Close to four years ago, the Nintendo's home console/handheld hybrid, cleverly titled Nintendo Switch, graced store shelves to high critical and commercial acclaim. With nearly half a decade under its belt, Nintendo fans are curious to what the future has in store for record breaking console.
Typical console trends dictate that a video game console has roughly five years of life before moving onto the next generation. Of course there are fluctuations where a console like the Sega Dreamcast lasts much shorter or Sony's PlayStation 4 lasts nearly seven years. However, Nintendo of America President, Doug Bowser, suggests that the Nintendo Switch is only halfway into its life with an expectancy of eight years.
Doug Bowser was recently interviewed with gaming outlet Polygon, where he discussed the future of the company as well as the Nintendo Switch itself. Bowser stressed that Nintendo plans to continue their strong focus on the Switch, which makes sense as it was the best selling console of November, beating out the brand new PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. Bowser went on to reference an interview with Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo of Japan's President, who went on to say that the Switch is at the midpoint of its expected life cycle. With its constant success, it makes sense that Nintendo would want to continue to put all its efforts into making the most out of its incredibly successful console.
Even in the past four years, fans have been treated to new iterations of their favorite franchises like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros: Ultimate, as well as ports of Wii U favorites like Pikmin 3: Deluxe and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Even remakes of classic games like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening have made their way over. With a library as expansive and appealing as this, it's not hard to figure out why the Switch has been so successful.
With 2020 winding down, fans are thirsty for news on what games they can expect to see in 2021. Previously announced titles like the long-awaited Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 have yet to show off any gameplay or hard release dates, so its certainly possible at least one of them could launch by the end of the year.
While the future of game releases is a bit uncertain, it doesn't look like the Switch is losing its steam any time soon. And with the premiere of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios, Nintendo seems to be on a path of incredible success.
The Nintendo Switch is available now.
Source: Polygon