Some say that the Switch is waning and that Nintendo is not releasing the types of games anymore that initially brought over 100 million people to the platform. In fact, it’s not just anyone who’s saying that. It’s Richard Masucci from ReviewTechUSA. He has a massive YouTube channel with almost 1 million subscribers. That being said, Masucci’s claim is not based in reality and is categorically false. It’s actually the opposite. The Nintendo Switch is stronger than ever before and is releasing the types of games that made it successful in the first place, and their February 2022 Nintendo Direct proves this.
The Switch is starting to have fewer releases for the types of games that brought some people to the system at the start. Do you think the Direct delivered, or is your interest in Nintendo waning?https://t.co/gZ7h7mFhSO
— Richard Masucci #ReviewTechUSA (@THEREALRTU) February 11, 2022
2017 and 2022 are very similar years for the Nintendo Switch from a software perspective. To start off, let’s look at 2017. The Nintendo Switch launched with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on March 3. A little under two months later, Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on April 28, 2017. Splatoon 2 was released that summer on July 21. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was released on the Switch on December 1. To take things a step further, before we move on to making our point, let’s look at the sales for the Nintendo Switch as a whole and the sales of these titles. The Nintendo Switch has sold over 104 million units since 2017, making it the highest-selling Nintendo home console of all time. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the best-selling Nintendo Switch game, selling 43.35 million copies. As of June 2021, Splatoon 2 sold 12.45 million copies. Breath of the Wild is the fourth-best-selling Nintendo Switch game with 25.80 million copies sold. As of September 2020, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 sold 2.05 million copies.
Well, what does all of this mean? Nintendo’s 2022 lineup is eerily similar to their 2017 launch lineup. As of Nintendo’s February Financial Report, Breath of the Wild 2 is still set to launch in 2022. It will most likely launch between October and December. Splatoon 3 is coming in the summer of 2022, almost exactly five years after its predecessor. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is getting paid DLC for $24.99 in the form of 48 new remastered tracks, the first wave of which will hit on March 18 of this year. Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles 2, will release in September of this year, almost five years after the second game. There is so much more coming too, but Nintendo’s 2022 software lineup is eerily similar to their 2017 launch lineup. It’s almost identical. Those original games shaped what the Switch would become. If anything, this year, Nintendo is going back to the Switch’s roots. It also has to be stated that the original games came out when there weren’t over 100 million Switches already out on the market. No one could have predicted the level of success the Nintendo Switch has found, and if 2022 pans out as Nintendo has laid out, 2022 will be their best year yet. This doesn’t even take into account games like Pokemon Legends Arceus, which has just been released and is the fastest-selling Pokemon game of all time.
The notion that Nintendo is somehow alienating their base by not releasing the types of games that made the Switch successful in the first place is not just asinine, it’s not based in reality. It’s pure fiction. If anything, Nintendo is doing the opposite. 2022 is a love letter to the Switch’s 2017 launch year; they mirror each other, like stanzas in a piece of poetry. People buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo’s first-party lineup, and 2017 and 2022 are loaded with games, games, and more games. Even if Zelda doesn’t come out this year, and that’s a big if, they’re still on track to have one of their most successful years in the Switch era. It’s almost unfair to Sony and Microsoft because Nintendo simply has that much in the pipeline.
Given that games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were released when the Switch was just coming into its own, expect Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to be even more commercially successful (as if over 2 million in sales wasn’t successful enough.) That can also be said for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, Breath of the Wild 2, and Splatoon 3. Early adopters bought the Switch for these games, and to say otherwise is to either be flat-out wrong or disingenuous.
The Nintendo Switch is stronger than ever and 2022 will prove it.