[ejj28]

While that's a fair point, I also have to wonder how much of that is actually lost sales, vs. people who wouldn't have bought the games otherwise, or didn't have a Switch to play on, or etc.

Personally, I paid for a copy of Tears of the Kingdom when it came out, but only because I had a Switch I could borrow from someone to play it on - if I hadn't had that option, I wouldn't have bought a Switch just to play one game, and I just wouldn't have bought the game at all.

Had they released the game on PC as well as Switch, I would have bought it for PC, but that's not an option. As it stands, either you have to own an overpriced and underpowered console, even if you only want to play one Nintendo game, or you can pirate the game and play it on PC, and have a much better experience than on a real Switch. Nintendo is somewhat bringing this upon itself in my opinion and I don't feel much sympathy for their lost profits, real or imagined.

[gamblor956]

Valve used the Yuzu emulator in some of its Steam Deck initial marketing, and emulating the Switch is one of the most popular uses for the Steam Deck, so there is definitely a measurable impact.

Considering that the Steam Deck is more expensive than the Switch, arguably every SD player using Yuzu is several lost sales for Nintendo.

Nintendo is somewhat bringing this upon itself in my opinion and I don't feel much sympathy for their lost profits, real or imagined.

This is why they are going after Yuzu in the first place...Because Yuzu makes it easy to pirate Switch games and the pirates feel entitled to play those games on a more expensive device than the device they claim is too expensive.

[cheeseomlit]

Yes but the more expensive device is better in every conceivable way, it's a PC instead of a locked down walled garden that only exists as a platform for nintendo products. Just because someone owns a Deck doesn't mean they would otherwise own a switch, I own a Deck and haven't remotely considered buying any nintendo hardware since gamecube. If I couldn't emulate switch games I just wouldn't play them.

[prophesi]

Anecdotally, the friends that I know who have a gaming PC own a Switch as well. The one guy running TotK @ 4K/60FPS on their rig was also the first to preorder the game. But we're all in our 30's with decent salaries.

[mcphage]

> If I couldn't emulate switch games I just wouldn't play them.

Given this discussion started around whether to boycott Nintendo or not, it seems that you're not a Nintendo customer at all. So I'm not really sure what you would be boycotting?

[cheeseomlit]

I'm just chiming in to dispute the 'Deck owner with a switch emulator = lost sales' point that was made, but yes I've already been unconsciously 'boycotting' them for a while now.

[gamblor956]

If I couldn't emulate switch games I just wouldn't play them.

And Nintendo is okay with that. If you're never going to be a paying customer, they don't care what you think.

[Dylan16807]

They didn't say they wouldn't be a paying customer.

Regardless of that particular commenter, many paying customers of Nintendo have the same attitude that they will only emulate switch games.

[mcphage]

> many paying customers of Nintendo have the same attitude that they will only emulate switch games

I think “many” is probably a bit much.

[SmallDeadGuy]

How is the Switch overpriced and underpowered? I picked up a switch lite with a game as a bundle for my wife for £180 brand new. If you want detachable controllers and the ability to dock the Switch to a TV, you can spend more. But those features and the built-in screen are ones that literally no other games console had at the time and is only just starting to gain popularity in the handheld PC market recently. It may be underpowered now, but the Switch has been out for 7 years. And it still has enough power to play games like TOTK, The Witcher 3, Xenoblade Chronicles, etc.

As for releasing games on PC, I don't see any reason why they would? Developing for PC is much more difficult than a single console, when it comes to handling the variety of hardware, anti-cheat, etc. TOTK and their Mario games are system sellers, with the former even releasing alongside a special edition console and pro controller. Delaying the release of these games to add dev time for a PC port is never going to be worth it.