The Nintendo Switch reveal was met with a lot of buzz when the announcement video was released yesterday, but it turns out that not everyone is entirely sold on it. At the end of the day, the Tokyo Stock Exchange revealed that the company’s shares were down by 6.5% following the console’s announcement.
Analyst Dr. Serkan Toto spoke with Games Industry International about this surprising drop, saying “Sorry, but is a portable/home console approach really that innovative in 2016? I am most concerned about the target group of the device: who else but die-hard Nintendo fans will buy the Switch?”
He goes on to say that “The Switch lacks a killer feature, and I think it will be very difficult for Nintendo to win back the casual gamers that are mostly on mobile now. In Japan, for example, the mobile gaming sector is already 2-3 times bigger than consoles. Even the PS4 struggles over here. It’s going to be a huge challenge to try to reverse that trend.”
Toto also adds that he’s unconvinced that Nintendo’s mobile titles like Super Mario Run will lead to mobile gamers shelling out money for console games, saying “I find it very difficult to picture a scenario where a critical number of mobile, free-to-play users converts to console and buy hard- and software for several hundred dollars upfront. Different markets, very difficult to bridge.”
These are all definitely good points, and ones that Nintendo is going to need to come up with answers for come March 2017. The Wii U was already a victim of the mobile gaming craze, and the fact that the Switch is now also mobile doesn’t mean that casual mobile users will want to start paying considerable money for a separate device and its games.
Published: Oct 21, 2016 09:47 am