Nintendo: Where do they go from here?

I've been playing my Switch lately more often than not and it got me thinking.

Where are they going next with their hardware? If another handheld is in the offing, I just don't see how much more powerful they could make it without having to increase the size of the device. The Series X and and PS5 are big compared to previous versions precisely because heat has to be dissipated. The PS4 and PS4 pro were notoriously hot and loud when pressed to the limit. If Nintendo tries to match even the power of the PS4, they're going to run into heat issues if they release a handheld version.

Going the full-size console route is probably not a good idea either, because they are going toe-to-toe with MS and Sony.

I'm curious to read anyone else's take on this.

Thank you.

Nintendo is going to make another handheld. I suppose it's possible they will also make another home console that is not a handheld some day (though I doubt it will be their next device) but the handheld line has been keeping them afloat for a long time and is really their main business line. The Wii performed well but the DS performed even better. The Wii U was a disaster and the 3DS was a hit. Now the Switch is maybe their biggest hit of all time. The Gameboy and the Gameboy Advance were also hits. Nintendo has had multiple consoles that only did okay and their handheld line has always been a huge seller. They aren't abandoning handhelds.

Also Nintendo's developers are not set up to do massive AAA games to compete with PS5 games. The Switch is roughly at the level of the PS3 in terms of power (it's a little stronger; the PS3 could not have done Doom as well, but it's around there) and Nintendo has no experience with the modern AAA style. It would be very hard to get them up and running to compete with PS5 and Xbox Series X software.

So what does Nintendo do next? They release another handheld, likely a hybrid. They can absolutely increase the power significantly, and probably get 4K through DLSS. Nvidia developed DLSS and is the supplier for the Switch chip, so that's an obvious synergy. Mobile chips are set up differently than the types of chips used in PS5 and XBSX, and can be much more powerful at lower temperatures. Look at the current iPhone and you can see that the Switch is not nearly at the limit of what mobile chips can achieve (though of course it won't be as powerful as the most recent mobile phones because the next thing will cost much less.)

I think a Switch 2.0 is likely. The system was a huge hit, it satisfies the console and handheld market, it continues to be a top seller, why change horses midstream? Yes Nintendo has a history of switching things up, but it doesn't always. NES to SNES to Gamecube were all basically incremental upgrades. Even Wii U to Switch had a logic to it. DS to 3DS was mostly a power boost. So I think we're looking at a sequel to the Switch in 2022 as their next device.

After the Wii U disaster do you really think they're eager to make a radical change to a winning formula?

Nintendo have never been super concerned with matching the other larger consoles in terms of raw power, and Apple's iPad / M1 chips show that you can get a lot with passive cooling.

The Switch is powered by Nvidia + ARM chips, and since it's release, Nvidia have bought ARM, so I'd expect their SoC's to only get better as time goes on.

Switch RTX! (Nintendo would probably forgo real-time ray tracing and go for DLSS as the above poster proposed.)

Oh, and maybe fix/replace the Joy-Cons. However the Joy-Cons are made, their quality has been disappointing. I had to send mine in for replacement once I started using the Switch in handheld mode for Animal Crossing this year. What hurt the most is that before it was a pretty even split between Joy-Cons and the Switch Pro Controller, so ~3 years of 50/50 use was enough for mine to drift. It's technically marvelous that Nintendo was able to fit so much in to the tiny package of the Joy-Cons, but... probably in the top running for worst Nintendo controller in general? (Well, if a person despises motion controls, I guess that will always be the Wii remote + nunchuk.)

The Nvidia Tegra X1 chips in the Switch were 2-years-old when the Switch was released in 2017, and really disappointed/disillusioned the folks that were really hoping for some secret mobile top-performer hardware or Nvidia mobile chips that were based on the then-new Pascal architecture. So, a Switch successor with a new Nvidia solution powering it will be a good leap. When you see games like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity or Daemon X Machina chug on the Switch, it will be nice to have some more powerful hardware to smooth things out.

