You need compelling games to sell your hardware, and Zelda isn't enough to tide over any kind of momentum over months. It's crazy that we waited so long for this.
It's a pretty impressive launch year, don't you think? If we look at the XB1 and PS4 launch years I don't think you can point out very many compelling experiences. PS4 in particular had a really abysmal launch year, XB1 had a decent one but I don't think either of them compete with the first 9 months of the Switch as far as exclusive titles are concerned. When's the last time we had a Zelda, Mario and Mario Kart for a new system in the first nine months? However, this isn't the PS4/XB1 launch year, so I do think Nintendo have to step it up quickly since their competition is hitting their strides, but just wanted to bring up launch year woes to the discussion.
The chief concern is really the concern surrounding Nintendo for a while and that's third party, specifically western third party commitment. I think having FIFA and NBA there is a nice touch, and I know some fans that would love the experience of it on the go, but whether that'll be a gangbusters deal is yet to be seen. Some core people might not care as much because of muh realism, but the prospect of FIFA/NBA on the go might invigorate others.
I think the big complaint is that Nintendo didn't show enough for further in the future. To me, it's a tough call. You have Sony and MS announcing titles years in advance (Wasn't Deep Down shown at the PS4 reveal?) for no particular reason other than hypeintensifing.gif. I like the approach of Nintendo that mostly shows games that are more or less on the horizon. No More Heroes was the only title shown that doesn't have release date, right? Was late for me, so I can't remember if there were others. I can see why this would deflate some people though, but it's not really Nintendo's fault, it's more because that's the culture we gamers have grown accustom to. You could argue that Nintendo should adapt and do the same, but I think some people like the announce and play it soon approach that they take, but it obviously leaves room for disappointment when Retro doesn't show up again and the like, but leave a few exceptions they're really modest with their showings versus the other two hardware manufactures are predominantly looking further into the future, especially early on. So it's a hard topic, for sure. I think from a marketing perspective it would've been smarter to say, "Hey look, here's Retro, here's this western game, and that! Coming 2019!"
I personally think some of the disappointment comes from the format. I said from the get-go it should've just been a direct. Directs are incredible, controlled and neat; you don't have to worry about translators stumbling over themselves nor stage presenters doing some awkward skit. The suda51 illustration segment is a good example of that. Sony and MS have great marketing/PR people right now and they have really charismatic people up on stage generally. Reggie has a good stage presence, so it's a bit odd to me that he wasn't the one up there honestly, I think a lot of the negativity comes from the presentation itself and not what was actually shown. Think that's solidified by the intense negative reactions at first, but with the treehouse event more people seemed to have come around and aren't completely shitting on the thing.
Another point you could look toward is, I think they may have overextended themselves in the teaser. They showed all the big games in that little teaser, so seeing them on stage wasn't as jaw dropping as it would've otherwise been since the element of surprise wasn't there. People expected Mario since he was there in the teaser, same with Mario Kart and Splatoon, their surprises were all smaller Japanese titles and new IPs. (Which focused on motion in the videos, so it went back on their original message that this was a core gaming machine, honestly they should've shown ARMS with both the joy-con and Pro) Had they of held back on Mario in the teaser, I think it would've made a bigger splash, just as every other Mario game in the first year has.
At the very least, this wasn't a XB1 reveal level disaster. (Even though XB1 reveal had some good games as well, but the messaging again fucked the entire presentation).
What does everyone think?