How Nintendo's Tortoise Strategy Beat the Next-Gen Hares
The gaming industry has been inundated with a plethora of controversies, frustrations, uncertainties, and disappointments that ranges from severely-rushed games to terrible launches that has led to shortages and frustrated gamers for an entire holiday season and beyond. This was supposed to be the next generation of gaming, we’re supposed to be in the ninth generation of gaming. But what we are seeing is a future that’s trying to arrive in a hurry and as a result is sending subpar content to the masses. We’re also seeing worrying trends in said future.
This is the main reason why Nintendo has 60% market share, even with their own controversies. Nintendo saw the scenario and acted accordingly, shuffling their schedule significantly, even willing to take some hits along the way. And if the rest of the industry doesn’t realize their mistakes, Nintendo’s dominance might extend for at least another year.
Truth is, the next generation of gaming could have waited a little longer, even with the pandemic. Trying to bring in brand new hardware in the midst of a pandemic that has surely stunted production and close-knit work. The transition from PS4 to PS5 is nowhere near as drastic as say when we went from the Playstation to the Playstation 2, or even the Sega Saturn to the Sega Dreamcast (both cases were approximately a five-year gap). Be honest, do we really see Playstation 4 games as outdated already, even if it’s been seven years? God of War still looks spectacular, and had zero camera cuts; while on the other hand the upcoming Halo was looking far inferior, on supposedly-superior hardware, with mere months until its release date.
What really spoiled the need for said new generation of gaming was Microsoft’s marketing about how you wouldn’t even need new hardware for at least a year (which is the weaker numbers continue, is going to become a broken promise), and Sony’s launch lineup containing titles that could also be found on the Playstation 4. More than likely because of the pandemic and this rushed release schedule, neither Sony or Microsoft had that special launch title that was revving up the anticipation. The heavy-hitters like a Gran Turismo, or Forza, or Halo, wasn’t going to arrive until 2021. Combine that with the pandemic, that’s even less people willing to purchase a new expensive console without AAA games. Sony and Microsoft unveiled their upcoming consoles over the summer to great acclaim and anticipation, but the fact that we were in the middle of a pandemic that was draining the economy seemingly didn’t enter their mindset.
Upon delays and pandemic-centric setbacks, the only non-Nintendo game title with such massive hype releasing in the holidays was Cyberpunk 2077, but even that game wasn’t going to be ready for the next generation, instead settling for the current consoles and PC, and settling even further by hiding all the bugs and screw-ups that made the current gen installments virtually unplayable. Even PCs built to handle the intense specs were struggling from time to time. Even if the game sold millions, there were also refund demands so intense that Sony pulled the game from its online store entirely. All this adds up to the notion that perhaps, PS5 and XBox Series X could have waited until next spring or summer to truly arrive with strength and true completion. Instead, the PS5 is being outsold by the Nintendo Switch 4-to-1, and without a software heavy hitter on the horizon.
Nintendo on the other hand? They have anniversaries lined up, the always-reliable Super Mario coming out in February, and potentially even an upgraded console around the corner. This didn’t happen without some PR setbacks however. Nintendo’s stunning silence after E3 was cancelled last summer was baffling, rather worrisome, and very frustrating to the fanbase that already had to endure bad news with the global pandemic and horrible leadership making things significantly worse for everyone involved. United States, United Kingdom, and China being global travel and business centers AND the biggest culprits of this pandemic is a horrible mix. Nintendo decided to revert instead of making any promises. To this day I believe they were ready to announce a Switch Pro or a 4K Switch being in production at E3, along with all their plans for Mario’s 35th anniversary.
Instead, they stretched out their software output extremely thin, with AA titles like The Origami King and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity suddenly becoming tentpole games. Also creating drama was the response to Origami King, their extremely picky ways towards mods leading to cancelling of one event which led to having to cancel a second event because of the protests pertaining to the first one, their refusal to admit the joy-con issues, the awkward Twitch takedowns, their limited release date shenanigans towards Super Mario 35th software, and of course the ongoing rebellion against the latest Pokemon games. All these inconveniences were heightened because the Pandemic Era was just such a stressful and deadly time to be alive, but it definitely kept Nintendo on their toes. But saving them however was having the strongest exclusive software lineup of 2020, and Microsoft and Sony’s multi-month throwing of the towel as they instead prepared for a launch that ended up being subpar. Nintendo Switch gaining the ability to sell Among Us during that game’s hyper rise to the top also helped them during the holidays.
Overall, Nintendo saw the writing on the wall and reacted better than the competitors throughout 2020. Sony and Microsoft could have sliced prices of their current consoles, pushed the next-gen hardware to next year for a stronger launch and when the world had more disposable income and more games to choose from, but instead opted to hang on to the precious holiday season for the upper class and hardcore gaming crowd to fight over limited quantities. So the Switch wins Black Friday, wins the holiday season, emerged as the top console in China, is about to make a stronger presence in Brazil, and all this with the Switch Pro around the corner prepared to snatch luster away from the new consoles. The new consoles didn’t have enough firepower to slow Nintendo’s momentum, and we’re approaching three consecutive years of the Switch being the best-selling console in the global market.
As 2021 has started with light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations (and new leadership), Nintendo is already front and center with back-to-back video games making waves on social media: Mario 3D World with added content that featured a hilarious and fun-looking DBZ-esque showdown between a giant Cat Mario and God Slayer Bowser (rumor has it that’s the Japanese name of this version of Bowser), and New Pokemon Snap, which is the strongly-anticipated sequel to the surprise-surprise 1999 hit Pokemon Snap. Only Nintendo can make a hit off a 20-year sequel to a photography game, Microsoft could never. After enduring multiple hits from the fanbase, Nintendo is in the lead on software sales, hardware sales, anticipated titles, anticipated major events---and of course with the eventual Switch successor prepared to carry the baton.
The sales nowadays are revealing that because of the pandemic, because of the lack of truly phenomenal software among the new hardware, and primarily because of economic issues, the gaming world isn’t quite prepared to enter the next generation of gaming, no matter how nice the Playstation 5 looks. And there is no company out there profiting off the hesitation than Nintendo, regardless of all their decisions and setbacks during a wild wild wild 2020.