The Growing Popularity Of The Nintendo Console
How a company that put consoles in every living room fought its way back to the top of the market — one hybrid machine at a time.
People who play video games casually and those who proudly call themselves expert gamers have one thing in common: they have all heard of Nintendo. Few names in entertainment are as instantly recognisable, and fewer still can claim to have shaped the hobby itself.
This is the company that really brought gaming consoles into almost every household in the world.
Sure, there were other consoles before it — but the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the NES, was the machine that popularised the idea of a console in the living room. Over the years that followed, Nintendo released a long line of consoles and a tonne of games. Some of those consoles were clearly better than others, and for very different reasons.
A comeback that started in 2017
In March of 2017, Nintendo released its latest console, known as the Nintendo Switch. This was a genuinely big deal for the company, because it was their first new console since 2012. Their previous machine, the Nintendo Wii U — commonly labelled the worst-selling console in Nintendo's history — was simply not the success the company had been hoping for. They needed to get their heads back into the game and launch a console that people would actually want to buy.
Enter the Nintendo Switch. After a little over a year on shelves, the Switch is arguably the best console you can buy on the market. It has already sold over 14 million units, and the company expects to move another 20 million the following year. It is an excellent gaming console that really differs from what the competition is offering: it has an awesome game library and, more importantly, it is portable.
Two machines wearing one shell
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console, which means it can be used as a home console or a portable one depending on your mood. The main selling point is that it lets you play your favourite games anywhere you want. In many ways it behaves like a tablet: it has a touch screen and a pair of detachable controllers, so you can easily play in handheld mode. But when you'd rather enjoy your games on the big screen, you simply slot it into the dock.
It has now been over a year since the Switch was released, and it only grows more popular by the day. There are many kinds of Switch owner out there — some like to keep their console docked at home, while others prefer to play on the go. That, really, is the beauty of the Switch: no other console gives you quite this kind of choice.
Another reason the Switch keeps growing is third-party support: publishers such as Ubisoft and EA have backed the console with their own releases — something that was largely missing in the Wii U era, and one of the reasons that machine never truly took off.
The Nintendo Switch is one of the most innovative pieces of hardware around. The games Nintendo releases enjoy an extremely wide fan base, which is why people don't mind buying the console even if they only intend to play one or two titles on it. The two games that really gave the Switch the boost it needed were Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That said, experts do argue that releasing two of their biggest titles so early could prove a costly mistake for Nintendo. Sports games like FIFA and NBA will certainly play an important part in pushing sales further, and with titles like those the Switch can go toe-to-toe with the Xbox One and the PS4.
Learning from the Wii U
Nintendo has released some very good consoles in the past, and they are certainly not new to this business. However, there were machines like the Wii U that were never able to make a huge impact on consumers. The Nintendo Switch was the one that finally broke that ice and found a real place in the hearts of die-hard fans. Another problem the Wii U faced was a thin game library — but that is simply not the case for the Switch, thanks to the many third-party developers now releasing games for the system.