AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: For eight years, gamers have waited for a new Nintendo Switch.
Will it be another eight years before the Switch 3, and what about other consoles and handhelds and online games?
Jeff Gerstmann covers the video game industry and heads up “The Jeff Gerstmann Show” podcast, and he joins us now.
RASCOE: So let’s start with Nintendo Switch 2.
GERSTMANN: Well, it’s been an interesting run for the previous Nintendo Switch, where as the years wore on, the games just weren’t running as well as you wanted them to.
The host is AYESHA RASCOE.
Fans have been waiting for a new Nintendo Switch for eight years. They received their wish at midnight on Thursday. At last, the Switch 2 was available for purchase. Jeff Gerstmann, who hosts “The Jeff Gerstmann Show” podcast and covers the video game industry, joins us to discuss whether the Switch 3 will be released in eight more years, as well as what about other consoles, handheld devices, and online games. Welcome to the program. .
Thank you for having Ayesha, Jeff Gerstmann.
RASCOE: The Nintendo Switch 2 will be our first choice. What is your assessment of the system’s performance?
GERSTMANN: The previous Nintendo Switch had an interesting run, with the games simply not performing as well as you wanted them to as the years went by. Because there isn’t another way to play Nintendo games, I believe people were ready for an upgrade when they started to stutter and drop frames. People thought, “Okay, we’re on to the next one,” once those games began to perform poorly.
RASCOE: What else is coming up? I know that PC gaming is becoming more popular, but is there a new Xbox or PlayStation in the works? For example, is that what the children—and, I should add, the adults—will be concentrating on these days?
GERSTMANN: With the PlayStation and the upcoming Xbox still a few years away, we’re at that stage of the cycle. The current Xbox and PlayStation, however, seem to be reaching a point of diminishing returns. It seems like, while the games do have a better visual appeal, they are essentially the same as those on the previous generation of consoles. Furthermore, the cost of these items is only rising. The PlayStation 5 cost about $500 when it first came out, but I believe it’s currently on sale for less than that. A Switch costs $449. Another trend we’re observing is that these consoles used to become more affordable over time. Prices would decrease as production increased and they became more proficient in producing them, thereby increasing their efficiency. However, the cost of the Xbox and PlayStation 5 has increased.
RASCOE: Is that a lasting effect that might influence the Switch 2’s pricing in the future, or is it a result of the pandemic and supply chain problems?
GERSTMANN: There are many variables at play, but I do believe that the Switch 2 might have been released even sooner if it weren’t for the pandemic. Therefore, yes, there are these kinds of long-lasting repercussions everywhere. You mentioned the piece, and if you want one of these large, top-tier Nvidia graphics cards for your computer, they cost thousands of dollars, and the cost isn’t going down. Those cards were extremely costly over the course of several generations.
RASCOE: What about VR? It used to seem like the way of the future for video games. Rumor had it that Nintendo would attempt to incorporate virtual reality into the Switch 2, but it turns out that they did not. What do you know about Nintendo’s decision to avoid virtual reality with this new system, and is it not working out the way people had hoped?
GERSTMANN: I would have been extremely surprised if you had told me thirty years ago that virtual reality would be developed and that it would be everything we had imagined, but that no one would want it. But that’s our current situation. You get to say, “Well, if there isn’t a demand for the headsets, then not enough people own headsets for big game companies to invest a lot of money in a VR game.” This is because the demand simply hasn’t materialized. It’s simply been somewhat confined to that. Even after all these years, there are still some really cool and avant-garde developments in virtual reality. Although it is still practiced, it is far less common than using a PlayStation, Xbox, or even a Switch.
RASCOE: What do you think the future of video games and the types of games that will dominate the industry will be, aside from hardware and consoles? Will it be, and I’m not sure what the names of these games are, but these Fortnite-type games where you can play for free and then buy a lot of other things, and there are a lot of people playing against each other? They seem to be very popular, and they do seem to be making money because they’re taking money out of my pocket, I tell you, with my son. Vocalizing.
GERSTMANN: In my opinion, these cross-platform experiences are something that was previously unheard of. For example, an Xbox player can now compete against a PlayStation player. Now, however, that is rather typical. Furthermore, you can play the same game on all platforms with multiple players—one on their PC, another on their phone, and one on their switch. I believe that the games that have the greatest potential to reach the greatest number of players will reap the greatest rewards.
As a result, you can play Fortnite on your phone and some variations of Minecraft on your phone. However, I believe that these children who are searching for something do not need to approach their parents and request $70 or $80, depending on the situation. For example, it is unheard of to pay $80 for Mario Kart World for the Switch if you want to purchase it separately from the bundle. For that reason, playing Fortnite, which you could theoretically play for thousands of hours without paying anything, is a very alluring substitute.
RASCOE: Are the children in the background yours?
GERSTMANN: I apologize; I didn’t comprehend that you could hear them.
RASCOE: No, it’s alright (laughing). That would be Jeff Gerstmann, a video game journalist. We sincerely appreciate your conversation with us.
GERSTMANN: I appreciate you having me.
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