The trouble is what Nintendo will be thinking in terms of timing and forwards/backwards compatibility. Will they go with how Microsoft Xbox is doing? Or do they "believe in generations" as much as Sony PlayStation is? Or will they find a "Nintendo-like Solution" to muck everything up?

Also, it's a bit of coin-flip if Nintendo is even interested in only a straight-power bump. The last time that happened was from the NES to the SNES. For me, I'm kinda hoping for a straight power-bump for whatever hybrid system comes after the Switch. Also, I hope that is soon; Switch is starting to feel very rickety when I start looking in to the latest System-on-a-Chip solutions for the latest gamer smartphones or what Apple is doing with their ARM based Macbooks.

@eribuster: Nintendo has a very strong record on backwards compatibility. Wii was backwards compatible with Gamecube. Wii U was backwards compatible with Wii. Gameboy Advance could play Gameboy games. DS with Gameboy Advance. 3DS with DS.

I would be surprised if the Switch 2 is not BC with Switch 1.

Also Nintendo's history of "straight power bumps" vs radical changes depends on how you define them. SNES to N64 did go from 2D to 3D, but that was the straight power bump of the time. Same with Genesis to Saturn (and even Genesis to 32X.) N64 to Gamecube did move from cartridges to discs, but that was obviously necessary by that point, and otherwise it basically just changed the controller a little.

It's only Gamecube to Wii, Wii to Wii U, and Wii U to Switch that really changed things up radically.

On the handheld side I guess you can argue that Gameboy Advance to DS was a big change, but DS to 3DS wasn't.

So Nintendo has a long history of both backwards compatibility and creating new systems that are basically just more powerful than old ones, even though there are exceptions to both.

They should make more games that aren't old ass Wii U games.

If they really make a NEW system and not some half step thing next year, I will be sorely disappointed with their current game lineup.

But even if it's some new thing, they will almost definitely do another hybrid console again. I guess it will be a marginally more powerful hybrid console, but it will have some weird twist, or new controllers, so you HAVE to get the new thing to play the next Zelda or whatever.

As long as they stop it with the Wii U ports.

@superfriend: I get what you're saying, but it's funny that you picked Zelda as your example because both Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild had versions on the prior generation of hardware.

Also you don't need to worry about Wii U ports because that system is basically out of games to port. That's why they started porting N64, Gamecube, and Wii games with Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I for one am excited for the hot new holiday 2022 release of Chibi Robo HD!

@bigsocrates: They're not totally out yet. If you told me tomorrow that they announced a switch port of Xenoblade Chronicles X or Windwaker HD I would not be surprised at all. They're thin on games to port from Wii U but there are a couple that people would still be happy to see.

If they managed to cook something up like DSS with Nvidia I can imagine that they will be able to provide a sizeable graphics jump compared to Switch.

Full on VR/AR on a system that can be fully used on the go. Playing it as a home console it will be an AR machine that puts the hud overlaid perfectly on any tv with effects that spill out of the screen... Or maybe just much better switch and turn it into a rolling platform.

Nintendo is the one major company in games I feel like you can't really predict. They zig when everyone else zags. At least since the Gamecube was a semi-flop that's been their MO, subvert expectations and do their own thing while leaving the standard console war battle to Sony and MS.

@mezza: Windwaker and Twilight Princess HD are coming probably next year, but those are really Gamecube games not Wii U games. I guess Windwaker is more questionable because it had substantial work done to it.

Monolith has said that Xenoblade Chronicles X isn't coming because it would essentially have to be remade from scratch, but I guess never say never on that kind of thing.

The well isn't completely dry but it's getting there.

We're already starting to see the Wii Ports with No More Heroes. Bring on Zak and Wiki HD! I'm not even sure if I'm being sarcastic there.

I am hoping we'll just see a Switch 2 (eventually) that's a big upgrade from Switch technically but with the same convenient form factor. Somehow though I imagine that Nintendo is going to do something wild like AR.

