As Sony and Microsoft continue to step on pitchforks, Nintendo has suddenly found itself in a prime position with the Switch 2.
The future of consoles has been a hanging concern for some time, but the negative sentiment has grown exponentially in the last few months. Xbox is stuck between a rock and a hard place with Project Helix, as it prepares to shutter studios, cancel games, and terminate any goodwill it may have left. Meanwhile, Sony is ceasing physical discs from 2028, because bad PR has clearly become a competitive sport.
The circumstances surrounding some of these decisions can be blamed on external factors (or in the case of Microsoft, their own AI investments), but between the memory shortages and subsequent price hikes, console gaming has never felt so out of reach. If early reports are anything to go by, it will only get worse with the PlayStation 6 and Project Helix, with estimates that they could cost £1,000 or more.
As Sony and Microsoft compete to make their own gaming consoles as unappealing as possible, they’ve accidentally turned the Nintendo Switch 2 into the most attractive device on the market.
On price alone, the Nintendo Switch 2 is easily the most appealing. The base console costs £396, and even with the upcoming price increase in September, it won’t come close to the £520 price for the PlayStation 5 digital edition. The digital Xbox Series X, meanwhile, costs £450 in the UK, but it’s set to increase from August by around £100.
It’s worth remembering that the Nintendo Switch 2 launched last year, so while it isn’t as powerful as the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X (which both released in 2020), it’s a better futureproof investment in terms of first party support.
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Even as a third party machine though, the Switch 2 is more competitive than expected. We’ve already seen how the likes of Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, Star Wars Outlaws, and Indiana Jones And The Great Circle all run surprisingly well on the system. There are some inevitable graphical and frame rate compromises, but the gap between Nintendo’s console and its more powerful siblings is far slimmer than before.
For physical collectors, the Switch 2 has inadvertently become the most promising option too – despite the prevalence of Game-Key cards. Unlike the PlayStation 5 and Xbox versions, titles like Indiana Jones And The Great Circle and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered are all available on cartridge.
Of all the game companies, Nintendo is the most likely to stick with physical games the longest, because it currently has the lowest proportion of digital purchases – thanks to its larger casual audience.
And yet despite the massive success of the Switch 2, Nintendo hasn’t put its best foot forward in the system’s first year. The release slate is consistent, with new first party games almost every month (a much better clip compared to Sony and Microsoft), but the system is still lacking a killer app akin to The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.
We’ve highlighted before how Nintendo has been uncharacteristically conservative over the Switch 2’s run so far, with a stronger reliance on remakes and Switch 2 editions. It’s difficult to tell whether this will change in the coming years, and if it’s a by-product of the company adjusting to longer development cycles, but even with those caveats, it’s hard to argue that the Switch 2 isn’t the best console right now in terms of value.
At a time when memory prices are forcing games companies to make cutbacks in the fight for cutting edge technology, success in the future won’t be decided by flashy graphics or AI, but by value and competency.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is competitively priced, functions well, and has access to modern games and the best from Nintendo itself. It isn’t particularly exciting right now, but when Sony and Microsoft are making future consoles look untenable to the masses, the system’s stability and accessibility is the kind of lifeline the console business sorely needs.
Unexciting is vastly preferable to the unhinged mix of greed and contempt for its audience that Sony and Microsoft are currently trading in. Not that Nintendo doesn’t also suffer from both those faults but at this point all they have to do is keep their worst urges at bay, take a step back, and let the PlayStation and Xbox brands do their marketing for them.
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