Switch in Perspective
The Wii U really soured my relationship with Nintendo. I had chosen to go all digital with my games, and I even pre-ordered the entire first series of Amiibo figures. What started as fun, quickly turned into super expensive games and buyers remorse. Nintendo just never had digital sales, and their Amiibo figures really didn’t add anything to the games, and ended up creating a crazy scalpers market. So I quickly changed teams and sold all my Nintendo stuff for a PlayStation 4. I have at times regretted this, simply because some games for the Wii U are still only playable on Wii U (Xenoblade Chronicles X), but I definitely stood my ground when the Switch came out.
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I hated the Switch so much, it felt like Nintendo was a broken record. Again they were launching a new contestant in the console race and again it was vastly inferior to the competing consoles. Hoping to cash in on its portability factor, 4k visuals were definitely not the selling point. This plus the lack of games at launch made me stay for away, but I never stopped paying attention. A year went by and a few games came out, but the library was still very weak. However the Switch was selling pretty well. With a March launch in 2017, by Christmas it had sold 10 million copies. A year later they tripled that with 32 million in sales. By the end of 2018 the Switch was starting to get a few 3rd party games and many ports, and I was starting to pay attention.
Last year I got to actually pick up and play a Switch and my whole attitude did a 180 degree turn. “The graphics look pretty good!” I would find myself saying. “This is fun getting to play wherever” I would brag to my wife. I had fallen in love with the Switch. This console I was so sure I was going to hate had become my go to gaming device. My days of PC Master Race had died and playing a game in 720p didn’t madder. What I was doing was fun, and I got to do it anywhere. As of writing this the console is up to over 50 million sold and the library of games is now very expansive. The Switch has made me fall in love with gaming all over again, and I’m so thankful I gave it a chance.
