This site started at the end of the Gamecube Era. The Game Industry has always been anti-Nintendo except for their handhelds (until PSP appeared). The Game Industry kept informing us how terrible the Nintendo console was.
In fact, making a blog in 2005 about the business possibilities of the Nintendo console doing spectacularly well was derided as ‘Nintendo propaganda’ and that I was a frothing Nintendo fanboy! If I had written the same about Xbox or PlayStation, no one would have said anything. But by saying it about the Nintendo, oh no! I was The Freak. I was The Crazy One.
But listen to The Game Industry now. Today, the Game Industry is the new Nintendo Defense Force ™!
Hate to contribute to a Discourse, but 3rd party share of Switch 2 software in the US is far better than it was during the Switch 1 launch.
Like, it's far too early to claim best or worst this or that or whatever when it comes to Switch 2. Sheesh, the thing hasn't even been out 3 weeks yet. Cheeeeeeeel Wins-tahn.
Statement 1: It is too early to say third party Switch 2 software is not selling well.
Statement 2: Switch 2 is a fantastic sales success!!!
They cannot both be true.
I, the Master Malstrom, have said it is way too early to declare anything. In fact, I said we won’t really get a clear picture until early 2026. So I am doing my part in saying to wait.
But the Game Industry is not doing that. Nintendo is not doing that.
They are trumpeting their sales success. They are telling investors that Switch 2 momentum is stronger than Switch 1 and stronger than any console ever made!
So here comes a story about third party sales not selling. It is during the same time period during ‘the greatest console sales ever recorded in Human history’. We are told that we must not respond to that data. We are told that such data is too new, the sample size too small, and to ignore it entirely. As for the other Switch 2 sales, in that same amount of time and sample size, we are told to go ‘Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!’
I’m seeing a contradiction here.
“Why do you care about a contradiction, Master Malstrom?” asks a confused reader.
It is a change of behavior from the usual Game Industry talking points. Before, they kept saying Nintendo was DOOMED. They used to say THIRD PARTY GAMES DO NOT SELL ON NINTENDO CONSOLES.
But today, they are saying, “Ignore the data that says that. Go Nintendo!”
It is a very curious change. I wonder how long it will last.
Since the war broke out and martial law was introduced, young men have been banned from leaving Ukraine after they turn 18, but young women like Ms Yukhymenko are free to leave.
In three years of conflict, large numbers of them have chosen to do so, swapping war-torn Ukraine for European cities far from the threat of Vladimir Putin’s drones and bombs.
Above: My type of refugees….
I think it is time to welcome these refugees with open arms.
I have a theory. From the American perspective, if illegal immigration was made up of hordes of young pretty single women in the age range of 18-22, what would the political reaction be?
I think there would be mass outrage and hostility. Walls would be going up instantly! The largest political faction, women, would not tolerate any competition. These women would steal their men, their university positions, and their jobs. Oh no. They would not allow it.
Short blue collar men who will never go to university? They don’t compete against them. You don’t see the largest political faction (women) wanting to be roofing a house, doing landscaping, working at a dangerous production plant, and so on. But smart young white foreign women coming in and going to university? Oh no! No way would that ever be allowed. That is direct competition. And I suspect the Ukrainian women would easily outcompete their western counterparts in university, in jobs, and with the men.
There is precedent for what I am saying. During the American colonization, the men had no problem with the Indians especially the Indian females. The women had big problems with the colonial men being with the Indian females. Heavy stigma was applied to men who ran off to the Indian tribes.
“Where are you getting this information, Malstrom?” sniffs a reader.
It’s pretty generalized. In the biography of Sam Houston, for example, he ran off with the Cherokees for the obvious reasons. His second wife was Cherokee.
America has a history of welcoming immigrants but not young pretty female immigrants. To you guys married to a foreign bride, you know what they whisper behind your back.
Imagining hordes of young pretty women storming the border is an absurd concept, but it makes me wonder what would the political reaction be.
The reason for the pushback isn’t because of ‘gamergate’ but because of normal heterosexuality for men.
