Nintendo is mishandling the Switch 2 and fans are running out of patience – Reader’s Feature

With the latest Nintendo Direct proving a disappointment, a reader argues that Nintendo’s contrary nature is working against it with the Switch 2.

We’ve had three Nintendo Directs so far this year and they’ve all been boring and unnecessary. One for the new Super Mario Bros. movie, one on Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, and a Partner Showcase. The first two were what they were but the Partner Showcase could easily have just been part of a standard Nintendo Direct, because there were no big announcements and the mic drop moment was Bethesda – which I can’t imagine many people getting excited about.

Presumably Nintendo feel these Directs were worth it, or they wouldn’t have done them, but I can’t imagine what benefit they got out of them. By the end of last year people were already worried about the lack of big upcoming games and now they’re defintely looking for some reassurance of what’s coming up. They haven’t had that so far; if anything the Partner Showcase made things look even worse than ever, as it was missing several big games like Elden Ring.

All this has happened against a very confused backdrop as to how well the Switch 2 is doing, since it’s apparently both the fastest-selling console ever and a sales disappointment in the West. At the very least I think we can say the honeymoon period for the Switch 2 is over and I feel that if Nintendo does not turn things around soon then public opinion is going to turn against them.

We all know what Nintendo is like. They like to keep the cards close to their chest as long as possible and definitely don’t like to be predictable. That’s fine – I think we all just want Nintendo to do their thing, as weird as it sometimes seems – but at the moment it feels more like they’re being contrarian for the sake of it and I really don’t think they’re in a position to indulge their worst tendencies right now.

The problem is that both their best games – Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza – came out at launch and neither of them, I would say, are without their faults. They’re very good but they’re not top tier Nintendo. That’s fine in theory but only if you know what’s coming up, and can get excited about it, but I don’t think anyone bought a Switch 2 in order to play a new Mario Tennis or add some multiplayer modes to Super Mario Bros. Wonder. They were also probably hoping that Metroid Prime 4 would be worth the wait.

The Switch 2 will be a year old in a few months and we still have no idea about a new Super Mario (2D or 3D), a new Zelda (or remake), a new Splatoon (Splatoon Raiders seems to be a single-player spin-off), an Animal Crossing sequel (the Switch 2 Edition of New Horizons seems to rule that out for at least a year or two), Gen X of Pokémon, a Kirby platformer, Luigi’s Mansion 4, a new Paper Mario (they seemed to be building up to a new role-player with The Thousand-Year Door remake but so far, nothing), a new Pikmin, Xenoblade Chronicles, or any kind of fitness game like Ring Fit Adventure.

The only major game that’s properly been announced so far is a new Fire Emblem, which you would’ve thought should be a very low priority, given how relatively niche it is. Not to spoil anyone’s fun but I find it hard to imagine many people are going to rush out to buy a Switch 2 because a new Fire Emblem is coming to it.

I often wonder whether Nintendo’s Western divisions spend most of their days pleading with Japan to be less secretive but it’s worth pointing out that they’re being worse now than they were for the launch of the Switch 1. That had a tease for Super Mario Odyssey. It was only a few seconds, and they didn’t say what it was, but that’s all we need at this point.

Because we haven’t got that fans either have to blindly trust Nintendo knows what they’re doing or they begin to worry that they’ve lost the plot and most of the games are going to be years away. Most people will trust Nintendo in terms of game quality, but not in terms of business decisions, which they are definitely not infallible about.

I just think they’re playing all this wrong and if we don’t get a very good Nintendo Direct very soon then those underperforming Western sales figures are going to get even worse.

By reader Olliephant

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