Jump to content
IGNORED

Switch VS Wii


Oldschool80skid

Sales of Consoles  

21 members have voted

  1. 1. Final Sales Numbers

    • Wii
      14
    • Switch
      7

  • Please sign in to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

I put Switch because it really deserves to do that well, but it will come down to how long they string it out I think. The Wii seems more logical, that turd sold like hotcakes even if it sucked for many fans of traditional gaming.

 

The thing is the Switch is modularly designed inside as the mainboard is what it is, but the tegra, ram, wifi, bluetooth, and the other modules all just snap in like little lego pieces roughly speaking. It's made to stick around for a very long time if they wish. Perhaps with the TegraX2 coming sooner than later they'll scale a version of that for the Switch for a Switch (Pro, XL, New, etc) whatever it's called much like how the 3DS, DSi, and GB to GBC did with the same core guts and just growing it out.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm gonna be "that guy" - you know, the doubter that everybody loves to hate - and say that Switch sales are gonna fall off a cliff as soon as either the PS5 or Xbox.. Two(?) is announced. Maybe even before that.

 

Nintendo has increasingly been betting their company on what amount to fads. Nothing they do really sets a trend; everything is kind of a one-off. Some of their ideas catch on for a little while (the Wii), while others don't at all (the Wii U). But none of them really last. Even Wii sales massively dropped off after 4 years. It kind of limped along into its 5th year, which is a shorter lifespan than most consoles that popular have. That's because it relied on a gimmick, and people just got tired of that gimmick. And there wasn't much else to recommend that system.

 

I think the Switch is cool but I don't really think it's changing paradigms about how we play games. I still think it's basically a neat little novelty. Its limitations will become more apparent over time, just like with the Wii. And that's a direct result of having to make it small enough to be a handheld.

 

But at the same time, it's really not a very good handheld. Its battery life is terrible, and it's huge compared to any other handheld. So I think people will get tired of using it that way, and it'll increasingly be compared more to the home consoles. Already I'm seeing lots of Fortnite side by side comparisons with the Xbox One and PS4, and we saw the same with Doom. People are choosing between it and the other home consoles, not between it and, say, a Vita or 3DS. And I don't think it comes out on the long end of that stick very often.

 

The system's first year plus has also been financed to a decent degree by big Wii U re-releases (that includes Zelda: BotW, which was a Wii U game first), but that can't last. Eventually that mine's gonna run dry, and we'll be back to the same sparse selection of new releases that most Nintendo systems get. Especially considering how underpowered the system's going to seem 3 or 4 years into its lifespan, meaning third parties will abandon it just like they did the original Wii.

 

So I voted Wii. I think they're actually very similar systems in most ways (in terms of the approach to the current market), but the Wii had the advantages of better availability in its first year, and the fact that 1080p wasn't ubiquitous in its first few years. The Switch has seemed underpowered basically from day one, and has had to rely on its game library to make up for that. It's done well at that, but I just don't see that lasting more than a few years.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anything I think about this stuff is colored by my own experience. Here are some numbers:

 

Wii -- over 100 million sold

Switch -- almost 18 million sold so far

 

DS -- 154 million sold

3DS -- 72 million sold so far (surely it's slowing down)

 

Wii U -- 13 million

Gamecube -- 21 million

Nintendo 64 -- almost 33 million

SNES -- 49 million

NES -- almost 62 million

 

gameboy, gameboy color 118 million

game boy advance -- 82 million

psp -- 82 million

 

I don't know about you, but I've bought multiple handhelds, many times when there was a new feature. Color update to GB, folding SP for GBA, micro GBA, DS Lite, 3DS XL, New 3DS ... those numbers are triple what they would be for a TV console for a person like me.

 

So MAYBE if Switch is upgraded and supported for a very long time, and they come out with different versions of it, like a 3DS-sized handheld (I would like that) or a supercharged TV console a la XboneX, people would buy multiples and we'd approach the 80 million mark.

 

My guess is 60 million, not based on anything other than the context of this stuff. I don't like spacecadet's prediction for a dropoff in sales next year, but he's probably right. Then again, that probably just reflects my indifference to it. I want to like it more than I actually do.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I voted Wii. It had a much broader appeal, was much less expensive (you can't forget about the hidden costs of the Switch like micro SD cards, carrying cases, screen protectors, etc.), and the Wii had a much more interesting and affordable library of games available at retail stores.

