Video games exist, in large part, because people want fun and interesting ways to spend their time, as is the case with any other form of entertainment.
But there is arguably an especially pertinent connection between the timing of the Switch 2 launch, the general state of the world, and the ethos attached to Nintendo games. “It’s been so long since we’ve had a new console hardware platform,” Piscatella continues. “It’s been years. It’s been a long time, and people are looking for things to kind of get their mind off of what’s going on elsewhere. You can even see it online, just the desire people have to have something to be excited about. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my own perspective, but I just see this palpable desperation, in a sense, of wanting to find something to bring joy.
“And a lot of people are locking on to this, which, good for them.”
Comment above from Mat Piscatella, a long-time video game industry analyst. And I don’t think he’s wrong.
Between the sales announcement being directly impacted by tariffs, to the intent of just pure capital-F Fun™, there’s something transgressive about the Switch 2 right now.
A defiant act of “the world is on fire, so I’m gonna lose myself in some blue shells for a while”.
Is that an inherently positive thing? Probably not. But I’ll be damned if right now, the June 5th release date isn’t one of my more anticipated dates of the year.