I hope they take their time as it's been repeatedly shown that graphics generate headlines, but they don't necessarily move units (Fortnite, PUBG, Fall Guys, and Among Us are currently largely the hottest games, for instance), so as far as I'm concerned: "the portable console I play indie games and high quality, fun 1st party stuff on" is a business model I'll support as long as the output is there.

I feel like they set the trends that everyone winds up following, sometimes to incredibly mixed results, and while things like LABO and the kart racer might not set the world on fire, it's cool that they have the fallback of the Switch selling ludicrously well to be able to just think up weird shit like that.

I mean you can't look at their SNES streaming games and not think, "That sure is a lot of weird shit."

I think it's still early for Nintendo to move on from the Switch brand and library. The hardware hasn't quite been out for 4 years, and the Breath of the Wild sequel, Metroid Prime 4, and Bayonetta 3 are all pretty major titles that we haven't seen much of yet. They have moved on quickly from consoles that

I think they will redesign and upgrade the hardware while maintaining software compatibility. They'll still work with Nvidia, and they'll put a 1080p screen on the console while supporting 4K output to TVs. I wouldn't bet on DLSS, though. That's AI-based upscaling on a per-game basis, and to me that doesn't seem like something Nintendo would fuss with.

I'd expect it to be close enough to the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, the way the Switch is close enough to the base PS4 and Xbox One.

I bet they're going to break compatibility with the old dock and Joy-Cons, too. No plugging your OG switch into the 4K dock. I do think there will be backwards compatibility with the current controllers, just not physically attached on the side of the new Switch.

So I don't anticipate them truly moving on from the Switch until 2025 at the earliest. The question of what happens after that is interesting, though! Will they be comfortable having found their niche, and continually refine the hybrid handheld console? Or will they feel the need to innovate, or perhaps even directly compete on a tech level again?

Somehow I managed to both answer the question and leave it right back where it started. Oh well!

Attach 2 Switches on top of each other and call it the Swich 2DS.

I expect mostly iteration from them at this point. 4K support seems likely (though probably without many bells & whistles). I think the biggest hurdle for their scaling is not heat but storage, at least from the POV of iterating on the current cartridge-based platform.

Maybe they'll stick some cameras on Switch 2 and call it Switch-ii. I *don't* expect them to appreciably improve on voice chat and social aspects of their platform.

@quantris: Oh, you mean the sWiitch?

@bisonhero: It's an homage to both the Wii and the DS-i !

Strap it to your face and embrace WiiR.

Considering the Switch was the highest selling console of this past quarter I don't think they need to do much of anything.

The main focus for 2021 should be getting their dev pipeline back into place. This year was pretty light thanks to the pandemic and getting some bigger releases ready for each quarter would easily get their year back on track.

Even long term, I assume there's a hardware refresh in line. I just don't know how or what they do. Improving internal specs at that size might cost more and split development. Not to mention splitting your install base if games don't run well on everything released so far.

Whatever seems like the best decision is the opposite of what they'll do, because Nintendo. Everyone is making arguments for a more powerful 4K switch and it just makes me think they're going to make a version that's smaller and cheaper.

And it'll probably still sell like crazy.

There is always a chip that is developed that does not need huge cooling. I think Nintendo has a few options for newer CPU/GPU and there is always faster RAM and storage to be found. So a "Switch 2" could easily be more powerful while being the same size or smaller. Likely by the time they would need to make a Switch 3 they will have options for bigger, brighter, higher resolution screens too.

The bigger question for all the console makers is where is gaming going. What sorts of game will be big in the next decade? What sort of delivery (date, games) will most people be use most? When will APple actully get serious about games???? ...Oh, they keep saying they are getting serious about games; but I think they care 10,000x more about autonomous cars then they do about gaming! LOL

I've got an M1 MacBook Air and this this can run emulated x86 based games inside of an emulated version of Windows all without a fan. I'm sure that whatever Nvidia is doing with ARM will be fine for whatever Nintendo needs.