Would You Still Get the Nintendo Switch Despite These 3 Issues?

Would you still get the Nintendo Switch regardless? I know I’m changing my mind.

The Nintendo Wii was a major success during its generation. Its successor, the Nintendo Wii U, didn’t do so well. It wasn’t enough to cause a massive damage to the company but it’s a bad sign for them since they need to have profits in order to run the business.

The Nintendo Wii U is officially dead and now, gamers are hopeful that the upcoming Nintendo Switch would switch things around for the company (pun completely intended and I am not sorry for how awful the pun is ). For us here in Malaysia, we’ve found out 3 major things on the Nintendo Switch that might deter people from adopting the console.

1. Nintendo Switch Price

Nintendo is always known for prioritizing gameplay over hardware strength. This is especially noticeable during the Wii’s console wars generation, where the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3’s graphical capabilities are far more advanced than the Wii. On the plus side though, the Nintendo Wii was a lot more affordable to adopt which encouraged a lot of people to pick one up for themselves.

As such, people are expecting the Nintendo Switch to be cheaper or at least on the same price range as the PlayStation 4 if it wanted to have any form of success. Unfortunately, that’s not the case as you can see from the picture above. Courtesy of local videogame retailer Gamers’ Hideout, the pre-order prices for the Nintendo Switch has been unveiled and it’s not a pretty number.

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On the plus side, it does come with the Joy-Con gamepad as well as a couple of games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, is it truly worth the price tag of RM2,299? It’s an additional RM100 if you want the Red and Blue Joy-Con but either way, it’s pricey as hell. To put that into perspective, the PS4 Slim is retailing for RM1,349 while the PS4 Pro is retailing for RM1,799. There’s even bundle packs for the PS4 Slim that costs between RM1,400 to RM1,800 and it includes some games and bonuses.

And if you think that it wouldn’t be a problem as long as you have other games to play when the game launches, there comes the second issue.

2. Lack of Launch Titles in Quantity and Quality

[Updated 14th February 2017, credits to TimeTravelerZero for the updated games lineup]

It’s not something that’s only known now. The Nintendo Switch will be launching with much fewer games compared to its predecessors, the Wii and Wii U. But that’s not the only problem with the Switch’s launch. The launch titles for the console are…a bit depressing to say the least. At the moment, here are the launch titles confirmed for the Nintendo Switch:

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• 1,2, Switch
• Super Bomberman R
• Skylanders Imaginators
• Just Dance 2017
• The Binding of Isaac
• I am Setsuna
• World of Goo
• Little Inferno
• Human Resource Machine

That is a launch lineup that does not inspire confidence. Personally, the only games here I’d look get for the Nintendo Switch here would be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Skylanders Imaginators. And if you haven’t noticed it yet, this is probably the first time we’re seeing a Nintendo console launch without a Mario game from the very beginning. The earliest Mario game that will be coming to the Switch is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on April 28th 2017, which is easily a month and a half after the launch.

3. Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Service

And here, we’ve reached the final issue with the Nintendo Switch, its online subscription service. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with charging for online play especially since Sony and Microsoft are doing it with their respective consoles. If the service is running great, I’d be more than happy to pay but keeping the competitors in mind, the service doesn’t seem as exciting.

While the Nintendo Switch online subscription service is cheaper than its competitors, its extra offerings are not as good. Subscribers will be getting some free Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and/or Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) games every month but here’s the kicker. The game will only be free for that particular month and that’s all.

Not only are those games really old, subscribers won’t be able to keep it on their consoles or accounts. If we take Sony as an example, they charge PlayStation 4 users for online play and the fee is pricier than what Nintendo is proposing. However, they offer a number of free games and other extras for PS Plus subscribers, which the subscribers can permanently keep as long as they have claimed it on that month. Just this alone makes the Switch’s online subscription service feels rather depressing.

Nintendo should have done something similar and offered more recent games like from the Gamecube and Wii, along with the ability to let subscribers permanently keep it. I’m not saying that SNES and NES games are bad as some games are still worth replaying in today’s world but if you can’t keep it, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I personally don’t mind if they were to do this and charge a higher fee because at least, it would be something worth paying for.

Pokdepinion: Now, I’m not saying that the Nintendo Switch is not worth getting. I still want to get one myself, especially if there’s a new Smash Bros gaming coming for the console but for now, I just don’t think it’s worth it. If there’s no hope of Nintendo revising their online subscription plan, I’d just wait for the price to drop as well as having more games come out first. Nintendo is playing a very dangerous game for now, and I don’t feel too good about the Switch.