NintendObs Thinks: Understanding the context of Nintendo Switch (OLED model).
Why the new console, what it does for Nintendo and how it shapes their future.
“Nintendo Switch Pro” fans took a real seat this week. There's your “Nintendo Switch Pro,” right? You should be happy, correct? They really did take that seat, and I would be remiss not to begin by mentioning it. People need to understand that Nintendo is not Sony, and Sony is not Nintendo. These two entities operate in the same industry under completely different business models, and consequently in completely different ways. Nintendo does not have the same financial interests in a “Nintendo Switch Pro” that Sony has in a PlayStation 4 Pro or a “PlayStation 5 Pro” for that matter. (One that would hopefully actually play games in 4K at 120 frames per second as initially advertised.) I surely digressed, but I first wanted to make this clear for anyone who believed in the rumors. Too bad you didn’t get a slice of these outlets’ advertising money: they’ll be enjoying their vacations on your behalf.
Nintendo Switch (OLED model), at $349.99, is just what Nintendo needed to make even more money from Nintendo Switch hardware sales, all while justifying the original Nintendo Switch’s constant MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price) of $299.99 more than four years after launch. Nintendo Switch (OLED model) also explains Nintendo’s forecast of another 25.50 million units sold from the Nintendo Switch family of systems during this fiscal year ending March 2022 despite an arguably lackluster holiday game lineup so far when compared to that of 2017 with Super Mario Odyssey, 2018 with the Pokémon Let’s Go games and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, 2019 with Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pokémon Sword & Shield, or 2020 with Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity and the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary campaign.
Suffice to say, in hindsight, this is the obvious move to make for a company like Nintendo in order to maximize their profits. They currently have an audience of 80+ million Nintendo Switch owners looking at their existing consoles considering it might be time for an upgrade this holiday season, with another audience comprised of even more people who do not yet own a Nintendo Switch and can now justify their fence-sitting up to this point by a better version of Nintendo’s flagship hardware, albeit for a higher price. Nintendo went for a premium product of their current and successful line, making the entire Nintendo Switch family of systems look better, fresher and slicker in the process, within their affirmed philosophy of “redefin[ing] the lifecycle, and vitality of videogame consoles in its fifth year,” establishing this year to be indeed the “middle of [the Nintendo Switch’s] lifecycle.”