Nintendo is 'losing its identity', says former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida
Shuhei Yoshida, a former PlayStation executive who once ran Sony's internal studios, isn't too impressed with what he saw in the Switch 2 presentation.
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In a frank conversation with Easy Allies, the industry veteran said that in his opinion, Nintendo is "losing its identity", as the new Switch lacks the imagination that was characteristic of the company's previous platforms.
"For me, Nintendo has always been about creating new experiences, about combining hardware and game development to create something amazing - a new experience," he said.
"But Switch 2, as we all expected, is just a better Switch, right? It's got a bigger screen, a more powerful processor, 4K, and 120 frames per second. They even started the broadcast with a hardware introduction, like other platform owners do."
Yoshida went on to say that while he thinks the concept of a "better Switch" is great for those who only play Nintendo consoles, he wondered what the platform could offer those already deeply entrenched in the PlayStation, Xbox or PC ecosystems.
He explained: "Because it's a better Switch, the core idea behind Switch 2 is that 'we made things better'. And that's what other companies do all the time."
"So of course it's a more powerful Switch, so it's great if your games have only been on Nintendo hardware. This is the first time you'll be able to play great games like Elden Ring. But for us mainstream gamers who own multiple platforms and play PS5, Xbox, and PC, the games they showed, especially from third-party developers... You know, in theory it's great to have all these industry stellar games on Nintendo hardware. However, what they showed was like, "Uh-oh."
Yoshida didn't finish his thought, but it's not hard to see where he's going with this: what's the incentive to buy expensive ports of old games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Outlaws when there's no guarantee they'll run better than they do on other consoles and PCs and when, especially, you've already played them.
Source: @EasyAllies
