Nintendo couldn’t screw up 2025’s Switch 2 launch, no matter how hard it tried

That sounds like an enviable position to be in, and it is, but leader of the pack is never where Nintendo has been at its most innovative or at ease with itself. Strangely for such a conservative company, Nintendo is never better than when throwing caution to the wind on the comeback trail from a timid failure — following the GameCube with the Wii, or the Wii U with the Switch. Putting its managers and designers in the position of responsibly managing success appears to stress them out, entrench their conservatism, and deplete their best ideas.