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How the first half of PS4's last year is miles better than what should be Switch's peak year? Where Nintendo went wrong?

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Personablue

Personablue

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Feb 10, 2019
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Leave third party multiplatform titles like DBZ kakarot, Resident Evil 3, Cyberpunk etc, even in terms of exclusive titles (Something which Nintendo still did better or alright to the competition till recently) PS4 is miles ahead of Nintendo Switch.

Nioh 2
Final fantasy 7
The last of Us 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Dreams

All exclusively launching for the PS4 in the first half of this year itself compared to Nintendo's Animal crossing and a couple of ports.

It makes you wonder which console actually celebrated its 3rd anniversary recently and which console is in its last year.

Where did Nintendo go wrong? For 2020 should have been the strongest year of Switch. A lack of communication is not helping either.
It seems consolidating both handheld and console development didnt do any good. For once even in terms of first party exclusives Nintendo is behind PS4
 
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Dest

Dest

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There's the possibility they haven't gone wrong at all, and I don't think it's appropriate to rule out their second half just yet.
 
AfropunkNyc

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Nov 15, 2017
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PS4 going out with a bang, is all im seeing. 2019 was amazing for the switch. 2020 potentially may be the same, provided they decide to show what they have in store for the switch this coming e3.
 
Magic-Man

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Boi. We haven't even had a Direct yet. Wait before making assumptions. Plus, a console should always go out with a bang, and that's what the PS4 is going to do.
 
LegendofLex

LegendofLex

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Nov 20, 2017
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There aren't confirmed release dates after March, but that doesn't mean there will be no releases from April-June.
 
bixente

bixente

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Jan 27, 2019
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The year is still young. I'm sure Nintendo have lots to announce at the next Direct.
 
Shoichi

Shoichi

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Sony has some of those games as cross-launch with the PS5 or even backwards compatible.
It doesn't really matter if a console is having an anniversary year...
Nintendo is doing its own thing while having success at it saleswise. Nintendo still hasn't had its 1st 2020 General Direct yet and usually pack H2 in its year for Holidays.
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

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Nov 30, 2018
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To be fair to the Switch, the first half of PS4's last year is better than any year I can think of, ever. In addition to what you have up there you have to add Persona 5 R, Iron Man VR, and I'm sure Yakuza 7 is coming sooner rather than later, it's just an insane line up of exclusives.
 
AtomicShroom

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I agree.

It feels like we're back in the good old Nintendo Droughts™ of previous generations, which we were assured would be a thing of the past with the unified console. Seems not.
 
Lant_War

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Jul 14, 2018
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Sony and Nintendo always work on opposite strategies. Nintendo always packs H2, Sony packs H1
 
Rosebud

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PS consoles always have a big last year.

I'm drowning in games, including on Switch, so can't complain.
 
Odeko

Odeko

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Nintendo rarely releases much in the first half of the year, they always stack most of their releases around the holidays. Comparing the first half of the year to a company that doesn't do that is apples to oranges.
 
Reinhard

Reinhard

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It's one of the reasons I sold my launch edition Switch.. Hopefully, Switch Pro launches in March 2021 with BotW2 and Metroid Prime 4 in Nov 21.
 

HockeyBird

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Nintendo has always been more heavily focused on the second half of the year. This has been true for several years so I dont know why the OP was expecting much different this year in particular.
 
lightning16

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I think it's a combination of Nintendo not valuing the early months of the year very much and also playing their cards much closer to the chest than most other companies (especially Square Enix and Sony, who are both fond of making major announcements years in advance). We'll probably have a much better idea of Nintendo's 2020 soon, including anything coming out from April to June.

I do agree that Nintendo under delivered in the early months this year, though. Animal Crossing is big, but it's a bit uninspiring outside of that. That said, if their second half is as strong as last year's, then nobody will even care in a few months' time.
 
Misterhbk

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I sort of expected the Xenoblade remaster to have released or have a release date at the very least. As someone who didnt enjoy Pokemon at all, it's been a really disappointing stretch for the switch in terms of new big games to play.
 
chrominance

chrominance

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Listen, I don't even like Animal Crossing, but come on. It's ANIMAL CROSSING. In terms of popularity that handily beats half the stuff in the OP's list with one hand tied behind its back.
 
