Nintendo Switch 2 is going to put Xbox out of the games business

A reader is convinced that the Switch 2 will be so successful it’ll make the Xbox unable to compete and seriously undermine PlayStation.

There’s been a lot of talk this year about how busy October is in terms of new releases, and how poorly publishers have managed to schedule around each other. That’s all true but the wrong game is being identified as the heavy hitter that everyone else has to avoid. Most assume it’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but the original sold only 13.2 million in its original run, while two of the New Super Mario Bros. games have sold over 30 million each – and Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out on the same day as Spider-Man 2.

Nintendo is constantly and perpetually underestimated and ignored when the wider video game world is being discussed (the recent Activision Blizzard acquisition court case as an example) and this is madness because their better selling consoles have easily outsold Xbox and PlayStation. The Xbox 360 not only lost out to the PlayStation 3, but both were outsold by the Wii. The PlayStation 4 isn’t the best-selling console of its generation, the Switch is – despite launching three years later than it.

There are ups and downs to be sure, and you never know whether you’re going to get a Wii U or a GameCube when it comes to a new generation, but if Nintendo ever had a sure bet, when it came to consoles, it must be the Switch 2.

I’m not going to try and predict when it will be out, just repeat that the current best guess of a reveal in the first half of 2024 and launch in the second half seems to make sense. I have no idea if it’s possible for a console of that size to be roughly as powerful as the PlayStation 4, but since the best source on that information is Activision, and not just some guy on Twitter, I’m going to assume there’s a good chance it’s true.

As the Wii and Switch have proven, there are far more people that value novel but technologically simple Nintendo games over typical AAA titles for Xbox and PlayStation. If the Switch 2 not only has that but is putting out quality graphics on par with the PlayStation 4 – which the PlayStation 5 has consistently failed to surpass in any significant manner people are going to flock to it like never before.

If you can play Call Of Duty or FIFA on a portable why do you need a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S? That will be the logic of many a casual gamer next year. And that is a big problem for Sony and Microsoft because games like that are their bread and butter.

Sony will survive because their first party games are a major selling point, although I’m sure their share of the market will be greatly reduced. Microsoft though… it hasn’t yet proven it can attract anyone new to its consoles with its exclusives and that is going to make it super vulnerable. We see so many stories of console and Game Pass sales underperforming that I genuinely think it could drive Xbox out of the industry, unless they switch to streaming quicker than we all assume.

Sony won’t be any better if they insist on their current live service title approach, because nobody seems to want them and the one thing that gives them an advantage over Microsoft is the one thing they’re not doing at the moment.

People will laugh at what I’ve said, I’m sure, or just ignore it, but you remember this prediction when the Switch 2 comes out next year and it starts outselling everything by a massive margin. The only company that can beat Nintendo is Nintendo, and if they don’t mess up then this is their prime chance to be bigger than ever.

By reader Lendel

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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