Top Story
Nintendo is sticking to the Switch
Nintendo isn’t worrying too much about the impending launch of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, but they’re not just resting on their laurels either.
They remain focused on Switch, which they expect to enjoy a much longer life cycle than recent Nintendo consoles. “…there are many different ways to think about future console development,” company president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors.
Switch Lite has sold over 5 million units already
“On the other hand, software is also very important. So in the short term, while the Nintendo Switch install base continues to expand, we must place a lot of focus on that.” When all is said and done, the games market is all about the games – and that’s what Nintendo is focusing on.
“By placing our main focus on the Nintendo Switch, we feel we can have a very different (longer) hardware life cycle than previous Nintendo consoles,” he added. Analysts are confident Switch can dethrone the Wii as Nintendo’s best-selling console. Switch has already shifted 52 million units as of December last year, so it is more than halfway to the Wii’s 102.63 million sales.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Which of the following was NOT made by PlatinumGames?
- Bayonetta
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- Devil May Cry
- Nier: Automata
The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.
News Bits
EA wants to take The Sims online again
The Sims is 20 years old this month and while the classic series has changed a lot since the first game launched in 2000, it has yet to go online after the relative failure of The Sims Online, which shut down in 2008.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson was recently asked if The Sims might go back online, to which Wilson responded that the ability to ‘compare and contrast’ will “start to become a part of The Sims experience in the years to come.”
Christophe Gans working on new Fatal Frame and Silent Hill adaptations
Fatal Frame and Silent Hill fans are still waiting for new entries in the series, and now film director Christophe Gans has revealed that he is working on new movies based on both. He’s staying true to Fatal Frame’s haunted house setting, and wants to keep Silent Hill anchored in small-town Americana.
Daily Fact
Pikmin was a tech demo called Super Mario 128 testing AIs for Gamecube
Nintendo’s quirky real-time strategy and puzzle series Pikmin debuted for the GameCube in late 2001, but started out as nothing more than a tech demo.
It was designed to showcase the Gamecube handling multiple AIs at once, and was called Super Mario 128. Fortunately, the developers discovered that their flocking AI was fun to play around with and thus Pikmin was born.
If you put the Pikmin GameCube disc in a PC CD-ROM drive, you can actually run it – albeit in a somewhat glitchy state. Many of the problems can be solved by opening the game’s debug menu and enabling ‘Game-Mode’.
Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.
Daily News
Busy February for Pokémon Go events
Looks like February will be a very busy month for Pokémon Go with no less than seven major highlights, including a Valentine’s Day Celebration.
- Save Shadow Raikou from Giovanni
If you’ve completed the latest Team Go Rocket Special Research, you can try out February’s Team GO Rocket Special Research, in which you challenge Team GO Rocket, its leadership and Giovanni to rescue the Legendary Shadow Pokémon Raikou. Only available in February.
- Research Breakthrough encounter: Woobat with bonus Woobat Candies
February 1st, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m. to March 1st, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m. PST (GMT -8). The bat Pokémon Woobat makes its debut in Pokemon GO with this Research Breakthrough encounter.
- Tornadus zooms into five-star raids
February 4th, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m. February 25th, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m. PST (GMT -8). Cyclone Pokémon Tornadus from the Unova region is being introduced to Pokémon Go and will appear in five-star raids.
- Sinnoh region celebration event
February 7th, 2020 @ 8:00 a.m. to February 10th, 2020 @ 10:00 p.m. local time. A special Sinnoh region celebration event in appreciation of all the Pokémon that Trainers have befriended. All 7km Eggs earned will hatch Sinnoh region Pokémon such as Budew, Combee, Bronzor, Gible, Riolu, Hippopotas, and Mantyke. There’s also a chance to encounter a Shiny Riolu or a Shiny Hippopotas.
- Pokémon GO Valentine’s Day Celebration 2020
February 14th, 2020 @ 8:00 a.m. to February 17th, 2020 @ 10:00 p.m. local time. Get ready for a deluge of pink Pokemon appearing the wild, in raids, hatching from eggs and during field research. Audino and Alomomola will also make their Pokémon Go debut.
A special raid day will take place February 15th, 2020 @ 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time featuring a Lickitung who knows Body Slam in four-star raids. You might encounter a Shiny Lickitung.
- Celebrate your love for friends with a special friendship weekend event
February 21st, 2020 @ 8:00 a.m. to February 24th, 2020 @ 10:00 p.m. local time. Celebrate love with exclusive bonuses like friendship bars increasing faster, more Trade Candy, half cost for Trade Stardust, daily Gift openings increasing to 40 and more space for Gifts in inventory.
- Pokémon Spotlight Hour and Mystery Bonus Hour
The team at Pokémon Go are holding two extra events with Pokémon Spotlight Hour taking place February 4th, 2020 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, and Mystery Bonus Hour on February 6th, 2020 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. What’s going to happen? It’s still a secret, but something will apparently happen in the wild.
Nintendo isn’t sweating the launches of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5
Microsoft and Sony are getting ready to unleash their next-generation home consoles later this year, but Nintendo seems quite happy to stick with the Switch for now.
“…I think there will certainly be a change in the environment as new products of our competitors appear,” Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors recently. They’re confident the ‘target audiences are different enough’ that there’s no need to worry about Microsoft and Sony.
Switch has sold over 52m units since 2017
“…we do not believe that the business trends of other companies will have a significant impact on our business,” he said. Switch has kept up its strong performance, and Nintendo has surprised analysts by launching the handheld Switch Lite without cannibalizing the sales of their flagship console.
Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will start their battle for living room dominance next Holiday season just as the Switch reaches “the middle of its life cycle” after three years on the market.
“Rather than just the next year, I think about things in terms of what to do the following year and the year after that.” Nintendo is playing the long game.
