Games Inbox: Is Nintendo in trouble with the Switch 2?

The Thursday letters page tries to predict the contents of today’s Nintendo Partner Showcase, as one reader thinks the next gen Xbox console is doomed.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Worrying times
We’ve had a lot of talk back and forth about Nintendo recently and, to be honest, I felt people were being a bit silly claiming they’d made serious mistakes. But to hear Nintendo themselves say the Switch 2 has underperformed in the West is a bit of a shock. They seem to be talking about profit more than sales, but their whole business has been based on relatively low budget hardware and software that is hugely profitable.

You change that and suddenly the whole foundation of the company is at risk. I’m surprised they didn’t realise this, but then obviously they couldn’t have predicted the RAM shortages and tariffs. Even so, they’ve stuck their neck out further than they usually do and they’re in danger of having it cut off.

Well, maybe not that much danger but I’m more worried about them now than I was during the Wii U era, even though the Switch 2 has sold tons and the Wii U was a disaster right out the gate. It was recoverable though, which is exactly what happened. I really don’t see what Nintendo does next to get back to its old position, especially when they refuse to announce any decently exciting games.
Acheron

Improper Direct
It’s hard to know what to say when you realise that when there is finally a ‘proper’ Nintendo Direct it’s going to be the fifth one of the year. Maybe even the sixth if they slip an Indie World one in before it. Are they trolling or is their line-up for the year just really behind? As usual with Nintendo, we’ll never know for sure.

So what’s going to be announced on Thursday’s Partner Showcase? I have a nasty feeling it’s not going to be much we haven’t heard of before. There’s an awful lot of third party games, like Elden Ring, that have been announced but haven’t got a release date yet, or we haven’t seen running on Switch 2.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to sit through 15 minutes of Elden Ring with its unique Master Sword item, or whatever they add to it. Nor do I need to see any more of 007 First Light or whatever else they have. Here’s hoping there’ll be some welcome surprises but the golden rule with these showcase is to expect nothing and never be disappointed.
Corden

Console-esque
Whatever the next gen Xbox is next year, or whenever, I’ll bet it’s not really a console as we’ve come to think of them. It’s not going to be a new format, that only runs the games made for it, because nobody but Microsoft is ever going to want to make them.

It’s just going to be a PC, with as much AI nonsense installed on it as Microsoft can cram onto the hard drive, or in the cloud or however they pitch it. They’ve already said it’s going to be hyper expensive and that combined with it not actually being a console is going to be a disaster, I believe.

They would’ve been better off sticking with their portable idea because at least in that case there’s not really a clear leader for PC handhelds. Steam Deck is number one but it could easily be improved on it’s not that much more successful than its rivals.
Zeiss

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Phoning it in
RE: Lurgie. The Fallout TV show has been fine. Entertaining enough to me, at least. I’ve seen some diehards moaning about aspects of the show, but it hasn’t affected me. I’m not a lore buff, so I don’t care about any changes brought in by the showrunners. Only thing is, I hope they have an ending planned and not, like Westworld, it just limps along until it’s cancelled.
Bobwallett
PS: Whilst I appreciate Walton Goggins making an appearance in Fallout 76, his performance kinda reminds me of Krusty’s recording session.

Inflation problems
I see they have the new Monster Hunter Stories 3 amiibo in stock to pre-order on Nintendo Store UK. They look amazing and very colourful, but very expensive compared to the price of amiibo which came out during the Switch 1’s lifetime. They also have the Super Mario Bros. Wonder amiibo available to pre-order.

I particularly like the Mario elephant character going down a green pipe! I will be picking up some of them in future to add to my collection.
Andrew J.
PS: On a different subject what is GameCentral’s opinion on the game The Stone of Madness for PlayStation 5? as I am thinking of picking it up on physical.

GC: We haven’t played it, we’re afraid. You’re right about the amiibo though. Those Ratha ones look great, but the price is well outside the impulse purchase range they used to be.

Customer service
Even in the early 2000s, as a 21-year-old gamer, I remember being trolled for liking Nintendo/Pokémon by a certain member of staff (if anyone’s from Wolverhampton).

Years later, I had an issue with ‘Dave’ in 2020, regarding returning a still-sealed GAME in the Merry Hill store.

Besides those idiots, GAME’s trade-in/cash was always lower than GameStation’s. All GAME had was the Reward Points and once I spent those, I never really went back.

GAME got jealous of GameStation, bought them and then shut them down.

Then they never have any new releases in store on launch day, which meant a wasted journey so I’m personally glad they’re going/gone.

As regards the high street, it’ll be Smyths or Argos for me, regarding brand new, or CeX or eBay for second-hand.
LeeDappa

GTApocalypse
I’d like to echo a reader’s concern from last month, where he worried what will happen to the rest of the games industry once GTA 6 comes out. Whether you’re interested in the game or not, it’s fascinating to see how massive the hype is for it, but it’s going to leave such a crater I don’t think many people are going to be buying or playing else for months.

That’s a bigger problem when it comes out at Christmas than in May and it’s particularly bad news for Call Of Duty, which has had a really bad couple of years. But how long will GTA 6 be the only game in town? Months and months into 2027 I’m sure. And what will be the first big game to dare go up against it and break the chain? Whatever it is, good luck to the developer.
Crumpton

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world
As some people have kind of touched on already, I think a lot of the problems with the games industry at the moment don’t have anything much to do with publishers but the wider business world which is, not to put too finer point on it, nuts right now.

The reason RAM is expensive isn’t because it’s hard to get the raw materials or even because of Trump’s tariffs, it’s because it’s all being used for AI. And when that bubble bursts – and I believe it will this year – suddenly it’s all going to become dirt cheap. Which may sound a good thing but the wider effects on the economy, of companies finally admitting AI is almost worthless, is going to be horrendous. So that’s something to look forward to.

We’re in a situation where the Switch 2 has become the fast-selling console ever and yet it’s still seen as underperforming. What was it supposed to do? Become the fast-selling console in multiple dimensions at once?

Nothing has made sense since Covid, as far as I’m concerned, but the last couple of years, with the rise of AI, has been full on lunacy. The reason stocks are down for video game companies? Because investors think Google’s Project Gemini is going to make video game development redundant. As if you’re going to type in a prompt and get God Of War out the other end.

For a sensible, financially conservative company like Nintendo all of this must be especially infuriating, but they’ve just got to ride out like the rest of us, and hope that sanity returns at some point soon.
Ashton Marley

Inbox also-rans
I have to admit, even I thought that Fallout website reveal was going to be the Fallout 3 remaster. Kind of funny that it wasn’t. Maybe they’ll go for an April launch, so that it’s exactly the same as Oblivion?
Ken

Was that another case of Inbox magic, with the reader talking about GTA 6 Trailer 3 being around the time of Summer Game Fest and then the next day we get Take-Two talking about just that! Didn’t realise the magic works even on Rockstar.
Whaler9

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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