Welcome to Games for Breakfast, a new feature series here on BagoGames!
Games for Breakfast, written by features editor Angelo De Bellis, is a daily opinion piece of about 250-500 words—I gotta keep it brief—that engages topical game news. Every new post will go live at 9am EST so that you can grab your cup of coffee and read a brief account of a particular gamer’s take on the latest goings-on in the industry.
I must apologize–either I just really enjoy talking about Nintendo, or there is a bevvy of interesting news coming out ahead of its launch. In either case, this recent interview conducted by Time and Nintendo Director Shinya Takahashi and Nintendo Switch Producer Yoshiaki Koizumi provides some interesting food for thought.
Although there are several interesting remarks made during the interview, the one I’m most interested in is the one in which Takahashi mentions that console gamers probably expect to own the Switch for years to come, like a traditional console cycle, while handheld gamers may be open to the idea of upgrading to newer versions later on. What’s interesting about this tidbit is that is hints at quite a bit: Nintendo has at least considered the possibility of a mid-console cycle upgrade and they are perhaps considering their options with the Switch by positioning it as a handheld.
One of the things that has interested me most during this lead up to launch has been Nintendo’s marketing efforts to position the device as a console. But it now seems like they aren’t afraid to change that messaging in the future if it means consumers can more comfortably accept the need for upgrades. While I think incremental console cycles are becoming a thing, especially with examples like the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio, I wonder what a Switch upgrade would look like. Would it be simple jumps like a 3DS to a 3D SXL, or would it be more substantial like a Switch that includes a higher resolution screen and smoother graphics? If it’s the latter, I’d be fine with such a direction, but going the route of handhelds and producing multiple models of something just to have a larger screen or different physical design doesn’t do much for me.
What do you think? Are you as trepidatious as me when it comes to potentially upgrading between Switch generations?