Cool hardware, generally stable experience, family friendly, lots of games which are enriching, the portability is awesome, it’s inexpensive, the games are fun, lots of exclusives…
There can be a thousand reasons to favour something, yet it only takes one reason to reject it.
As for the inexpensive bit, I've never really viewed Nintendo in that light because the games themselves are rather expensive. For my older DS/3DS it wasn't much of an issue since there was the secondhand market. It sounds like the secondhand market is a gamble with the Switch 2 which, at least in my case, makes it a non-starter. That is especially true since they are punishing the person with the legitimate cartridge, who may or may not have been the person who pirated the game.
Sure, but OP asked why anyone would ever buy one, and all of those alone can be a justification. He didn’t ask “how doesn’t everyone view these problems as a non-starter”. It’s an unbelievably popular and fast-selling console - the entire premise of the question is weird anyways.
Eh, from what I've heard it's not really that great. Nintendo isn't really known for cutting edge tech, they're really more known for their first party offering. Steam Deck is a few years old now but still pretty impressive hardware, so I would call them about equal
> generally stable experience
Yes this is true (as long as you don't try to mod), though Steam Deck has been rock solid stable for me
> family friendly
Can you expand on this a bit? Other platforms have family controls and lots of family-friendly game options so I don't know where Nintendo out competes in this area.
> lots of games which are enriching
Aside from the first-party games, this also doesn't feel like a unique quality of Nintendo
> the portability is awesome
I'm assuming you mean physical portability? If so then yes, but also not unique to Nintendo.
If you mean software portability like "can run games on other systems/platforms" then absolutely not. Steam is going to be way better at that.
> it’s inexpensive
Is it? Here at least the switch 2 is $500 (there is one on Amazon for $450 but it is "invite only"), compared with Steam Deck which starts at $400 but goes up to $650 for the top model. It seems like again Nintendo is just not unique in price.
> the games are fun, lots of exclusives…
The exclusives are IMHO really the only reason to get a Nintendo. If you really like their first party games then you have no choice. Everyone I know who bought a Switch (and will buy Switch 2) did it for this reason. To me personally the exclusivity is a major turn-off
If you really want first party games or those with heavy anti-cheat, then yes, but if you just want a handheld console with a great UX, the Steam Deck is phenomenal. The same games are also often way cheaper, plus if you want to play on PC later you can...
For myself it was my first console bought on pre sale. And here in my country is much more expensive.
Basically I raised the bar tremendously. I have the console, MKW, probably will buy Metroid, probably another Zelda. But that's it. I will not tolerate a low bar.
Now that indies are constantly increasing theirs with more genuine experiences? No no no
I bought NSW2 to be my defacto indie platform as well, but I just reporpused a laptop with Arch/Proton/Steam/Gog and I will work on that.
All my accessories from 8bitdo are working flawlessly, so not even a controller I will buy. I don't even bothered to buy the special SD card they require because I can't see myself using even the internal storage, unlike my NSW1.
I'm also part of the group that was shocked with the changes on MKW as well. A long time Nintendo fan disappointed.
I stayed fan for all this time because the experience hassle free. I don't want another Denuvo strategy, or games becoming boring like many mobile games.
I hope more people realize that there are options out there. Support the indies is my choice.
even if you do connect it to the internet and get it banned, it probably wouldn't matter if you're not planning on using it with Nintendo's online services anymore
You couldn’t think of ANY of these?