange PM about how he didn't hate Nintendo, he just "didn't like the direction they were going in."

I wish I hadn't cleared my inbox five years ago. lol

Lesson learned.

Don't trust the internet.

My bad!

 

[Jubenhimer]

I think the Switch's 'Blue Ocean' is dissolutioned gamers that identify (mainly) with the 16-32 bit era, where JRPGS, Arcade ports and Platformers were king.

It sure as hell isn't chasing the same casual market the Wii was. I don't think casuals are chomping at the bit for Street Fighter 2, Bomberman, Neo Geo games, SHMUPs or indie games that take direct influence from late 90s, early 2000s games. I think they're specifically targeting late-20s early-30s people with expendable incomes ,that are tired of samey, western-cinematic, "AAA" games.

Any console that gives me a lineup that reminds me of those times gets my money and enthusiasm. The Switch could do with some more fishing and light gun games though.

This seems to be the case to me, while partialy drunk at least.

That's because the Wii's target audience was non-gamers, as in those who have never played a game in their life. There's this misconception that casuals and non-gamers are interchangeable, but that's not true. Switch targets casual gamers, as in people who play games, mainly on a smartphone, but have never felt comfortable with, or had the time for playing games on something like a PS4 or Xbox One.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

What? Everyone since April was saying PS4 would win September NPD because of Destiny 2.

Why would Destiny 1 dlc sell consoles

 

[MTC100]

The Switch is too different from the PS4 and Xbox One for me to consider this being a red ocean strategy. Obviously they want a piece of that pie but they're under no illusion that they'll get PS4/X1-level AAA support and consideration. The portability makes the Switch not a red-ocean console.

EDIT: Found the quote:

For us, it's not about specs, it's not about teraflops, it's not about the horsepower of a particular system. For us, it's about the content...We're focused on bringing our best entertainment to both the Wii U as well as the NX in the future. So for us, whatever Microsoft and Sony are doing in terms of talking about new systems, that's for them to fight out in that red ocean.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/06/16/nintendo-on-the-nx-its-not-about-power-its-about-content/#3086f88844e7

Luckily Nintendo knows that we as gamers want the best possible quality with the tech we buy. You can clearly see that in Mario Odyssey and them upping the Res to 900p@60. If they weren't concerned about delivering a good looking game they would just stick to 720p and don't bother for optimization, cause that's plenty for advertising the game for example. Yet they still stay true to their gameplay first mentality by delivering the game in 60FPS, you can bet that other companies would just opt for flashier optics and 1080p@30(with the 30 probably dropping a few frames here and there) if they were to create a game like SMO.

 

[Principate]

The Switch is too different from the PS4 and Xbox One for me to consider this being a red ocean strategy. Obviously they want a piece of that pie but they're under no illusion that they'll get PS4/X1-level AAA support and consideration. The portability makes the Switch not a red-ocean console.

EDIT: Found the quote:



https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/06/16/nintendo-on-the-nx-its-not-about-power-its-about-content/#3086f88844e7

That has little to do with red oceans or blue oceans. Red ocean doesn't literally mean PS4-XB1 market it means focusing in on your core user base which is what the switch does to a pint point accuracy. Nintendo simply has a reasonably large though in many ways lapsed core userbase. They're not chasing new audiences that haven't used a game console before with the switch. It's just not their strategy.

To a certain extent I agree.

Though I think Nintendo has a 'pink' ocean out there - people who like their games but haven't bought one of their consoles recently. There would be up to hundreds of millions of people who bought a Nintendo console/handheld in the past and enjoyed it but didn't buy a 3DS or Wii U. Just getting all those people on board would be a big enough market.

This is the obvious target of the Mini/Classic series consoles, and their existence at this particular point in time seems to be specifically designed as a gateway back in for some people. But the Switch also seems to have been angled that way, particularly the SNES/N64 era gamers. Of all the games they (obviously) asked Japanese third parties to develop, you got versions of SNES classics, Street Fighter II and Bomberman for the tabletop joycon multiplayer. They also of course had Mario Kart ready for the same thing. The Switch is the new SNES.

It's also clearly for their big new home console 3D games (Zelda, Mario) - picking back up the N64/Gamecube 3D Mario fans specifically, their new Wii (motion focused games like Snipperclips and Arms), and will eventually be their new Game Boy/DS with handheld franchises planned - but in the future, when the hardware is cheaper, as the handheld market prefers cheaper.

This is a reaonable analysis. My overall point is Nintendo is not chasing people new to the market or consoles in general. The switch is firmly operating within the market.

It could very well potentially create one. The Switch is a mobile home console, there honestly really isn't anything quite like it on the market at the moment, and it occupies a unique space between casual smartphone gaming, and powerful home consoles. It really is something unique.



