There are no real “winners” in the gaming industry other than the player, although we delude ourselves into thinking that one company wins and another fails. The fact of the matter is though is that Nintendo has set themselves up for an amazing 2019, while this upcoming year will be an off year for Sony, and Microsoft is in the process of setting themselves up for the future. With Sony skipping E3 this year and not holding PSX, it’s apparent that the games they showed at E3 2018 will not release in 2019 (maybe one or two, if we’re lucky.) Microsoft has Gears and Halo, but Halo is an uncertainty for this year. Both consoles are going to rely heavily on third-party titles, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nintendo, on the other hand, is hitting its stride with the Nintendo Switch. They’ve already come out with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe this year, which has been very well received.
If The Last of Us Part II doesn’t come out this year and the Nintendo Switch keeps selling the way it is, it could be another record-breaking year for the system. With Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Pokemon (proper Pokemon), Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Animal Crossing Switch, hopefully, Shin Megami Tensei, and a plethora of Final Fantasy games, Nintendo is poised to dominate 2019. This is a fact. No other company has a lineup like Nintendo does for 2019, and there are still so many announcements that haven’t been made yet. Sony only had 3-4 first-party games in 2018, as did Microsoft. By porting so many games to the Switch in 2018, Nintendo bought themselves plenty of time in order to prep for 2019, which is where the real fun begins.
This is not about winning or losing. The fact of the matter is, Nintendo has set themselves up for an amazing run in 2019, which is what a growing system like the Nintendo Switch needs. It already has an amazing library. Just imagine if they were to come out with a 2D Zelda game this year for the Switch? It’s scary how many good games are coming out for the system, and in comparison, how many games are not coming out on the competition (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One). Part of that, though, has to do with the fact that the Switch is still in its infancy and the PS4 and XB1 are at the end of their life cycles, so it’s not so clear cut.
Regardless, this isn’t about the competition. Nintendo doesn’t care about the competition. They have poised themselves for an amazing year and if Persona 5 does indeed come to the Switch, watch out because numerous games will follow, in addition to the first-party games Nintendo is releasing and the exclusives they already have lined up for this year.
It’s a great time to be a Nintendo fan!