Hardware platforms in the gaming space need certain things to be successful. Or, at the very least, have the chance to be successful. First, they need to have a certain level of power. While many gamers are fine with saying “graphics aren’t everything,” they still want to play a system that has good-looking games. Second, it needs to “connect” with them on some level, including via the system’s name, overall capabilities, etc. Finally, they need to have games to play on them, and for Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, that’s definitely something he’s thinking about right now.
We’re less than two months away from the next Nintendo Direct, which will reveal what games the Nintendo Switch 2 will have. Fans are also waiting for a Direct for the last three major OG Switch games that will fill the gaps between April and the Switch 2’s presumed release date of June or July.
In the financial briefing that the President did yesterday, he made the following statement about the importance of exclusive games across the systems:
While it may seem like he’s “covering obvious ground” here, Shuntaro Furukawa is actually reiterating key points and focuses for his company’s systems. For example, the company revealed yesterday that the Nintendo Switch had 72 million sellers from just the first-party lineup alone. That’s a record and something that Sony and Microsoft haven’t come close to with the PS5 or the Xbox Series X. Having all of those exclusives, plus the unspoken promise that more was coming with each year, was what kept gamers coming back to the Switch for almost 8 years now. They knew that Nintendo always had something cooking, and that made the system really special.
As for the Nintendo Switch 2, Furukawa knows that the momentum from the Switch will carry over so long as the Switch 2 maintains its best qualities, including the gaming lineup. While we know of one first-party title and teases of the many third-party ones that might arrive, things are still a mystery. Yet, we hope to be stunned by the time April 2nd comes around.
Finally, Furukawa’s words remind gamers that the Switch 2 will be reverse compatible with the OG Switch’s games with only a few exceptions. As such, even when these last big Switch games arrive, you can play them on Switch 2 anytime and possibly enjoy them even more!
Nintendo’s President has his eyes on the future, but he’s also honoring the present while doing so.