Right, Nintendo is no longer focused on expanding the amount of people who play games, because Smartphones have taken over that role. But that doesn't mean they're targeting the hardcore audience. Neither Reggie, Koizumi, Takahashi, or Kimishima said anything of that sort. Look at the commercials, the first party games, the premise of the Switch itself, Nintendo is primarily targeting the casual gamer. This is very different from the target audience of the Wii because Nintendo is going after people who already play games. But the type of gamer the Switch targets is very different from the type of gamer the PS4 and Xbox One target. If Nintendo really cared about doubling down on the "hardcore", they wouldn't have even made the Switch in the first place. They would've made a generic home console that was much more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One (rivaling their respective Pro upgrades) and prioritized things like a traditional controller with no extras, competitive online, and every third party game available on the other systems. But they didn't, because the Switch's target audience doesn't really care about that stuff.

Those are still represented by a red ocean strategy. We're simply arguing terminology here but for certain Nintendo is not chasing any blue oceans. They're chasing mainly their own prior audience, litterally every single from the handheld to what remains of the wii to the core console.

 

[Jubenhimer]

That has little to do with red oceans or blue oceans. Red ocean doesn't literally mean PS4-XB1 market it means focusing in on your core user base which is what the switch does to a pint point accuracy. Nintendo simply has a reasonably large though in many ways lapsed core userbase. They're not chasing new audiences that haven't used a game console before with the switch. It's just not their strategy.


This is a reaonable analysis. My overall point is Nintendo is not chasing people new to the market or consoles in general. The switch is firmly operating within the market.


Those are still represented by a red ocean strategy. We're simply arguing terminology here but for certain Nintendo is not chasing any blue oceans. They're chasing mainly their own prior audience, litterally every single from the handheld to what remains of the wii to the core console.

But that doesn't indicate that they're targeting the PS4 or Xbox One audience. Nothing about the Switch, from it's design, to it's games, really sell that idea. The Switch targets casual gamers, that's what Nintendo has shown. It's a console designed for gamers who find traditional home console too demanding or intimidating.

 

[Jon Carter]

It's a console designed for gamers who find traditional home console too demanding or intimidating.

And a smaller group of stuck-in-the-past gamers like myself whose tastes in games haven’t changed since the N64 and PS1. I have no interest in PS4 or Xbox One because they have very little that is reminiscent of that ‘80s/‘90s/early aughts era. Nintendo has been making colorful arcadey AAA games non-stop for over 30 years.

 

[Jubenhimer]

And a smaller group of stuck-in-the-past gamers like myself whose tastes in games haven’t changed since the N64 and PS1. I have no interest in PS4 or Xbox One because they have very little that is reminiscent of that ‘80s/‘90s/early aughts era. Nintendo has been making colorful arcadey AAA games non-stop for over 30 years.

Them too.

 

[Herb Alpert]

I think that gaming dads and moms are a target too. With work and kids home console gaming becomes difficult. I wouldn't have been able to put 180 hours into Zelda if the system wasn't portable.

 

[redcrayon]

I think that gaming dads and moms are a target too. With work and kids home console gaming becomes difficult. I wouldn't have been able to put 180 hours into Zelda if the system wasn't portable.

That pretty much describes me these days. I don't have time to sit in front of the TV any more, pretty much all the media I engage with is on a tablet where I can instantly unpause while in bed, on the train etc. Can't remember the last time I even had a couple of hours to watch a film all the way through at home, let alone settle in for an rpg on a home console.

 

[Sadist]

“Well Switch is available here in country x, so I don’t get it”

Ugh. Anyway, Switch stock had certainly improved over the past month. Here in the Netherlands its far better compared to a few months back. But, looking at how the machine is available and shelf pressence in regards to games its slowly expanding. Its getting room that was earlier reserved for Wii U, but it won’t be long untill 3DS shelf Space will be added. Lots of promo materials.

I think its going well.

 

[-MB-]

I think the Switch's 'Blue Ocean' is dissolutioned gamers that identify (mainly) with the 16-32 bit era, where JRPGS, Arcade ports and Platformers were king.

It sure as hell isn't chasing the same casual market the Wii was. I don't think casuals are chomping at the bit for Street Fighter 2, Bomberman, Neo Geo games, SHMUPs or indie games that take direct influence from late 90s, early 2000s games. I think they're specifically targeting late-20s early-30s people with expendable incomes ,that are tired of samey, western-cinematic, "AAA" games.

Any console that gives me a lineup that reminds me of those times gets my money and enthusiasm. The Switch could do with some more fishing and light gun games though.

This seems to be the case to me, while partialy drunk at least.

