With the price of the Switch 2 set to increase and still no sign of a first party Direct, a reader worries that Nintendo is backing itself into a corner it may not escape from.
The Switch 2 is going to be one year old in less than a month and things are… fine? Bad? Weird? It’s hard to say. For the fastest selling console in history, it doesn’t really feel like they’ve hit it out of the park and almost all the news about it this year has been negative. Sales are down, prices are up, and we’re going to be halfway through 2026 before Nintendo even announce a major new game (I assume, they’ve not actually promised anything in terms of a proper Nintendo Direct).
People were saying pretty early on last year that it seemed like Nintendo didn’t have a plan for the Switch 2, and were just flying by the seat of their pants in terms of the games, and it’s hard to deny that, even though you know it can’t be true because they had ages to plan and no deadline for when they had to release it.
I think it’s fair to assume that maybe the games all took longer to make than they were expecting, given the next gen graphics. That would explain the empty open world in Mario Kart World, the variable quality of the worlds in Donkey Kong Bananza, and the fact they’ve had nothing out this year except a Pokémon game (which is apparently great, but Nintendo didn’t make it).
The problem with Nintendo at the moment is that everything seems to have stalled. Sales have stalled, new releases have stalled, and news has stalled. They’ve kind of wasted the whole first half of the year and the only thing any sizeable number of people are looking forward to is Pokémon Winds and Waves, which isn’t out till next year – and probably quite late next year.
We’ve got Star Fox 64 remake of a remake coming out this summer, and that Splatoon single-player game, but there’s no big hitters anywhere to be seen. Not a word on 3D Mario and only a rumour of a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake. If that’s real it will placate a lot of fans, because nostalgia always does, but it’s a cheap trick they can’t keep using.
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I’m not going to try and predict what will be announced at the Direct, whenever they decide to have it, because I’m not psychic. My point is that if Nintendo don’t have a good summer, in terms of their Direct and hyping people up about new games, then they’re in trouble.
Their console isn’t a disaster, but it isn’t wowing anyone either. It’s had good games but no new IP and no big new ideas. The console seems powerful but none of Nintendo’s games have taken advantage of that. We know almost nothing about most of their big franchises and there’s no sign of them bringing back any of their smaller ones – instead they’re weirdly concentrating on the middling ones.
Fire Emblem and Star Fox and Splatoon aren’t top tier Nintendo in terms of quality or popularity and they’re not bottom either, but for some reason that’s the level of game they keep going after. I don’t even know where you’d put Kirby Air Riders but that almost felt like trolling, making that a priority.
Nintendo has got to get this show on the road. It’s not their fault they’ve got to increase prices, I think everyone accepts that, but it is their fault they’re giving us nothing to look forward and still haven’t produced a cast iron classic for the console yet, when the Switch 1 had two or more at this point.
I guess what I’m really hoping is that Nintendo understands the dangers. It often seems like the guys in Japan don’t really understand how Western gamers think, by which I mean how irrational and impatient we can be. I’m not even convinced there will be a summer Direct, let alone a good one.
If they don’t fix things in the next few months, when are they going to? And if the Direct is another minimum effort, with just the Zelda remake and not much else, I’m not sure that’s enough to keep people excited or defend against the rising wave of dissatisfaction.
PlayStation 6 and Project Helix may be just around the corner and while I doubt Nintendo has much to worry about from Xbox that’s going to take eyes, and wallets, away from the Switch 2. And unless Nintendo starts providing some good reasons to care they may not come back again.
By reader Max Power
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