Wedbush Securities Analyst, Michael Patcher, is probably the most popular professional analyst within the video gaming industry. His popularity isn’t necessarily due to his “good” takes, but rather to his outlandish statements. His most recent statements about Nintendo is guaranteed to draw the ire of some big “N” fans.
Nintendo Should Ditch The Original Switch, as Most People Play On Portable Mode
“I don’t really understand the whole hybrid concept. I think that was something Iwata did to differentiate the Switch, and he wanted to have a console that could go back and forth from console to portable. But I don’t think most people play it in both modes, I would say that maybe 20% of Switch owners play both modes; and I think most Switch owners play it handheld only. So I honestly don’t understand the whole point of the hybrid. Who cares? Play it as a handheld.” -Michael Patcher, Gamingbolt.com interview.
Mr. Patcher has a point here, even if I think he is wrong about ditching the “hybrid” approach. In truth, most people play in portable mode, myself included. I haven’t docked the Switch to its station in more than a year now, and there are a few reasons for that.
Still, I do like the fact that I have the choice to play on the TV if I want to, and some of Nintendo’s first party games like Super Mario Odyssey look a bit better at 900p on the TV than at 720p while on portable mode.
I understand that the Switch was Nintendo’s low key way of exiting the home console race in order to focus on its portable market ( a market that they have dominated for over 3 decades). At the same time, I tend to believe that a great part of the Switch’s success is due to its ‘hybrid’ nature.
In fact, the name branding for the system -“Switch” – is a brilliant allusion to the fact that you can – literarily – switch between portable and TV modes when utilizing the handheld.
Patcher is right, only a small chunk of players consistently utilize the TV feature, but it doesn’t mean that they would be happy if the feature is taken away. Truly, the Switch is a portable device that can be played on the TV, and not the other way around, but the choice to do both is nice.
“Nintendo Isn’t THAT Smart”
“And Nintendo isn’t that smart, so you never know what they will do next, but I think the smart thing would be to get rid of the Switch console and only have the Switch Lite, get rid of the docking station, get rid of playing on the TV; maybe offer a Fire Stick style dongle for those who do want to play it on the TV. But I just think that a portable-only Switch makes the most sense, it’s the cheapest to make, and they could make the screen nicer and the build quality better.” – Michael Patcher
Once again, Patcher has a somewhat good take hidden under his terrible delivery. Truly, it would be more convenient to just have a cable that connects to the HDMI port, instead of the somewhat clunky, and cheaply made docking station. But it is what it is, and this is the way Nintendo delivered on its Hybrid Portable/TV console approach.
What will bug some people here is the fact that he, for all intent and purposes, called Nintendo ‘dumb’. History will stand behind Patcher’s claim in certain scenarios.
Here are a few examples of some of the company’s boneheaded moves: Nintendo betrayed Sony back in the late 80s, thus igniting the fire that created the rival that would eventually drive them out of the home console market. Nintendo created the most powerful gaming machine ever made in the mid 90s (Nintendo 64), and at the same time handicapped the system, and itself by going Cartridge with it when everyone else was moving towards Disc based systems.
Nintendo refused to adopt a standard media format with its GameCube, when both of its competitors had gone the DVD route. Finally (for today), Nintendo hit the jackpot with the Nintendo Wii, and thought lighting could strike twice by trying to sell us another gimmicky, and grossly underpowered (and awfully named) machine in 2012 with its Nintendo Wii U.
So yes, Patcher has some historical references that he can fall back into if pressed to explain why he made those comments, but there is nothing dumb, or “not that smart” in what Nintendo has done with the Switch since its launch on 2017.
In little over 3 years, Nintendo has sold 66.5 million Switch units (According to VGChartz.com). A staggering number when Microsoft has only managed to sell 48.4 million Xbox One consoles in 7 years. The Switch keeps selling 400,000 units per week as we speak. Over the next two years The Switch might even overtake the PlayStation 4 in its lifetime sales.
I think it would be “not that smart” to abandon the current approach. One more thing that must be pointed out, is that even when Nintendo has taken beatings at the home console front, save for the Wii U (which was its weirdest mistake post Virtual Boy), the company has always made money.
Nintendo’s first party line up has always sold extremely well, and for the most part, over the last decade and a half, they have sold us underpowered hardware at premium prices. So, Nintendo is stubborn, and greedy, but I wouldn’t be quick to accuse them of being “not that smart” any time soon. They understand how to make money, and how to please its core base.