Lelouch0612

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Oct 25, 2017
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Lol what kind of topic is that ?

GoT was not even dated a couple of hours ago, you might want to wait Nintendo's schedule before jumping assumptions.

Even then PS4's first half or rather Q2 is exceptionnally strong and I see no issue for Nintendo or MS to have a weaker line-up during that timeframe. It is probably PS4's best Q2 in its entire life *shrug*.
 
werezompire

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Feels like this thread is premature given that Nintendo has been keeping its immediate plans close to the chest. We know Animal Crossing comes out this month, we know that the enhanced Xenoblade & Bravely Default 2 were both listed as 2020 releases in their recent financial report and that's about it.

Like Nintendo could come out in their next Direct (or E3) and say BotW2 & Mario Odyssey 2 are both 2020 releases and that's perfectly plausible. With PS4 right now, what you see is what you get - any big announcements at this stage are going to be for PS5 games.
 
Betty

Betty

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For some Animal Crossing is more anticipated than the entire PS4 lineup. (Not me though, I have it pre-ordered but the complete Sony line-up is pretty stellar)

And even with just Animal Crossing at least the Switch doesn't have the weakest line up this year.
 
vestan

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Year is super mid so far (which is the norm for Nintendo at this point) but the 🐐 is arriving soon

Also next Direct is gonna be huge

da2
 
Hieroph

Hieroph

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It's the time to go all out on PS4, so you're going to see a very good year. Next year the focus will be shifting to PS5.

Also helps that this will not actually be PS4's "last year" as that will probably be some 5 to 7 years down the line.
 

Deleted member 3017

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We've been hearing about every game in the OP (save for Nioh 2) for years. Nice they're finally coming out.

Nintendo's first half of each gen is stronger than its second half.

Sony's second half of each gen is stronger than its first half.

It's been this way forever. I wouldn't expect the first two years of PS5 to be particularly exciting, outside of a handful of titles.

Also, Animal Crossing is massive and it's launching in two weeks. And we have absolutely no idea how strong or weak Nintendo's 2020 will actually be at this point.
 

Matic

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Oct 25, 2017
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Rowsdower said:
I've noticed this as well. Sony loves the first half of the year, while Nintendo is usually the opposite.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's because Sony likes to let third parties have the fall/winter timeframe. Why take away from third party sales by releasing Last of Us in Nov when it will sell regardless of when it releases. Same thing they did with God of War, Horizon, and releasing Spiderman before the yearly Creeds Call of Dutys NBA 2K etc.
 
NSESN

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Animal Crossing is so big that Nintendo knows that if that is better to release things far from it
 
LegendofLex

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AtomicShroom said:
I agree.

It feels like we're back in the good old Nintendo Droughts™ of previous generations, which we were assured would be a thing of the past with the unified console. Seems not.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It...doesn't really feel that way? There will be three first-party retail releases this quarter, and two pieces of DLC for big 2019 titles dropped in the last few weeks. Plus they released Pokémon Home.

Historical droughts have been WAY worse.
 
Tibarn

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We don't know which Nintendo games will be released this year, this thread makes no fucking sense at all.

Lack of comunication from Nintendo? Sure, I agree, the lack of general Directs for 6 months has been really bad, but there's no reason to compare both consoles catalogues for 2020 when Nintendo has not even announced any release date outside of the GBA Pokemon remake and AC, and both will be released during the next 2 weeks.

Whenever Nintendo decides to announce the first general Direct for the year, this discussion will have more sense (same for Sony's PS5 announcement and which games will be also on Ps4).

And as a side note, Nintendo last year announced and released 2 of their biggest games within a 6-7 month time, so this can be happening again.
 
Dolce

Dolce

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Oct 25, 2017
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Nintendo is putting out thoughtful, artistic games that push the medium forward into maturity, like Animal Crossing, while Sony is putting out games where you fight rawr rawrs.

Makes you wonder.
 
Lyre

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And what's more impressive is that they'll manage to also have an incredible launch period for the PS5, just like the PS4s after the PS3 went out with a bang!

...wait...

Uh oh
 

Deleted member 10737

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oh jeez. list wars?

nintendo always packs their games into the second half of the year. surely anyone who's been following the releases would know that.
 
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