Let’s look at some history.
Above: The heroes of WW2 liked hot babes. “Nazies!” But they killed Nazis. What did you do, reader? For moral standards, let us use the actual people who KILLED Nazis.
Note the absence of faggotry in that time.
The point is that there were pin-up girls back then. THIS IS NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIOR. Trying to declare normal male behavior as ‘abnormal’ is what is immoral. It’s like punishing a cat because a cat eats mice and birds and not turnips and potatoes.
People aren’t this stupid. It is a twisting of Natural Law which is the foundation of all law.
What is ‘oversexualization’? Who judges THAT? Well, in the United States, we have precedent with legal cases that establish OBSCENITY. When speech becomes ‘obscene’, it must request permission to be broadcast. You cannot display pictures of penises willy nilly!
The obscenity clause is interesting. There was a magazine in the Wal-Mart customer aisle (Cosmopolitan) that always had big chested women on its cover. Wal-Mart eventually pulled the magazine. There was definitely a case where that could be considered ‘obscene’.
The issue with obscenity clause is that people did not ask to look at it and must do so. This is the argument of an old woman at the check out aisle at Wal-Mart. And the old woman does have a case.
The issue, that must be proven for ‘oversexualization’ or ‘obscenity’, is not whether or not a piece of speech is ‘obscene’ but also if someone did not choose to see it. If someone buys Stellar Blade and goes, “Oh my! This is too much hotness! I am undone.” That person doesn’t have a case. Now if Stellar Blade had commercials showing on TV of such hotness, they would have a case. But there are no such commercials.
The world of retail is dead. No one is depicted to video that he or she did not approve to watch.
There is no case against ‘oversexualization’ in video games because of this reason UNLESS it is in an ESRB rated E game for children. And this would be the fault of the ESRB.
And why shouldn’t we APPLAUD the male eye for sexualization? What is wrong with women being hot? It is in their metabolic self-interest. Women who are hot are almost always are happier than women who are not hot.
You don’t see men complaining that women like men with money. Perhaps it is good that the Female Eye encourages men to go get a ton of money.
I don’t even think there is any politics going on here. I think people just haven’t even grown up. It’s like they are stunted in junior high and still cannot process puberty!
I agree that this game doesn’t look very good. It is another time sink. I suspect that all of Nintendo’s games are going to be time sinks from now on. This is how Nintendo believes they are adding value to their games. They will soon learn differently, assuming they are capable of learning anything at this point.
Nintendo must have really loved Pauline’s songs in Super Mario Odyssey since they felt compelled to give us more of her songs in this game. While I like her songs, they just feel so out of place in a game like this. Because she is a young girl, I can only assume this is a prequel to the original Donkey Kong game. Apparently, Pauline and Donkey Kong were best buds, but Donkey Kong got jealous when Pauline started seeing Mario… or something along those lines. But Pauline and Donkey Kong just seem like a very odd pair. The whole game just feels out of sync.
I don’t believe that Donkey Kong Bonanza is going to compel anyone to buy Switch 2. And that is the most important thing for any first-party launch game to do.
It’s a good question. Who is this game for? The job of first party games is to sell the hardware.
I believe the game is for those who bought 3d Mario. This is a 3d Donkey Kong for them.
There is already data saying the Switch 2 trajectory will be strong first party sales with weak third party sales not unlike the N64 and Gamecube. We’re still very early so anything can change. But this Donkey Kong game will sell. It will sell mostly to those who bought Mario Kart.
But will it sell to new people? How many 3d Mario fans are sitting out on Switch 2? I don’t know of any. I think they align with the Mario Kart fans.
I don’t see Donkey Kong Bonanza changing the identity or perception of the Switch 2. However, it is still very early.
I’m so old, I remember when Nintendo consoles lost their identities and got characterized as something else. Gamecube got known as the ‘kiddie console’. N64 was only worth getting if you bought first party games (including Rare titles). Nintendo consoles began to have a stigma to them.
