Games Inbox: Will the Nintendo Switch 2 be a success?

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Too easy
I’m really worried about the Switch 2 (or New Switch, if they choose the worse name). Everything is poised for it to be even bigger than the Switch. It’ll be powerful enough to run third party games, Xbox and PlayStation are in disarray, and if you’re not a fan of live service games then Nintendo should have plenty to get you interested. So why do I get the feeling that Nintendo are going to mess it up?

Doing the obvious is just not what Nintendo is known for and I can’t see them doing any of what I’ve just written in the way we expect. Put it this way, when has Nintendo ever done what you expect, for good or bad? How many times have you been baffled by their decisions and thought they were doing the opposite of what they should – even if they’re later proved to be right and you wrong?

If success of the Switch 2 depends on Nintendo doing the obvious and logical thing then I think they’re doomed. Except they’ll then turn around and do something crazy and have huge success with it.

I’m half joking when I say all this but I’m also loving that it’s all so unpredictable and that whatever we think will happen almost certainly won’t. I’ll tell you what though, I’m 100% more positive about Nintendo’s future than I am Xbox or PlayStation. I’m also a lot more confident they’ll make a new game this side of next year that I’ll actually like.
Mantis

House call
Having seen that it was free on PS Plus and after reading your glowing review I tucked into the rather wonderful Animal Well last night. It’s all rather fantastically minimal with a great score, moody and effective graphics, and the puzzles are very entertaining. Best of all though is seeing the cat face image. Surely there’s a developer who’s watched the Japanese cult classic horror movie House and thought, ‘Yep that cat’s getting a cameo.’

I can thoroughly recommend both this game and that cult classic movie to anyone. Although maybe stay sober for the movie!
Wonk

GC: Why? The director clearly didn’t.

Bobby’s parting gift
That Activision news about a new studio is some of the strangest news I’ve heard in gaming for a while and let’s face it, this has been a pretty bonkers year. I just can’t imagine Bobby Kotick setting up a new developer in Poland to work on single-player story games.

But I also don’t see how it could be down to Microsoft, as they only bought them last autumn and the initial deal came about pretty quickly. Not that I’m knocking it, but it is literally the last thing I would’ve expected. I am now super interested to see what it turns out to be… and almost certainly setting myself up for a disappointment.

Assuming it was set up about three years ago though publishers were more into single-player story games then, even EA got into it, so maybe that’s the bandwagon Activision was jumping on? Still seems a bit bizarre though.
Gasket

GC: They didn’t say anything about it being single-player.

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Late to the party
If I didn’t know better I’d say Ubisoft purposefully picked the main characters for Assassin’s Creed Shadows because they knew it’d get people riled up. Not there is any defence for criticising the game for the character, but Ubisoft know exactly what they’re doing.

As for the game itself… even the pre-rendered trailer didn’t look as good as Ghost Of Tsushima and I severely doubt the combat will be as good as Rise Of The Rōnin (underrated game). People have been calling for an Assassin’s Creed set in Japan for years now, but they’ve left it too late. There are too many better alternatives and they’re either made by Japanese companies or have a lot of help from (like Ghost Of Tsushima).

Even from just watching the trailer you can tell exactly how the game plays and it already seems old-fashioned and redundant.
Pr0metheus

Keep it simple
I’m probably going over old ground but with all the talk of Switch 2 I am praying that Nintendo actually go with that name: Switch 2. It might not be very imaginative, but everybody will at least understand what it is and a repeat of the Wii U debacle can hopefully be avoided.

I’m the gamer in my family, but virtually everybody I knew had a Wii and then had absolutely no idea what a Wii U was. There were definitely people who thought it was some kind of peripheral for the original Wii, and I think even a name like Super Switch could cause similar confusion this time around.
MeddlingMonks

GC: You’re probably right.

Old blood
I was wondering why we’d never heard about Ubisoft laying off a bunch of people and now we find out they’ve already done it but were just sensible enough to do it more quietly than others. Still, absolutely terrible and I feel bad for the developers affected. 1,700 people is a ridiculous amount.

They also make it very clear that innovation is not on the table anymore, it’s live service games or open world games and nothing else. Although I suppose we should be grateful we even have the open world stuff, and that it’s generally single-player, because I get the feeling that’s going to become rare from other publishers in the future, perhaps even including Sony.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks fine, as much as you can tell from a pre-rendered trailer, but I can’t say I’m all that excited about any more of that series; likewise Far Cry. Ubisoft need to shake things up and dare to make some new franchises. I know the risks, but I would have thought the dangers of relying on increasingly stagnant games was just as bad.

Nothing lasts forever and Far Cry 12 and Assassin’s Creed 34 just doesn’t sound like something that could happen. At some point you need new blood, although I will accept that maybe now isn’t the best time for it, given how things are at the moment.
Hammeriron

Portable decisions
I would like to consult GC and their readers about something. I am thinking of getting one of those newfangled portable PCs but I am torn between the Steam Deck or ROG Ally.

I like the look and feel of the Steam Deck but I would like to get access to other launchers without too much fuss. On the other hand, the ROG Ally has higher specs, better screen, and speakers but I hear it has some weird bugs (it destroys SD cards?) and the battery does not last long. Choices, choices.
Ali K

GC: We haven’t used both enough to really say, but we’re sure a reader can help.

In for a penny…
If I had to guess I’d say that Forza Horizon 5 or Forza Motorsport were the most likely Xbox exclusives to go to the PlayStation 5 this year. Everyone agrees they’re good but they’re not controversial like Halo, where everyone’s going to get upset if they turn up on Sony’s machine. Or at least I don’t think they would.

I don’t think there’s any real doubt that all games are going to go multiformat eventually, it’s just a question of how they’re going to do it. All at once seems unlikely but is it just going to be random games for the next few years? One every three months or something? That seems a bit inefficient.

The other thing is whether they want a period of exclusivity before going to PlayStation. When Fable comes out, presumably next year, are they going to want to keep it an Xbox console exclusive for six months? A year? Two years?

There’s no way of knowing but my feeling is that they’ll quickly realise there’s no point doing things by half measures and they should just put everything on everything as soon as possible. Yes, it’s basically going third party, whether you still have your own console or not, but if they want their $69 billion back then there’s no time like the present.

What a strange year it is for games, especially after 2023 being such a great one in terms of quality.
84Colbat

Inbox also-rans
For once I would’ve assumed Braid was actually older than 16 years. Seems like an eternity since that and Xbox Live Arcade were a thing.
The Colt

To be honest, I didn’t even realise the Xbox 360 store was still working. Curious to know if anyone here still uses theirs? I’m not sure where mine went but I think it’s up the loft. Kind of curious about getting it down now… but what if I get the Red Ring of Death?!
Sherbie

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MORE : Games Inbox: Hopes for PlayStation’s new bosses, Assassin’s Creed Shadows DLC, and Fallout 4 updates

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