Five years after the ‘NX’ frenzy becoming the Switch

This week marked five years (ouch!) Since the mysterious Nintendo ‘NX’ became the Switch. It was very important and, to Nintendo’s relief, it was well received. Let’s be honest, the reaction was not going to be worse than the Introducing Wii U E3When most of the follow-up questions were “Is the tablet a Wii add-on?” There is arguably little doubt that as an initial presentation and proof of concept, the original video did a good job.

The trailer got a bit iconic and meme-worthy. Yes, it had photogenic people in very nice houses making their best wonderful faces, people casually playing with strangers at airports, construction sites. It also had the famous rooftop party scene that was endlessly parodied and teased. Now, I haven’t been to a rooftop party with the Switch action going (we don’t do a lot of rooftop parties in Scotland, to be honest), but I’ve seen people playing a Switch at a wedding and in a pub or two. , so that happens.

In any case, it amused people on social media. It also had a pretty elegant melody, White Denim; It’s pretty cool that it’s actually called Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yes).

Beyond the photogenic cast and slightly goofy settings, it’s worth saying that the trailer did a solid job of promoting the actual game as well. The concept had been widely rumored and leaked, but seeing the transition from base to portable playback and the sheer smarts of Joy-Con controllers, it was still a lightbulb moment that gave us cause for optimism. Let’s not forget that Nintendo also cleverly ‘revealed’ the games (although Nintendo didn’t formally announce them for a couple more months), showing in-progress clips from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (although we knew that was coming to an end. ) ‘NX’), Skyrim, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Super Mario Odyssey. It was perfect in terms of getting people talking.

The cyclical hype leading up to the reveal

Looking back at how Nintendo made the presentation in October 2016, it’s quite amusing to see how similar that frenzied period was to the tedious ‘Pro’ Switch rumors, which seemed to reach a notable peak in this year’s E3 season. Rumors for years, some of them feasible and others clearly fabricated? Check. Nintendo continually dodging and avoiding saying something? Check. Increasingly desperate and anxious fans bombarding the company on social media? Oh yeah, CHECK.

However, the context was a bit different. For one thing, the Wii U had really been doomed for a few years at the time. Hyperbole is often thrown about ‘flops’ in games, but while many of us have a soft spot for the system, it was truly a disaster for Nintendo. Its lifetime hardware sales were 13.56 million units; in contrast, the most recent figure for Switch is 89.04 million. Now that era also had the 3DS, which hit 75.94 million units during its lifespan, so when you combine the two systems from that generation, it’s interesting how close the numbers are. Of course, the Switch is still working and despite declining demand, it is still selling solid numbers. When all is said and done, the Switch will have sold quite a bit more than the Wii U and 3DS put together, and aside from a few lagged 3DS releases in the early period, Nintendo has only had to focus on one main line of hardware, not two.

So in 2016, when ‘NX’ was a codename and the concept hadn’t been revealed, it was a relatively difficult period for the company. The run-up to the concept reveal, regardless of its release, was also endlessly long. Under pressure from investors due to the Wii U woes and the fact that 3DS was nothing like the monstrous success of DS, former company president Satoru Iwata first mentioned ‘NX’ as a new ‘dedicated gaming platform’ in March. 2015.. That was a firearm for the online frenzy that follows any new hardware coming out of Nintendo headquarters.

Nintendo said next to nothing for over a year, leaving rumors and leaks (one or two of which were genuine) to fill the void. Nintendo finally confirmed a March 2017 release window, just before the end of its financial year, the same tactic we saw with the 3DS, but it hasn’t shown the concept yet. The famous E3 2016 only had one game, Breath of the Wild, but it was the Wii U version. Nintendo wouldn’t rush it and as a result the internet became almost unbearable. “Where is NX?” “What is NX?” “Is it Nintendo doooooooomed? “

Of course, we did our best to cover rumors that we trusted or were able to verify, and we dealt with a lot of “why didn’t you cover this?” emails for the rumors that were clearly nonsense. The volume was increasing and the message from Nintendo was simple: “We still have nothing to share.”

We’ve been fondly looking back (I guess) at some of our editorials, right? before premiere. In this one we wonder how Nintendo would reveal the ‘NX’ and of course the company did neither of those approaches. It was because of the fall of the viral trailer, something like, but he tweeted a few hours before the video. It’s not a stealth drop, but it’s not a million miles away.

Just a few weeks before that, we had written that NX is testing fans’ patience, which means it was testing too. our patience. Once again, Nintendo hadn’t officially said almost anything about the NX, so in the context of that moment the online atmosphere was out of control. Do you think the ‘Switch Pro’ speech is getting annoying? It has nothing on that late NX period.

It all worked out in the end

Ultimately, the initial trailer was quite well received and Nintendo’s PR machine came to life as it began to reveal more information about the system and all that it would entail. Then, in mid-January 2017, there was an eye-catching live presentation for the system and many games; which kicked off pre-orders, previews, and a flood of information. A couple of months later, the system was out.

And ultimately, it has been a resounding success for Nintendo, helping to return it to the heart of popular culture and contributing to profit levels not seen since the DS and Wii era. Switch to a hybrid strategy of handheld and home console in one, which was initially devised and implemented by Satoru Iwata way back In early 2013, it has allowed Nintendo to prosper and regain its place at the forefront of the hardware business.

It has also been typical Nintendo hardware, as it has been the concept, the gameplay opportunities and the library of exclusives that have elevated its success, leaving Sony and Microsoft battling for graphics power and teraflops. And regardless of what Nintendo does next, the sensible money will be in future hardware being similar: modest power consumption, less graphics capacity than other systems, but games, and a ‘hook’ to stand out. If you expect Nintendo to produce a tablet-sized device with the grunt equivalent to the current generation PS5 and Xbox Series X, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

However, when Nintendo does have new hardware to share, there will be a great deal of buzz, coverage, and scrutiny thanks to the company’s remarkable success over the past 4.5 years.

And to think that it all started with actors pretending to squint at Super Mario Odyssey on a rooftop.