Even Sega’s marketing effectively gave SNES a stigma. But it’s clear those stigmas were self inflicted. Mario was lame was because Super Mario World was lame. Fine launch game, but come on! Super Mario Land was a great launch Gameboy game, but notice how Nintendo didn’t just leave it as is? No. They made a Super Mario Land 2 which was a big hit. Notice the entire lack of a Super Mario Brothers 5 on the SNES. That, alone, is what doomed Mario’s reputation.
“But Mario is very popular,” cries the reader.
He used to be MORE POPULAR than you can imagine. And it was all torn down.
Note the audacity of this commercial. No gameplay. No premise. Just people shouting ‘Mario’ and showing the cover of the game: Super Mario Brothers 3. That was all that was needed. No explanation of the new moves. No showing of the raccoon suit. No mention of the new overworld maps. None of that was necessary.
“Mario is back in a new game.”
That’s all! Note how Mario can’t even remotely get away with such a commercial today. The only exceptions would be the commercials that sell the remaster versions of the 2d Mario games.
Donkey Kong will sell. But it will sell to Nintendo enthusiasts. Switch 2 will become a Nintendo enthusiasts console.
The question is how many Nintendo enthusiasts are there?
No one is buying the Switch 2 for third party games. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. This wasn’t the case with the first Switch or any Nintendo handheld.
Remember when I said yesterday I only managed to make it to 2/3rds of that trailer, and that includes skipping over certain parts? I must’ve missed the part with the DK+Ostrich hybrid because I’ve seen one of your recent posts with that gif and BY GOD that design looks horrifying!!! It looks like some Dr. Moreau shit!!!
Whoever created and/or okayed it must’ve HATED children’s guts!!! It makes me wonder if anybody at Nintendo knows how to design actually appealing characters anymore; hell not just Nintendo, MOST mainstream and even indie developers! Appeal truly has gone the way of the DoDo!!!!
I have had and still do have a problem with Yoshi’s Island (1994) transforming Yoshi. Why is Yoshi a helicopter? WTF? I really don’t like characters ‘transforming’. Wearing suits is one thing, but shapeshifting to something else? Just wrong.
Here, Donkey Kong transforms to different creatures. (Why!?) And Donkey Kong is now a mount.
The game makes me very uncomfortable. But I am glad the animated gif did its job.
Cyberpunk 2077 has enjoyed some success on Switch 2, however.
What is different about Cyberpunk 2077 compared to the other third party games, reader? Could there be some underlying reason with these poor sales?
“It’s because of the Game Key Cards!” screams someone in the back.
Silence, readers, silence. Let us listen more to the story.
“Most third-party Switch 2 games posted very low numbers,” the report reads. “One third-party publisher characterised the numbers as ‘below our lowest estimates’, despite strong hardware sales.”
According to the report, 62% of Switch 2 physical game sales in the US during the console’s launch week came from first-party titles. This excludes the Mario Kart World bundle, which accounted for the vast majority of console sales in the region.
This data is for UK I believe.
According to Circana data, the three best-selling physical games in the US during the Switch 2’s launch week were Mario Kart World, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
NielsenIQ data shows that, in the UK, 86% of Switch 2 physical games sold in the UK during launch week were first-party games, if the Mario Kart World bundle is included (if it’s excluded, the figure is 48%). Cyberpunk 2077 was the best-selling third-party game in the UK during the system’s launch week.
The story continues on.
There are numerous potential reasons for the relatively slow start for third-party games on Switch 2. The high attach rate for Mario Kart World implies that a lot of players are happy enough to play that for now, and explore the rest of the line-up once they’re done with Mario Kart.
The lack of media reviews of third-party Switch 2 games, and the resistance by some players to accept the Game-Key Card format, could have also contributed to low third-party launch sales.
The Game Industry will likely blame ‘backwards compatibility’ of the Switch 2. They will not give up their Game Key Cards!
This is more of an indicator of supply, not demand. We will see the full scope of demand in time.
I am surprised the third party slow sales have already come up. I thought it would take much longer. I thought launch day buyers were insane enough to buy all the third party software. Maybe they weren’t.
