Nintendo plans smaller and cheaper Switch to boost console sales

Nintendo’s Switch, the portable gaming console has been an instant hit among consumers and is one credited with bringing the company out of a possible bankruptcy. In its recent earnings, the Japanese company announced that it sold over 32 million units of Switch, which confirmed the fact that game console is closer to dethroning the Nintendo 64 as the best console from the company. In order to do so, Nintendo has plans to change its console business a bit this year. The company is reportedly planning to develop a smaller and cheaper version of Nintendo Switch that will focus on portability further.

The new smaller Switch is said to come without some of the features of the original console, reports Nikkei. This is in line with a rumor in October which suggested that Nintendo was developing a new Switch that won’t be a new or improved version of the existing model but will instead serve as a model to streamline the product portfolio. The ArsTechnica speculated that the console’s plastic dock could be dropped from this smaller and cheaper variant. Nintendo currently sells this dock separately for a retail price of $90.

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While Nintendo sells the dock, there are even cheaper and effective ways to output your Switch content to TV and since the dock relies on USB Type-C, the standard remains universal. The Japanese giant could even move towards a smaller and cheaper screen and possibly make the controller part of the console and not as a removable joy-con controller offered right now.

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If Nintendo’s past moves are anything to go by then the company could break existing functionality with a console revamp, like it did with the 2DS, which arrived as a cheaper version of the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo needs some new recipe to fuel sales of its Switch consoles and a cheaper version could be that recipe. While Switch is doing well in terms of sales, it is still available in limited markets and could be deemed expensive in terms of the functionality supported by it. The company has also revised the sales projection down to 17 million from 20 million for the 2018 fiscal year.

from BGR India http://bit.ly/2GhuOsP
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