Games Industry recently had the opportunity to chat with former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime about how Nintendo can prolong the Nintendo Switch family of systems lifecycle. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in February this year that the Nintendo Switch is halfway through its lifecycle so he suggested ways the Kyoto-based company could continue momentum going forward before they release the Switch’s eventual successor. Reggie pointed out various things such as a mid-cycle upgrades, pricing changes, and producing content of value. As most gamers would attest, the most important thing a software and hardware company can do is to continue producing quality software that will move the hardware. Here’s Reggie’s thoughts:
“So let’s just acknowledge that moving from one successful platform to the next is incredibly difficult and challenging to do,” he says.
“Specific to Nintendo and Switch, the company has also said that in their view the Switch is still halfway through its lifecycle. If that’s true, the company needs to be thinking about what it’s going to do over the next four or five years to continue the core business momentum for the Switch. Then it’s about following the heels of that and what the future holds. It’s quite a heavy lift to be done.
“I believe that, first and foremost, you need to be thinking about the content pipeline and what’s going to keep players engaged. I do think you have to look at history and what have been some of the historical tactics that have worked to maintain a lifecycle of a particular generation — and that includes everything from mid-cycle upgrades to thinking about pricing and value. There’s a number of different tactics you can play, but fundamentally the content pipeline needs to be there.
“I continue to be very active in this industry, I’m active as an investor and advisor, and I think that being aware of demographic changes and geographic opportunities, about how technology is continuing to evolve, these are all things a company like Nintendo needs to be thinking about in order to launch the system after Switch.”
Reggie marketing the Switch for his friend Iwata. His points are exactly what you and I think too. At this rate once the Switch that is on par or slightly weaker than the series and and PS5, it’s wraps for the industry. What am au saying lol. Nintendo already always was the industry leader. As should always be for the sake of our hobby.
F=ma.
They can but not always needed. The OLED model isn’t an upgrade it’s an update aka revision 3.0 of Switch R2.0. it’s also too late for one since we are entering beginning stages for next gen that might come out in a couple years.
Nintendo Switch does indeed has a major impact for the industry after it’s released in March 2017 and it’s still has a little potential left before we can move forward to the next gen system. Nintendo is always extra careful on what content or technology they are porting to the next gen system down the pipeline. I can’t say much about this article but at least Reggie knows exactly what’s going on for the Switch lifespan.
5 year console cycles are the max for me. Nintendo already passed that and the games show, they were already behind when they released.
Thank goodness the steamdeck released, now I don’t have to worry so much about 3rd party games for a few years but the 1st party are still stuck unfortunately.
I feel bad for xenoblade games. The world’s are great but the games are definitely not lookers lol either way now that switch isn’t the only portable option I’m happy to keep it for the first party content.
Yeah that I can agree too. However, Nintendo Switch still has a lot of third party support from every gaming industry. Also, the last part you said, I can agree too that also.