Nintendo Reportedly Plans Smaller and Cheaper Switch For This Year (engadget.com)

According to a report from Nikkei, Nintendo is developing a smaller and cheaper version of the Switch focused on portability, and without some of the features in the original console. "A rumor in October suggested Nintendo was developing a new Switch, but instead of improving on the existing model, it's just as likely the company is looking for ways to streamline the system," notes Engadget. From the report: As Ars Technica speculates, the console's plastic dock could be the first thing to go. It's available separately for $90, and there are also cheaper ways to get your Switch to output to a TV (it's relying on a USB-C connection, after all). Nintendo could conceivably move towards a smaller and cheaper screen, and potentially even make the controller a physical part of the console, instead of the removable Joy-Cons. It also wouldn't be out of character for Nintendo to break existing functionality with a console revamp -- the 2DS was a cheaper spin on the 3DS that was still very playable without 3D.

Comments

Nickeling and Diming

[DrYak]

Looks like a way for Nintendo to actually increase profits :

The base "Switch Lite" will be cheaper, but :

  - The whole raison d'être of the Nintendo Switch and its success is the ability to seamlessly switch from portable console on the move to big screen in your living room.
  - So you'll buy a separate Nintendo-branded official dock (because their USB-C connector isn't 100% standard-compliant, and some of the cheap 3rd party accessory don't actually work perfectly).
  - So you'll buy a separate controller for the big screen mode if the "Switch Lite" doesn't have detachable controller. (Other wise you'll have to use the whole console tethered to the big TV screen as a giant controller, in the style of SEGA Nomad). And you can bet that Nintendo will find a way to have you buy preferably Nintendo-branded joycons, instead of any random Bluetooth controller. (e.g.: the proprietary gyro and accelerometers and other extra that a joycon has in addition to any no-name asian bluetooth gamepad)

etc.

  - Of course all of the above will come with an extra "Nintendo tax" in the price.
Because Shareholders/Profits/Why not.

(me ? sorry, but I'm already more than happy with my Pi).

Re:Nickeling and Diming

[stealth_finger]

Everything else like having an hybrid portable plus TV system is just Nintendo advancing the console industry as they have always done.

Here, have something that's the worst of both worlds.

Re:Nickeling and Diming

[Nidi62]

The base "Switch Lite" ...

I think "Lite Switch" has a better ring to it.

Re:Nickeling and Diming

[Guspaz]

The only statistics that I've seen show the split was roughly half of players using it primarily as a mobile console, and half of players using it primarily as a fixed console.

Re: Nickeling and Diming

[barc0001]

> Oh wait here comes a new batch of the same games again.

Yeah, go back to PS and Xbone for the innovation of new franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, God of War, GTA, Assassin's Creed, and the NHL/NBA/Madden/NCAA/FIFA series. Sooo much more innovative and totally not at all reskins of previous annual releases...

Re:Nickeling and Diming

[Hadlock]

I've played my switch in mobile mode about 6 times, half of them were on my boat either in the marina or at anchor
 
The vast majority of the time spent playing the thing is playing mario kart with family on the big screen tv in the living room. In fact, other than Hollow Knight, the new Mario game an Civilization 6, they are all 4 player multiplayer games. I'm sure for the under-21 crowd who don't have their own room/tv the switch is probably played mostly mobile, but there's a significant number of adults who have a switch rather than buy a $1500 gaming laptop to play the same indie games on steam

Re:Nickeling and Diming

[thegarbz]

Except for the part where in the real world, barely anyone, ever, connects the Switch to a TV screen.

Errr You live in a different real world than the rest of the population clearly. Most Switches spend their home lives connected to the TV. Being portable is a bonus that many people ignore.

Now I truly admit there is a sense of irony that I wanted to play the Switch today, pulled out the controller, turned on the TV and ... damn the wife took it to work.

Servicing batteries

[sjbe]

They owe us one where the batteries can be replaced.

They owe you nothing. They are offering a product for sale. If you like it, buy it. If you don't, don't. Either choice is fine. I like user replaceable batteries too but I'm under no illusion that companies are under any obligation to provide them. I have declined to purchase products where I felt that servicing them would be a problem in the future. Nothing Nintendo makes is a life necessity so don't buy it if it doesn't meet your quality and durability standards.

Things like video game consoles are precisely the sort of thing where the government should be outlawing planned obsolescence in the form of non-fixable batteries.

"Planned obsolescence"? They don't have to plan it. It's going to be obsolete in 2-4 years with no planning whatsoever. That's just how fast the market moves. Now if your argument was that by making devices that cannot be serviced they are making unnecessary landfill then I think you might have a reasonable argument. Having a device fail because the battery went dead and cannot be replaced (by user or by manufacturer) is something that is a real problem.

"Send it in and we'll replace the battery or unit" should not be permissible on consumer electronics.

If you don't like it don't buy it. I think your complaint is a perfectly legitimate reason to not buy it. But if you fork over the cash for it then obviously it wasn't really a deal breaker for you now was it? I agree that the battery should be replaceable in some fashion but insisting that it be user serviceable is unreasonable for some products. If they provide a means to have it replaced by the manufacturer for some appropriate length of time (similar to automobile service parts) then that is fine. I can think of several products where having the General Public poking around inside to replace a battery is not the best idea. User serviceable is obviously ideal when possible but don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Re:Servicing batteries

[squiggleslash]

They don't have to plan it. It's going to be obsolete in 2-4 years with no planning whatsoever. That's just how fast the market moves.

I think if you look at the vast majority of people who play video games, nobody is throwing out games because they're four years old. "Obsolete" doesn't mean "Can't run the latest stuff", it means "Is no longer useful".

My Wii and XBox 360 both see occasional use and work just fine. What the GP is complaining about is the notion that you'll have to throw out existing hardware in 2 years because it'll stop working properly. The fact it might not be able to run some of the latest games does not excuse that. It doesn't justify it. It's horrible, it's wrong, and it's not standard practice in the computer industry as a whole. The only reason people threw away their 360s after two years was because of the RRoD. Not because it was obsolete by 2010.