 

Don't forget about the backwards compatibility with the entire GameCube library!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put Switch because it really deserves to do that well, but it will come down to how long they string it out I think. The Wii seems more logical, that turd sold like hotcakes even if it sucked for many fans of traditional gaming.

 

The thing is the Switch is modularly designed inside as the mainboard is what it is, but the tegra, ram, wifi, bluetooth, and the other modules all just snap in like little lego pieces roughly speaking. It's made to stick around for a very long time if they wish. Perhaps with the TegraX2 coming sooner than later they'll scale a version of that for the Switch for a Switch (Pro, XL, New, etc) whatever it's called much like how the 3DS, DSi, and GB to GBC did with the same core guts and just growing it out.

I agree with this. Whatever gripes or complaints about Switch being under powered or whatnot are moot given it's enormous versatility. The tablet is off screen gaming done right, though I see people using it around the house of taking it on long trips moreso than a handheld thrown in the bag or pocket like a DS. Perhaps a smaller ultra portable sku comes in the future, and we know that a "Pro" version running on Tegra X2 will give the original model a run for it's money, and the horsepower to compete head on with XBone/Ps4. Like the moble dev cycle revolves around upgraded hardware on 2 year cycles, there will be the ultra powerful Switch 2 maintaining backwards compatibility with Switch 1.

 

Like the DS series, and Game Boy before it, Switch may well outperform the Wii by the end of it's lifecycle in combined sales accounting for multiple SKUs. I voted for Switch because I'm optimistic for the future. Also Switch somehow managed to sell more than the Wii in it's first year, which is an incrddible feat by itself.

 

Lastly, even if it doesn't get the lifetime sales in hardware units compared to Wii, it will exceed lifetime software sales. Many Wiis were purchased by grandmas playing Wii Sports and maybe Wii Fit. Think all those Wiis that went to nursing homes to be used for senior bowling leagues got additional software sales before being relegated to the closet? Hell no. Face it, people are buying and playing games on Switch moreso than Wii.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

So MAYBE if Switch is upgraded and supported for a very long time, and they come out with different versions of it, like a 3DS-sized handheld (I would like that) or a supercharged TV console a la XboneX, people would buy multiples and we'd approach the 80 million mark.

 

I guess that's true - if they did a redesigned Switch that was smaller, maybe even just take out the dock and make it a handheld with an HDMI port... I might buy that again. Just leave the original docked permanently, and use the new one as the handheld version. It would be nice if they'd build in some game save state/resume function so you can take a cartridge out of your big Switch, put it in the little Switch and just keep playing. Obviously this would be easier with downloaded/streaming games, and maybe it'd even convince more people to start buying games that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard not to agree with the points I didn't spell out there kosmic did in his post. Even if the Switch fails to cross the Wii, it kicked it to #2 in first year sales and it didn't even start with a holiday. And that Wii barely had much of any kind of a game attachment rate to it, Switch hasn't got that problem so software sales though sale right on by at the least.

 

I can not foresee a moment as of yet where that system won't topple the sales of any Nintendo console other than potentially the Wii, and that would allow it to coast on by most their handhelds as well. The system can be upgraded and dragged out in so many good ways by the design, it offers an android like environment that's easy to port games from that format, but also others using the popular game engines we know of consoles and PC use too (just with a lower polygon count to accommodate that more than other.) It has the capabilities and the game makers really have taken a shine to doing things with it too.

 

Unlike the previous abomination console, this one has the legs to go well up the total hardware sales ladder since it can play nice in both worlds of handheld and TV appealing to the widest audience who would take one over the other. Combined with the versatility of the hardware to be pop and swap upgraded internally leaves a huge window to just keep it going for many long years to come like how they've dragged out their other handhelds since day one with the original Game Boy in 1989.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

But at the same time, it's really not a very good handheld. Its battery life is terrible, and it's huge compared to any other handheld.

 

I prefer the 3DS for portable gaming and rarely use our Switch out of the dock, but apparently Nintendo has 50/50 usage metrics for docked vs undocked play so there's definitely a market for its portability.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...