So this means either two things will happen.
Option one: third party companies may replace Game Key Cards with full cartridges.
Above: Game Industry response that their game key cards may be contributing to slow sales.
Two: Third parties blame ‘backwards compatibility’ and the Nintendo consumer only buying first party games as they abandon the system.
Third party companies did NOT jump on to the N64 and Gamecube despite the huge first party sales. The issue with the Wii U was the low userbase. The issue with the Wii was twofold: the oddball hardware meaning making it harder to port, lacking shaders, etc. and the userbase not aligning with the market for their game. You’re not going to sell games like Gears of War to grandma.
Most of the third parties with Nintendo have been on handheld platforms. Note the lack of complaints of backwards compatibility and first party software sales there. What is different about handheld software and home console software, reader?
“The price.”
Bullseye.
Gameboy games, DS games, 3DS games were MUCH CHEAPER than regular home console games. They also were cheaper to make as well. Handhelds were a way for third parties to port their older catalog over too and a sort of laboratory for new types of games.
Nintendo raising their software price to $70 and $80 is absolutely destroying the third party software. The third party software, on Nintendo consoles, is and has never been premium since the Gamecube Era. This is because Nintendo hardware is not aligned with other systems.
Nintendo may be able to scam the consumer to believe their handheld games are worth the same or MORE than home console games. Third party game companies will be unable to perform this scam since their games aren’t exclusive. You can clearly see that the third party game, on the PS5 or PC, is running so much better and costs half as much. Why would anyone buy a third party game on the Switch 2?
Nintendo first party games are actually handheld games and should be priced accordingly. First party Switch games should be $45 and first part Switch 2 games should be maybe $50… and that is on the high end.
It will be beautiful to watch the market readjust its values, as Nintendo will fight very hard to keep those higher price points.
Hey sean! Just watched the DK direct and read your entry at your blog and wanted to share my quick thoughts.
You’re right with the “Super Mario Odyssey” comparison. And damn I didn’t like Super Mario Odyssey either. That game started fine and all and gradually it became bloated and tedious. It all went to hell at “Bowser’s Castle”. …Which for some weird reason is japanese? And I had to become a stupid bird. That moment, I HATED that game and I almost quit. Will DKB had the same bullshit? who knows. Very likely if is the same team.
The destroying crap looks fun but I have the feeling it will be tedious also and overstay its welcome. So it’s an underground world(s) but there is a sky and sea? That’s dumb to be honest. Speaking of the worlds, they look OK. A little exaggarated but not bad. Not great either. The character designs are fine too.
I never cared about Pauline. I get she is the original from the arcade but, meh. And with her inclusion that makes it a Donkey Kong game where the focus is not Donkey Kong. It’s aaaaall about lil’ Pauline. Bah.
I am honestly tired of open games. Why everything must be open? What’s wrong with good ol’ arcade fun action? Why I need to keep looking for stuff all over the place? This is why I never wanted the series go back to 3D because when it went 3D it became a chore.
Ok maybe the game is fun. Who knows. But it sucks that I have been waiting for a new DK game for 11 years(!!) and instead we get the return of DK64. So far I have mixed mostly disappointing feelings about.
Take care!
This isn’t a Donkey Kong game. It is a Pauline game. Donkey Kong is to Pauline what Yoshi is to Mario.
WHY IS DONKEY KONG A MOUNT!???
This is more than me being repelled from the game. I am being repelled from the entire IP. Outside children and their parents, I can’t se how anyone can find enjoyment in this…. ‘game’.
