Well, then there won’t be a Switch Pro in 2023 – if the analysts are right, sometimes they aren’t. Whatever, then Nintendo doesn’t get easy money on the fly at the end of the console’s lifetime. Maybe it’s better that way, who knows if a half-hearted memory and CPU upgrade still makes such a big difference that you pay another 300 euros after the meager OLED update.
I would imagine that compatibility is one of the biggest considerations. The Nintendo Switch has been on the back burner in terms of hardware performance since it was released. If a model comes along that perhaps has twice the performance, then there will soon be too many smaller titles that don’t allow themselves the optimization of a Nintendo and then only run properly on the new model, but then only technically on the old one start seen and then crawl along with 8 frames. That would make the 100 million install platform look bad overall.
So then just a successor next year. I hope that Nintendo stays true to the successful concept of the semi-mobile, semi-stationary console and doesn’t completely reinvent itself again. If they like doing it, they’re often successful, but the Switch is so successful in that direction that I’d like to see the concept further developed. And above all, I want one thing: full backwards compatibility. Gone are the days when I would mothball a generation’s collection and start over without complaining.
Nintendo only recently learned online, but on the Wii it was all a bit of a catastrophe – as anyone who accidentally deleted their old Virtual Console titles knows. Or wanted to do anything else online. The Wii U drove a little better, but nobody noticed because (almost) nobody owned the console. Now on Switch everything works as it should, at least as far as the account connection of the purchased titles is concerned. Thanks to countless special offers, you have built up a solid collection, play this or that, it is no different than anywhere else.
But what has changed, and one can only hope that Nintendo isn’t two generations behind in this learning process, is that while new hardware needs new games, the old ones aren’t immediately passé. If you play Rise of the Tomb Raider on the latest PlayStation or Xbox today, you won’t technically get everything the console can do. But the gameplay, design and actually the technology in general is still up to the level that is needed to offer all the fun that you can have with the game. Backward compatibility isn’t the niche it was in PS 3 days. It’s just what I now expect to be able to play my collection normally.
Curved Labs has already thought about a Switch 2. If they are right, no one has to get used to it.
Nintendo has had a relatively good run when it comes to the general concept of backwards compatibility. The Wii could play GameCube, the Wii U both, the Switch could only do this due to the lack of a drive and the sensible account binding within a uniform network was still under construction. In this respect, I’m confident that Nintendo will stick to its tried-and-tested handheld hybrids as a concept and that yesterday’s games can also be played on tomorrow’s consoles. And if not, then the steam deck comes into the house. There’s worse than that.
