Does Nintendo Have A Handheld Future Beyond The Switch? Yes, Say The Experts!

[The Blackangel]

This is a pretty interesting article from last month. It seems that they are looking for a way to capitalize on the Switch being a hybrid, but at the same time looking at making another console that is strictly handheld. I've been saying for a while that I think they're leaving the home console market and focusing on handhelds. Unless i read it wrong, this article seems to be hinting at that being a real possibility. They may stick with the hybrid model, or go with a new home console and another handheld. Only time will tell, but I'm going to be keeping up with the news on this one.

Nintendo's Future

[Empire]

In my personal opinion, it'd be better if we came back to having a fully handheld system and a tabletop one. It sounds crazy, but being Nintendo, I wouldn't be surprised. About backwards compatibility, I've never found the point with that. If you already have a Nintendo Switch, just play your Nintendo Switch games there, having a new console that can run them would not only be rather useless, but would make your current console useless todo.

[Justin11]

Nintendo has been Known fir hybrid handhelds and if they are considering moving to making just handhelds that would mean they aren't going to have home consoles which I am pretty sure they have built quite a loyal  fan base on.

As you rightly said only time will tell.

[killamch89]

I do much rather the Hybrid if I'm being honest - I love my Switch and I'd prefer if Nintendo continued down this route. That being said, they've always had dedicated handheld device on the market so I can see why they'd want to return to their roots.

[Justin11]

18 hours ago, killamch89 said:

I do much rather the Hybrid if I'm being honest - I love my Switch and I'd prefer if Nintendo continued down this route. That being said, they've always had dedicated handheld device on the market so I can see why they'd want to return to their roots.

They have already established a pretty stable fan base and changing course entirely could either strengthen the company and bring in more on loyal fans or it would end up taking away a number of their existing fans.

[Kane99]

I think Nintendo will continue to support the hybrid console. The fact we haven't seen a new 3DS or DS handheld is probably more than enough to confirm that line of handhelds are done. But the hybrid console approach is a good idea imo, because it kills two birds with one stone. You don't need to then make a new handheld system if you just focus on making a new switch. 

I think that's what Nintendo will focus on doing, hybrid consoles that just keep getting upgraded. Probably the same way the Steam deck is doing things now. It'd be weird to go back now, to making traditional consoles I mean. Plus, it allows Nintendo to focus on one platform at a time, which makes it easier to develop games and means more games focussed on one platform. 

I think the days of gameboys/DS/3DS is over. The Switch will be Nintendo's future going forward. They'll just continue to make suped up handheld hybrids, and honestly I'm fine with that. 

[Justin11]

11 minutes ago, Kane99 said:

I think Nintendo will continue to support the hybrid console. The fact we haven't seen a new 3DS or DS handheld is probably more than enough to confirm that line of handhelds are done. But the hybrid console approach is a good idea imo, because it kills two birds with one stone. You don't need to then make a new handheld system if you just focus on making a new switch. 

I think that's what Nintendo will focus on doing, hybrid consoles that just keep getting upgraded. Probably the same way the Steam deck is doing things now. It'd be weird to go back now, to making traditional consoles I mean. Plus, it allows Nintendo to focus on one platform at a time, which makes it easier to develop games and means more games focussed on one platform. 

I think the days of gameboys/DS/3DS is over. The Switch will be Nintendo's future going forward. They'll just continue to make suped up handheld hybrids, and honestly I'm fine with that. 

I have noticed how their switch is upgraded with each new release , the design for the Nintendo switch OLED version is super lit and just takes handheld to a whole new level.

They should just focus on the switch carve out a niche for themselves and make the very best out of switch.

[killamch89]

On 11/15/2022 at 5:56 PM, Kane99 said:

I think Nintendo will continue to support the hybrid console. The fact we haven't seen a new 3DS or DS handheld is probably more than enough to confirm that line of handhelds are done. But the hybrid console approach is a good idea imo, because it kills two birds with one stone. You don't need to then make a new handheld system if you just focus on making a new switch. 

I think that's what Nintendo will focus on doing, hybrid consoles that just keep getting upgraded. Probably the same way the Steam deck is doing things now. It'd be weird to go back now, to making traditional consoles I mean. Plus, it allows Nintendo to focus on one platform at a time, which makes it easier to develop games and means more games focussed on one platform. 

I think the days of gameboys/DS/3DS is over. The Switch will be Nintendo's future going forward. They'll just continue to make suped up handheld hybrids, and honestly I'm fine with that. 

Me too - hopefully the next iteration of the Nintendo Switch has things like HDMI 2.1 among other things. I just found it bizarre that the original Switch didn't even have Bluetooth and at the time of release, Bluetooth had gained a lot of popularity.

[Justin11]

On 11/17/2022 at 3:18 AM, killamch89 said:

Me too - hopefully the next iteration of the Nintendo Switch has things like HDMI 2.1 among other things. I just found it bizarre that the original Switch didn't even have Bluetooth and at the time of release, Bluetooth had gained a lot of popularity.

The switch has gone through several years of work and improvement to make it what it is now, I know it is still lacking in certain ways but I believe they are still going to add more interesting features to the Nintendo switch.