Hi Sean, that Donkey Kong direct was horrible! Clearly Nintendo does not understand Donkey Kong. This game feels like they were making Mario Odyssey 2 and then half through it they decided to throw DK in it. I do not like the new look DK has, I don’t even like the Mario movie DK look. I like his classic look where he wears a tie. The gameplay in this game does not make any sense. Having destructible environments is not gameplay but a feature in certain games. So why are they building the whole game play around it? If this game takes place underground, then why are there levels with a blue sky. The game has no direction, it’s just a hodge podge of ideas. Also, if the animal buddies are in the game, then why does DK transform. These transformations are hideous and do not make any sense. Why not just ride on the animal buddies like in DKC. Why is Pauline in this game? Her singing is god awful and felt out of place. What is with the stupid enemies in Donkey Kong games. In DKC Returns there were the tikis, in Tropical Freeze there were the Vikings. Why is Nintendo refusing to bring back K Rool and gang. Unlike these dumb new enemies, K Rool is actually menacing like Bowser in Mario games. This game seems like all show with no substance, just like Princess Peach Showtime. I actually enjoyed my time with Mario Odyssey despite the fact that I do not like collectathons. The direct did not showcase any reason why this game is $70. You really can not trust Modern Nintendo to make a good game. If this and Mario Kart World are the type of quality games Modern Nintendo produces, then I think a new Zelda game is not going to be very good unless it’s a port or remaster. If only first party games are getting physical editions on Switch 2 then so far, they are not worth the price of buying a Switch 2.
I think K. Rool is going to be in the game. There was some artwork of his shown somewhere.
Instead of words to resonate what you say, an animated gif will do.
Much of this is suspect. However, what is interesting is the word use. They are talking about profits, not customers. Console gaming is going the way of whales. Much of this profit is coming from the switch to digital sales and having a subscription service.
This means console gaming will become LESS mainstream and more ‘niche’. Already, console gaming is dominated by middle aged people. The cultural stigma against console gaming will grow. Console gaming will become BOOMER GAMING.
Gaming selling to whales and not to mass market means the end of cultural relevance. You can still have tons of profit and have no cultural relevance.
Sony would be better off if they canceled all their games and just rode the wave of their platform revenue stream. At least there wouldn’t be any more Concords.
I managed to get 2/3rds through the presentation before turning it off due to sheer boredom. The game just looks like bland city! The characters look bland (Pauline looks like one of those ‘Cocomelon’ things! WTF Nintendo!?), the art direction looks bland, gameplay looks bland, music sounds bland (with a side of cold), BLAND BLAND BLAND BLAND B.L.A.N.D!!!!!
….alright, I’m among those who just staved off of buying a Switch 2 due to heavy disinterest+dissatisfaction with modern Nintendo (so much I haven’t even bought an OG Switch either! Last system of theirs I was even interested in was the 3DS, and that was mostly to get to OoT 3D!), and this game really isn’t convincing me otherwise! It just looks so generic, you could plug in, say, fucking Crash Bandicoot and his sister in Donkey/Pauline’s place and people would be none the wiser. That’s how bad it is!
Silly emailer! This was the clear GAME OF THE YEAR right here. That Nintendo be COOKING! OMGWTFBBQ!!!11!!
I would not be surprised if Nintendo’s marketing had shifted to also the age old viral marketing. If I hear another analogy to Nintendo and ‘cooking’ ever again…
I watched the trailer, and I still don’t know what the game is about. It was so convoluted, I don’t get it at all.
“Don’t be negative, Malstrom. OMG!” I just don’t get the game.
For example, note how they had to list EVERY move Donkey Kong made? I couldn’t keep track of it all. I don’t want to memorize all that shit. And what is with all the collectathon bullshit in the game? What is with the stupid sensor? None of this looks like a Donkey Kong game. It looks like a lab experiment gone awry.
In the past, games were presented as virtual worlds to explore. They would even put the word into the title. Super Mario WORLD. Not Super Mario SPIN JUMP. It is called Super Mario LAND, not Super Mario BOUNCY BALL.
I did not see any content at all or anything coherent. It is all just gameplay executions.
This is another game I am very happy to skip. What’s the next first party game, editor?
“Metroid Prime 4.”
Hahahaha. Purple Samus with ‘psy’ powers. How boring. How dumb. What else?
“Kirby Air Riders.” I’m sure that will help the Switch 2 like how it helped the Gamecube.
Switch 2 sales are going to depend on first party games. The third party games are already on every platform.
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