I Was Wrong, I’m Jazzed About The Nintendo Switch
Six months ago I wrote an article entitled “The Nintendo NX is coming in 2017…and I couldn’t care less”; in that article I broke down the reasons why the launch of another new system for Nintendo was just not something I cared about anymore, despite having been a Nintendo devotee for most of my childhood. That article raised a lot, and I mean a LOT, of heated discussions amongst our readers about whether I was right, whether I was truly a Nintendo “fanboy” or whether or not I was even qualified to be writing about gaming; despite all that, I still stand by that piece as it wasn’t merely a comment on why the NX wasn’t interesting, but how Nintendo’s missteps over the years lost my devotion. But now, Nintendo has officially unveiled the Switch (NX’s official name) and I find myself having to eat my words a little.
The Switch is an interesting piece of hardware, one that seems to marry Nintendo’s strong handheld market with its flailing console division. This is a move that can only prove to be beneficial for Nintendo in the long run as the company will no longer have a split personality and can singularly focus on developing for just one console. There are of course still a myriad of questions about the new console: what’s the battery life? How does connectivity work? What’s the actual specs of the device? And the list goes on. It’s far too early to be jumping on the Switch bandwagon, especially since I was so skeptical of the hardware just months ago, but for me, there is one reveal out of the announcement that is far more important than anything else Nintendo showcased, and it’s this image:
Not the sexiest image from the reveal, but it has singlehandedly taken me from not interested to cautiously optimistic.
Let me explain for a moment why this image will be the most crucial component of the Switch. In my previous article, I listed Square’s departure from Nintendo as one of the first major shifts towards Nintendo losing third-party credibility. Square Enix continued that trend by barely supporting the Wii or WiiU, BUT who do we see as one of the first third party supporters of the Switch….Square Enix. While one publisher like Square Enix does not make a good console, what does, is the very interesting list of publishers that are listed alongside them.
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“The Switch is an interesting piece of hardware, one that seems to marry Nintendo’s strong handheld market with its flailing console division.”
There are some very, very interesting names listed including Konami, Capcom, EA, Take Two, Telltale, Ubisoft, FROM Software and Bethesda. I can’t stress enough how important it is that these publishers have been listed as supporters of Switch. Take for a moment Take Two; Take Two wholly owns both 2K Interactive and Rockstar…yeah that’s kind of a big deal. Oh and it just so happens that Rockstar is working on Red Dead Redemption 2 with a 2017 release date. Now I’m not saying that RDR2 is guaranteed for the Switch, but that would be a HUGE win for Nintendo. As is FROM Software, the developers of the massively difficult, massively popular Dark Souls series. Could a Nintendo exclusive IP, like PlayStation’s Bloodborne be in the works?
And of course I’m not ignoring the elephant in the room, which is of course Bethesda who famously said the WiiU would not see any of their games due to hardware issues, and now is not only onboard with the Switch but Nintendo’s reveal also appears to feature a title that looks suspiciously like Skyrim…coincidence? I think not.
So thanks to a very smart unveil of strong third-party support, I now have to retract my previous statements. Once again Nintendo, you’ve managed to defy my expectations, and rather than not care at all, I’m now genuinely intrigued to see where this could lead.