The Nintendo Switch holds a lot of potential for its unique concept of hybrid gaming. But potential alone may not be enough to sustain its longevity and is at risk to repeat the Wii U's mistakes.
When the Wii U launched back in 2012, like all Nintendo devices, it featured a unique concept that eventually turned out to be a gimmick. It tried to replicate the success of the Wii that expanded its market to non-gamers and at the same time, bring the 3DS' dual screen set up to the living room. The Wii U ultimately failed despite the release of a handful of great first party games. From the looks of things, the Nintendo Switch is bound to repeat its predecessor's mistakes if Nintendo fails to add and improve certain aspects of the new console.
The Nintendo Switch is Nintendo's best-designed hardware in recent memory. It's a huge improvement over the Wii U and the 3DS as it provides a premium and innovative experience of portable console gaming. Its key feature of transitioning from a couch and TV setup to a portable tablet gaming is simply magic according to some reviewers. But then again, aside from one great game in Zelda, that is all the Nintendo Switch has to offer.
As of now, the Nintendo Switch can be considered as a beta release as a lot of essential features are still missing with the promise of future updates that will fix. Like all Nintendo devices, it still has problems in its online capabilities. The return of the friend code makes it harder for gamers to add their friends as it requires gamers to memorize a random combination of 12 digits specific to the owner.
A dedicated messaging app for the Nintendo Switch is also glaring omission on the device. Furthermore, essential tablet functions like a web browser and media playback capabilities severely reduce its market potential to expand to tablet users. The Nintendo Switch missed the opportunity to be the device to replace the iPad.
Unlike the Wii U however, the Nintendo Switch does have the support of several developers outside of Nintendo including independent developers to provide a steady stream of games.
But great games alone can't ensure success as seen in past Nintendo consoles dating back to the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo Switch may be off to a great start with an exceptional piece of hardware but that doesn't assure its success.
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