If that were true they would not have made an effort and a big deal out of a late port of Skyrim, which is exactly the samey western-cinematic AAA game u speak of.

 

[GamePlay Johnny]

But that doesn't mean they're targeting the hardcore audience. Neither Reggie, Koizumi, Takahashi, or Kimishima said anything of that sort. Look at the commercials, the first party games, the premise of the Switch itself, Nintendo is primarily targeting the casual gamer. This is very different from the target audience of the Wii because Nintendo is going after people who already play games. But the type of gamer the Switch targets is very different from the type of gamer the PS4 and Xbox One target. If Nintendo really cared about doubling down on the "hardcore", they wouldn't have even made the Switch in the first place. They would've made a generic home console that was much more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One (rivaling their respective Pro upgrades) and prioritized things like a traditional controller with no extras, competitive online, and every third party game available on the other systems. But they didn't, because the Switch's target audience doesn't really care about that stuff.

I don't understand how someone who's buying a console to play Zelda and Splatoon is a casual gamer while someone who buys a console to play FIFA and Destiny is a hardcore gamer. How do you define casual? Have you considered how many people buy a PS4 just to play FIFA? What bucket would you put them?

I think those definitions are extremely vague and add nothing to the discussion. Both Sony and Nintendo are targeting people who love console games and spend money on them.

 

[Jubenhimer]

I don't understand how someone who's buying a console to play Zelda and Splatoon is a casual gamer while someone who buys a console to play FIFA and Destiny is a hardcore gamer. How do you define casual? Have you considered how many people buy a PS4 just to play FIFA? What bucket would you put them?

I think those definitions are extremely vague and add nothing to the discussion. Both Sony and Nintendo are targeting people who love console games and spend money on them.

I'm mainly referring to these terms in the context of play time and habbits. The way I personally see it in this case, casual gamers buy and play comparatively less games per year on average (I'm guessing one or two), and generally have less time and patience to play games, which is part of the reason mobile gaming became so huge. Hardcore gamers however typically buy many games per year, and are willing to put forth the time to commit to traditional home console games. The PS4 may target the hardcore gamer primarily, but there's no denying that it's also got a base with casual gamers, who likely bought it as primarily a cheap media/DVD/Blu-Ray player that plays the occasional game of FIFA or Destiny.

The Switch's purpose meanwhile, is to streamline console gaming for casual gamers. Making the experience less demanding and more simple for those who don't have the time or patience to sit in front of a TV for hours on end just to even enjoy the typically more demanding and time consuming console games. Of course, there's peripheries outside those goals as well. The Switch has enough chops to be considered a good supplement platform for the core gamer, while the PS4's popularity and media features make it a good choice for casual gamers too. But the primary mission statements of the two platforms couldn't be anymore different.

 

[Boy Wander]

If hardcore gaming is partly defined by the desire to play video games as often as possible, I'd say the Switch is hugely appealing. Play a fully featured console game at home, pack it in your bag, play the exact same game with the exact same featureset on your commute, play it at lunch, on your way home, on your way into town on the bus etc etc.

 

[geordiemp]

"I can buy a Switch so it must not be selling well."

No, but once switch gets past a new consoles 3-12 month period where consoles remain in Stock it becomes clearer what the sales trajectory will be.

I am not sure where we are in that cycle in each country, but in UK it is readily available.

In US maybe close 'possibly', in japan not for a while maybe, but who knows ?

 

[Jubenhimer]

If hardcore gaming is partly defined by the desire to play video games as often as possible, I'd say the Switch is hugely appealing. Play a fully featured console game at home, pack it in your bag, play the exact same game with the exact same featureset on your commute, play it at lunch, on your way home, on your way into town on the bus etc etc.

Of course, nobody's denying the Switch doesn't have appeal to hardcore gamers, or that they weren't an audience Nintendo had in mind. However, that's not the Switch's primary mission statement as a product. The Switch was designed to be as versatile and universal to as many people as possible, but it's primary goal was to simplify console gaming for the mobile crowd.

It's like a well written kid show in that sense. It's primarily for an audience outside ours, but it's so well made that anyone can enjoy it.

 

[BrokenJohnCena]

No, but once switch gets past a new consoles 3-12 month period where consoles remain in Stock it becomes clearer what the sales trajectory will be.

I am not sure where we are in that cycle in each country, but in UK it is readily available.

In US maybe close 'possibly', in japan not for a while maybe, but who knows ?

If it sells well at second year then the goalpost will me moved to “wait until the third year”.We already went from dead from arrival -> wait until the second month-> it will collapse after MK8D-> wait until the honeymoon is over-> wait until summer-> it sure will collapse before Odyssey-> Destiny 2 will blah blah blah blah blah-> wait until the second year