Nintendo and the Switch
Nintendo has always been one of the more innovative companies in the industry for better or for worse. The gaming giant has always marched to the beat of its own drum, and that has kept Nintendo consoles in their own space for as long as I can remember. Whether it’s a cubed console with a handle so you can carry it to your friends house, a controller with an analog stick in the dead center, a console that’s controlled with a tablet, or hardware that goes from being part of your home entertainment center to a handheld you can take on the plane, Nintendo is always doing something different on the hardware front. The company has also broken itself away from the console life-cycle, often releasing its next generation well before the other members of the big three, removing itself from most conversations of the “console wars.”
2017 may mark the biggest departure from the norm, as the Switch is poised to be the most unique console on the market for the foreseeable future. The Wii U was different from the PS4 and Xbox One, yes, but it was still basically a home console. The only big difference was that its second-screen experience was built-in, rather than requiring a mobile device (which was the case with the PS4 and Xbox One). The Switch changes things up by being a console/handheld hybrid, one that instantly makes the transition from your television to your plane ride. There’s really nothing that can compete with this specific technology in the console space, and it may very well allow Nintendo to carve out a nice little niche for itself away from the console war and other arguments revolving around gaming.
Another aspect that keeps Nintendo very much its own thing is its celebrated library. Granted, when talking about major third-party support the company is often looked down on, but switch over to first-party franchises and you can’t find a stronger vault. Nintendo’s hardware has always been able to survive purely off of exclusives, and that’s no small feat.
