Hey there! If you‘re considering buying a Nintendo Switch, let‘s chat through some key points that may convince you otherwise – or at least give you pause. As popular as Nintendo‘s hybrid console is, there are drawbacks versus rival platforms that are good to weigh first.
As an avid industry watcher and lifetime console gamer myself, I‘ll outline 8 reasons why buying a Switch right now may not be the best choice for many gamers. My goal isn‘t to condemn the Switch – it revolutionized hybrid portable/docked play after all! But by comparing specs, costs, services and more against the Switch‘s competition, I hope showing where Nintendo lags behind can help inform your purchasing decision.
Ready? Let‘s dive in.
1. High, Infrequent Game Discounts
Let‘s start with the cost of games themselves. Here Nintendo compares poorly against all rivals in terms of both retail title pricing and frequency/depth of discounts.
As a benchmark, newly released first-party Nintendo games hold at the full $59.99 base price for months or even years. Compare that to Xbox and PlayStation hits which typically see ~30% discounts within the first 6 months after launch. Even Steam sees major sales more often.
For example, here is how long top first-party titles maintained the full $60 price tag:
table {
font-family: arial, sans-serif;
border-collapse: collapse;
width: 100%;
}
td, th {
border: 1px solid #dddddd;
text-align: left;
padding: 8px;
}
tr:nth-child(even) {
background-color: #dddddd;
}
| Game | Months at $60 |
|---|---|
| Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) | 36+ months and counting |
| God of War Ragnarok (PS5) | 4 months so far |
| Elden Ring (Xbox/PlayStation) | 8 months and counting |
You see the trend clearly – Nintendo clings to full pricing for far longer stretches. This price rigidity extends to third-party games too. And when Nintendo eShop discounts do happen, they rarely exceed 30-40% even years post-launch.
If keeping your gaming budget reasonable is important, the Switch‘s high software costs make that tough.
2. Lackluster Online Service Value
Let‘s compare the value you get from the Switch‘s $19.99/year Nintendo Switch Online service versus PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass.
In terms of free monthly games, Nintendo Switch Online offers… zero. Only select classic NES and SNES games are included in its base subscription. PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass grant members access to 100+ free modern titles that refresh monthly. Huge difference.
Then we have exclusive member discounts and perks. Again, Microsoft and Sony handily beat Nintendo here by offering members extra storewide sales, cloud storage benefits, early access betas, and more. Switch Online lacks these extras almost completely.
Streaming is the last big area where Nintendo misses out. Both Xbox Game Pass and the upper PlayStation Plus Premium tier allow cloud streaming a Netflix-style instant library of games. Once more, Nintendo has no equivalent offering or features to match its peers.
If we sum up the overall subscription value side-by-side, the picture becomes very clear:
| Service | Free Monthly Games | Exclusive Member Perks | Cloud Streaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch Online | 0 | No | No |
| PlayStation Plus Premium | 100+ | Yes | Yes |
| Xbox Game Pass Ultimate | 100+ | Yes | Yes |
I don‘t know about you, but I want online services that offer me plenty of value. Nintendo Switch Online just doesn‘t stack up.
3. Aging, Underpowered Hardware
How does the Nintendo Switch‘s internal hardware and specs compare against the latest from Sony and Microsoft? In a word – poorly.
Let‘s line up the key performance hardware inside each console:
| Console | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | Nvidia Tegra X1 (2017 mobile chip) |
256 CUDA cores 1 TFLOP FP32 |
4 GB LPDDR4 | eMMC flash storage |
| PS5 | AMD Zen 2 3.5GHz octa-core |
10.3 TFLOPS RDNA 2 | 16 GB GDDR6 | PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD |
| Xbox Series X | AMD Zen 2 3.8GHz octa-core |
12.1 TFLOPS RDNA 2 | 16 GB GDDR6 | PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD |
No matter which category you compare – CPU, GPU, memory, storage – the Switch uses painfully outdated mobile hardware from 2017 that can‘t touch the bleeding-edge components inside the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
In real-world results, this means the latest games run at far lower resolutions and graphics settings on the Switch. Red Dead Redemption 2 needs to run at an extremely downgraded sub-720p resolution docked just to be playable. Massive AAA titles like Call of Duty don‘t even get released for Switch due to the weak hardware.
Unless Nintendo surprises the world with a "Switch Pro" upgrade, expect this performance gap to only get worse as games get more demanding.
4. Surging Steam Deck Competition
The Nintendo Switch has dominated the handheld console space since 2017. But it now faces a fierce new rival aiming to eat its mobile lunch: the Steam Deck.
On paper alone, the Steam Deck massively outspecs the Switch. It packs a modern quad-core Zen 2 CPU and 8-core RDNA 2 GPU thatdeliver 2-3x the raw power of the Switch along with 16GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM. This gives the Steam Deck the performance needed to comfortably run the most demanding AAA games that the Switch can‘t handle.
