OMG at the strawmanned excuses, damage control and apologism in this thread. Fandom is, most definitively, a poison to the brain. Some people here talk like it's going to affect them negatively under some dubious claims if they follow this direction, but it won't. I'm very supportive for Nintendo's return to the hardware race and will only benefit them if they do. One of the key reasons for why third-party support for Nintendo platforms is crippled is because they don't have the hardware power to properly meet the market and development demands. No matter how well the hardware sells, as long as the hardware is behind the competition, third-parties will not jump in. They didn't with Wii, aren't with Switch and won't with a Switch 2 as long Nintendo decides to get back into the hardware. I also agree that Nintendo games are the best but their hardware are terrible and, somewhat, impose unnecessary restrictions for their games. I remember some people saying Nintendo is all about fun and simplicity (and they're, in some way), but once stuff like BOTW and Odyssey came out, this argument didn't really aged well, as Nintendo games can really evolve and look great.
"Ah, Nintendo don't need third-party support". They do. Well, if this was true, then Wii U would still be around and no Switch was ever made. Anyone believing this needs to make a reality check, no one can survive on their own. Why should Nintendo give the middle finger to third-parties now when they succesfully managed to rebuild bridges with many of them? This would be a nonsensical, self-destructive decision to follow.
"Nintendo tried before and failed". This is a hive mind's echo chamber strawmen that, unfortunately, seems to never die. Supporters of this theory constantly use the GameCube as the example for why Nintendo shouldn't try again. This was an excuse brought by Satoru Iwata, as well, to support his laissez faire/neoliberal direction on Nintendo and alienated/brainwashed their fanboys to believe this. Anyway, we're in 2020, those statements were made back in the early and mid 2000's, the world and Nintendo changed completely ever since. Nintendo definitively can compete and dominate, if they're really interested in this.
"Nintendo has no money" WTF? Please... they're one of the most powerful and richest companies in the world, they aren't a small indie dev with limited resources as some seems to believe. It's time to get rid of the defeatism. I would buy, day 1, a high-end Nintendo hardware. Most of my all-time favorite systems (NES, SNES and N64) were from a time Nintendo was still on the hardware racing and able to produce one of the all time greatest games ever. I'm not against them dropping the Switch concept, but defeatism isn't really a good argument to backdown a high-end hardware approach, which I hope they'll return someday.
"Switch is mostly a portable machine" That's not what sales say. Switch Lite is selling way less than the docked Switch. There's no evidence to support that most Switch owners are playing it on portable mode more than docked. I believe they can mix the Switch concept and returning to the hardware race. Nintendo was always reasonable about pricing even on their hardware racing days. GameCube was designed to have a price drop and was a very powerful machine.
