Irony is something we live with quite a lot in the video game industry, and 2024 has proven that in spades in various ways. One of the biggest ways is that while we wait for an actual reveal for Nintendo’s next console, we’re getting unique insights into what it was like to launch the Nintendo Switch back in 2017. Previously, we heard about the infamous “Mario Teaser” that caused strife within Nintendo of America and beyond. However, that kind of uncertainty didn’t end there.
According to Kit and Krysta (as noted by Nintendo Everything), the actual “Reveal Trailer” for the Switch wasn’t popular internally at first because it didn’t have any talking by people within the company. Instead, the video merely showed the “switching” between the various modes of play. Apparently, certain higher-ups wanted there to be “spec reveals” and a more technical reveal and weren’t shown about this more “in the moment” approach:
“People want to know specs… and there are lots of people at the company that still had the mentality of like, ‘we need to play in the same playground as Xbox and PlayStation, and we need to talk about our specs.’ It’s like, you never win on that playground. You would get your butt kicked on that playground.”
Krysta was right to note that, because for all the greatness that the Nintendo Switch has had, it didn’t win this console war because of its specs. It won because of its portability and incredible gaming library, which was on display in the trailer below:
The duo noted that there was serious “headbutting” going on within Nintendo of America, and that they even filmed a spec video of sorts with Reggie Fils-Aime in case the reveal trailer didn’t go over well.
Unsurprisingly, it went over great, and the rest is history. Now…can we get that Switch 2 reveal?