And thanks to Steam‘s colossal library and frequent heavy discounts – we‘re talking 50-90% off sales on thousands of popular games – the Steam Deck crushes the Switch in terms of game catalog value and pricing too. MARQUEE Steam releases like Elden Ring cost $60 for months longer on Switch compared to Steam‘s fast discounts.
For gamers focused on mobile play, the Steam Deck poses a legitimate threat to siphon off a portion of the Switch player base who want max power, the latest releases, and lower software pricing that Nintendo struggles to match.
5. Virtually Zero Backward Compatibility
If you invest money in Switch gaming, don‘t expect any backwards compatibility support. Unlike Xbox or PlayStation, Nintendo does not allow you to play physical disc-based or digital purchases from its legacy console libraries on the Switch – save for some NES and SNES classics if you subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online.
Sony now offers an almost complete PlayStation 4 game backward compatibility program on PS5. And Microsoft has backwards compatibility spanning all the way back to the original 2001 Xbox games and accessories!
By fully abandoning past console support, Nintendo limits its value proposition compared to Xbox and PlayStation. Gamers have built up cherished libraries spanning decades on Sony/Microsoft platforms thanks to their long-term backwards and forwards compatibility initiatives that Nintendo refuses to match.
Once you buy into their gaming ecosystems, Sony and Microsoft offer you continuing access far into the future in a way Nintendo does not.
6. More Costly in the Long Run
Let‘s tally up where long-term costs to own a Switch start ballooning versus the competition:
- Consoles – Even base models, Nintendo‘s $299 starting price is fair.
- Games – As discussed already, infrequent and shallow discounts drive higher software costs over time.
- Online subscription – At $19.99/year, Nintendo Switch Online is reasonably priced alone, but…
- …you must then pay $49.99/year more for the Expansion Pack just to access N64/Genesis games.
- Controllers – New Joy-Cons start at $69.99 for a single replacement that may experience drift issues again.
- Other accessories – First-party chargers, batteries packs, cases, and more carry the usual Nintendo premium.
Over a span of 3-5 years, an Xbox or PlayStation ends up being cheaper to own once you factor in more routine game and accessory sales plus added subscription perks. Unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo leans heavily into profiting off high margin hardware and accessories sales because they know fans will pay the premium.
But that premium adds up if you‘re budget-focused!
7. Achievements and Trophy Hunters Left Out
Unlike PlayStation Network profiles showing off your trophy collection or Xbox Live profiles with gamerscore front and center, Nintendo accounts have… nothing.
That‘s right – no built-in system to track achievements, trophies or game progress at all even in 2023. Nintendo opts to ignore a metagame feature enjoyed by millions worldwide. It means you can‘t easily show off skill or completion stats across your game catalog.
As someone who loves visual trophy tracking and comparing my progress to friends‘ for bragging rights, Switch profiles feel utterly barren. My years of effort don‘t get immortalized anywhere like my PlayStation or Xbox gaming history. If you‘re at all invested trophy culture and friendly leaderboard competition, Switch won‘t satisfy you here.
8. It‘s Only Meant for Gaming
Let‘s shift gears and talk entertainment versatility.
While it may not seem directly related to gaming functionality itself, a major appeal of PlayStation and Xbox consoles is how they pull double duty as full home entertainment hubs. You can stream movies and shows from Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, listen to Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, and lots more through those devices.
The Nintendo Switch in contrast lacks any third-party entertainment options whatsoever out of the box. It‘s a pure vessel for Nintendo‘s first-party vision, meaning you‘ll still need separate streaming devices to access the most popular apps.
This smaller ecosystem limits the value you get from the Switch as an all-in-one living room media solution compared to rival consoles supporting virtually every major streaming/music platform natively. For cordcutters like myself who prefer an integrated setup, the absence of multimedia options on Switch is notable.
Wrapping Up
We‘ve covered plenty of areas where Nintendo lags behind PlayStation, Xbox and upstart Steam Deck when it comes to pricing, services, streaming, hardware, library size and more.
To be 100% clear, I‘m not implying the Nintendo Switch is a bad console. Its hybrid concept and first-party exclusives like Zelda and Smash Brothers rightfully earn it praise from critics and fans.
But by stacking the Switch head-to-head against competitors on paper, hopefully you can appreciate why buying into one now may not make complete sense depending on what factors matter most to you. There are compelling reasons – cheaper games, more advanced power, entertainment versatility and so on – why alternatives like PS5, Xbox Series X or Steam Deck could be better options worth waiting for instead.
If the high cost of ownership long-term or services like Microsoft‘s renowned Xbox Game Pass appeal to you, holding off on a Switch for the foreseeable future isn‘t unreasonable. That way you can keep observing if Nintendo catches up in areas where they currently provide less overall value compared to rivals.
Let me know if this gives you food for thought or if you have any other questions!
