Let's face it. Nintendo has been absolutely thriving both as a company and worldwide brand these last seven years since the original Switch launched. In fact, I'd argue that Nintendo as a brand today is the strongest it has ever been since its dominant period in the 80's and early 90's with the NES.
March 3, 2017 marked the beginning of a new era for Nintendo with the launch of their greatest success to date
But one could also argue that we've been in this twilight period of first-party Nintendo software on the Switch for the last year or so, with most of their "major" releases coming in the form of ports or light remasters/remakes of older titles. If the Switch wasn't bolstered by such a strong third-party library to help fill in the gaps between those Nintendo releases that might have been a slight issue for Switch owners, but all things considered I think that it's a factor in the stars aligning for one hell of a launch for the Switch 2 next year.
I, like many others, was very sad to hear reports that the late 2024 launch had been delayed into 2025 in order for Nintendo to better meet the anticipated hardware demand. That's just because I'm impatient and want a more powerful Switch successor ASAP, but I think that added time it going to make it a staggeringly successful lead-up and release going into next year. If this happens it's pretty significant for a number of reasons. For one, it will be a deviation from the tick-tock cycle that Nintendo has been in for a while with their home consoles alternating between success and failure with each generation. The Switch has been their greatest success in their long history, so if the Switch 2 could potentially match that or even come close it would be incredible both for Nintendo and consumers IMO.
Secondly, that kind of success would be unique in this tumultuous current gaming landscape and possibly have a ripple effect similarly to how the Switch capitalized on the blue ocean of hybridized console/handheld offerings. Traditional console sales have been contracting lately both in terms of hardware and software, and Nintendo has been riding high with their AA budgets and high software sales for years now while their peers have been in a downward spiral of increasingly unsustainable AAA development practices and selling hardware as a loss-leader to get people into their digital ecosystems. Nintendo has been relatively old-school with the Switch and has seen remarkable success in doing so, and I can't help but think if a repeat of that with the Switch 2 would more definitively legitimize their approach as maybe the healthier one going forward.
The Mario movie's record-setting success will likely have notable knock-on effects going into the future for Nintendo
So that's the setup for the potential backdrop for the eventual Switch 2 launch early next year, but I think it's important to also consider the software side of this equation as well. It's clear that the bigger internal teams within Nintendo have been cooking up sequels to their biggest mainline franchises for a good while now in complete secrecy, and as a result I think it's likely that the Switch 2 will be able to launch with a killer app (or two) similarly to how BotW launched with the Switch. I don't think I need to explain what a difference that can make for the adoption rate of a new console, especially these days. I think that the slight launch delay is going to allow Nintendo to line up an absolutely sensational bevy of quality releases on the Switch 2, evenly metered out over the first year or two of its lifecycle to drive sales. I think it's quite likely that they'll start things off with a big bang in the form of the next full-fledged Mario Kart sequel, and it's safe to assume that that would drive a ton of demand for the new console Day 1.
The sales potential for a true successor to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is astronomical
This is all coming off of the astronomical success of the Mario movie and the launch of the Nintendo areas in Universal parks in both Japan and California too. But the biggest potential boon in this area for them will come with the opening of Epic Universe in Orlando, FL next year. If the park is completed on time, that will be one hell of a one-two punch for Nintendo in 2025: launching their Switch successor at around the same time as the flagship version of their theme parks opens up in the tourism capital of the world. It just feels like a perfect storm for them, and if they don't make any egregious business mistakes along the way it could set them on a path for continued success that others in the industry could only dream of right now.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asmd0jGpg9o
I understand that Nintendo isn't for everyone, so much of this might read like pure fanboyism. Don't misunderstand, I am a Nintendo fan and like to see them succeed because that means more of the games that I love from them can be made and sold to me. I'm also a big proponent of some of their business practices compared to their competition in the industry, but I won't go down that rabbit hole in this OP. But even if you don't care for Nintendo, I'd like to think that you could have a rational opinion on what their 2025 might look like with all things considered. What do you think?
March 3, 2017 marked the beginning of a new era for Nintendo with the launch of their greatest success to date
But one could also argue that we've been in this twilight period of first-party Nintendo software on the Switch for the last year or so, with most of their "major" releases coming in the form of ports or light remasters/remakes of older titles. If the Switch wasn't bolstered by such a strong third-party library to help fill in the gaps between those Nintendo releases that might have been a slight issue for Switch owners, but all things considered I think that it's a factor in the stars aligning for one hell of a launch for the Switch 2 next year.
I, like many others, was very sad to hear reports that the late 2024 launch had been delayed into 2025 in order for Nintendo to better meet the anticipated hardware demand. That's just because I'm impatient and want a more powerful Switch successor ASAP, but I think that added time it going to make it a staggeringly successful lead-up and release going into next year. If this happens it's pretty significant for a number of reasons. For one, it will be a deviation from the tick-tock cycle that Nintendo has been in for a while with their home consoles alternating between success and failure with each generation. The Switch has been their greatest success in their long history, so if the Switch 2 could potentially match that or even come close it would be incredible both for Nintendo and consumers IMO.
Secondly, that kind of success would be unique in this tumultuous current gaming landscape and possibly have a ripple effect similarly to how the Switch capitalized on the blue ocean of hybridized console/handheld offerings. Traditional console sales have been contracting lately both in terms of hardware and software, and Nintendo has been riding high with their AA budgets and high software sales for years now while their peers have been in a downward spiral of increasingly unsustainable AAA development practices and selling hardware as a loss-leader to get people into their digital ecosystems. Nintendo has been relatively old-school with the Switch and has seen remarkable success in doing so, and I can't help but think if a repeat of that with the Switch 2 would more definitively legitimize their approach as maybe the healthier one going forward.
The Mario movie's record-setting success will likely have notable knock-on effects going into the future for Nintendo
So that's the setup for the potential backdrop for the eventual Switch 2 launch early next year, but I think it's important to also consider the software side of this equation as well. It's clear that the bigger internal teams within Nintendo have been cooking up sequels to their biggest mainline franchises for a good while now in complete secrecy, and as a result I think it's likely that the Switch 2 will be able to launch with a killer app (or two) similarly to how BotW launched with the Switch. I don't think I need to explain what a difference that can make for the adoption rate of a new console, especially these days. I think that the slight launch delay is going to allow Nintendo to line up an absolutely sensational bevy of quality releases on the Switch 2, evenly metered out over the first year or two of its lifecycle to drive sales. I think it's quite likely that they'll start things off with a big bang in the form of the next full-fledged Mario Kart sequel, and it's safe to assume that that would drive a ton of demand for the new console Day 1.
The sales potential for a true successor to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is astronomical
This is all coming off of the astronomical success of the Mario movie and the launch of the Nintendo areas in Universal parks in both Japan and California too. But the biggest potential boon in this area for them will come with the opening of Epic Universe in Orlando, FL next year. If the park is completed on time, that will be one hell of a one-two punch for Nintendo in 2025: launching their Switch successor at around the same time as the flagship version of their theme parks opens up in the tourism capital of the world. It just feels like a perfect storm for them, and if they don't make any egregious business mistakes along the way it could set them on a path for continued success that others in the industry could only dream of right now.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asmd0jGpg9o
I understand that Nintendo isn't for everyone, so much of this might read like pure fanboyism. Don't misunderstand, I am a Nintendo fan and like to see them succeed because that means more of the games that I love from them can be made and sold to me. I'm also a big proponent of some of their business practices compared to their competition in the industry, but I won't go down that rabbit hole in this OP. But even if you don't care for Nintendo, I'd like to think that you could have a rational opinion on what their 2025 might look like with all things considered. What do you think?
