A year ago Nintendo released their handheld console that according to business pundits would face the same fate that was faced by its predecessor Wii-U, but the Nintendo Switch defied all those predictions and became a success story in the realm of consoles. It surpassed the lifetime sales of its predecessor in a month due to its portability, features, and games. Its been a year, the hype of the portable console that can compete with other “walled” console at the time is over, you probably have finished Zelda breadth of the wild, it’s time to revisit the Nintendo Switch and see what it is offering nowadays and the future aspects.
The year so far
The first year of the switch has been good both regarding business and the customer satisfaction that a company tries to get. It has sold more than 14 million units since its launch; it got the best games that one would want to play. It ticked all those boxes that its predecessor lacked. It was launched with the 2017 game of the year the legend of Zelda Breadth of the wild and the fans favorite Mario Odyssey. Both of these games and the console itself was the answer to all those questions that were asked by the critics before its launch. Many indie games as it is always the case with Nintendo’s consoles got their place in the library.
At the start, there were mostly first party titles in the library, but as the Switch’s popularity increased the entrust of the third-party developers also increased and we got games we could not even imagine that we would be able to play on the go. The notable mentions are FIFA 18, Doom and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, at the time when EA announced that they plan to make FIFA 18 for the Switch many speculations aroused that the hardware might not be able to play the game, but the game got released with some fewer features, the experience was slightly better as the game could be played on the go. All in all, the console that before the time of its release was not getting attention due to its predecessor and the hardware was able to do good in a better way.
New features
Switch was released with comparatively fewer features and services than the other consoles with no streaming services and no online multiplayer services, it was marketed towards the Nintendo games fans but as time passed the Switch holders felt neglected as they could neither play their favorite games with other players from the world due to lack of the community making features, nor could they enjoy the streaming services that the other consoles were offering. But Nintendo answered the cries of its customers, and at the start of 2018 the TV streaming service through Hulu app started, the critics raised questions about not adding more popular streaming services like Netflix or HBO NOW, I hope they will be added soon.
For the online multiplayer service Nintendo has announced that the switch users can enjoy the online multiplayer through the proper subscription of the switch services the name of the service is not announced yet, it is expected to be the same as Xbox Live or PS Plus with a lesser price of $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year. It will allow them to make online communities to play with people they don’t know just like the services on Play Station or Xbox.
Upcoming games
A game console is defined by the games it ca run and the exclusive titles. Nintendo Switch was launched with one of the best first party titles since then it is getting one of the best games from Nintendo and the other developers. Some remakes of the games of the past few years are also announced for the Switch such as Street Fighter, Mario Tennis aces and Dark Souls. But the game that I am looking for the is new Pokémon game: Pokémon lets go Pikachu & Eevee, the trailer was revealed only a day ago, and the ability to connect the game with the Pokémon Go (the mobile version) would be the feature I will be looking for when the game releases. Apart from that, there are many rumors around that the Nintendo is working on a new Mario Bros that will be released sometime in 2019.
Another thing that Nintendo plans to add is backward compatibility on the Switch, many classic titles from NES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game boy Advance, etc. will be playable. It will drastically increase the library of the games and users will also get to replay their nostalgic games.
Verdict
If you are reading this because you are considering buying Nintendo Switch, then it is clearly the right time to buy with so many games to play and Impressive future up ahead with so many services that will complement its usability. The Nintendo Switch was released with big awe; it completed its first year with great success. It stood up at the time when the company’s stocks were declining. With so much upcoming content and the price that is rumored to decrease at the end of the year, we see a better second year ahead of Switch.