OK, so I came out and (let's be honest, probably correctly) predicted the Nintendo Switch would not be a success. Many of you were quick to suggest I was wrong. Serious question, since the January 13th reveal and subsequent reaction, how many of you have now reevaluated your opinion and are starting to see sense?
Honestly, I'm more of the mind that your prediction will end up being incorrect as we near the beginning of the Switch era. A lot of people are down on the Switch right now because there was some point they didn't like in the presentation. Whether it was the cost, the news of paying for online, the amount of games shown or a game reveal they didn't care for, it just seems there was something to be disappointed about. At the same time, there was also stuff to like and be interested in. What I'm seeing more and more as we move on from the presentation is caution. Because there are a lot of things that still interest people about the system, (and its portability still seems to be one of the biggest draws for many) I do think more people are willing to give it a chance. It just has to overcome a factor for each customer whether it be something like price or more game announcements.
The AV Club had a write-up on the Switch I was reading the other day and you can see this attitude
in the write-up and comments below. The reviewer found a lot to like and a lot that interested him about the system while there were still a couple things he was also wary about. It was interesting to read the comments after though. Even though you get a few of the usual comments like people wishing Nintendo would go third party so they could just play everything on their PS4 or wanting to release a console in similar specs to the competition, there are a lot of people who talk about being interested in the Switch for some reason or other whether it be the games, portability or the controllers. It's interesting to see other people's comments outside of these forums which can be a bit of an echo chamber sometimes.
Heck, I've got a friend who's never been much of a Nintendo fan or gamer. He's stuck with Sony systems for some time. Was an early adopter of the PSP and critical of the DS in its early lifespan. Kind of also a Sega fan too. I sent him an e-mail asking if he was excited about the Switch presentation. Of course, he didn't really know about it going on. Anyways, we talked a bit after the presentation and he ended up watching it a day later and wrote back saying "I must say I haven't been this excited for a Nintendo release before...assuming I can afford it, it'll be a day 1 purchase (hooray no region lock!)." His exact words which really surprised me.
So, yes, there might be some growing pains at first with the Switch but as more games come out for it and/or the price does get lowered a bit, I can see sales for it really taking off or at least it selling at higher rate than the Wii U or GameCube even. Of course, there is the chance of outside factors affecting things like possible trade agreements changing the cost and distribution of things but I'm not interested in steering the conversation into political waters so that's all I will mention on that. The point being that if outside factors stay as is then I do think Nintendo can win over more consumers as time goes by unlike with the Wii U where they just couldn't change the negative perception. There may be some negativity with the Switch right now but at least there is a lot of positivity with it too that can yet be tapped into which didn't exist with the Wii U.
Topic: Not a hater but... (future prediction) (Read 135123 times)
