Nintendo Why Do Some People Insist the Switch is 8th Gen?

[A Link In Time]

I keep seeing many people on various sites claim the Switch is an 8th gen system, and I don't understand why.

The Switch is a successor to the 3DS and Wii U, both of which were 8th gen. So it is a 9th gen system.

The power argument is also moot because the Wii was a lot less powerful than the 360 or PS3 and considered 7th gen.

The last argument I see is that the Switch is 8th gen because it will be competing with the PS4 and Xbox One for most of its life span.

The next gen Xbox and PS5 are rumored to launch by November 2020, so that would mean the Switch was competing with the PS4 and Xbox One for 3 years and 8 months. Given the length of support for previous portables like the DS and 3DS, the majority of its life would still be competing with the PS5 and next gen Xbox.

All the arguments in favor of the Switch being 8th gen can be easily debunked.

So what do you think - is the Switch 8th or 9th gen and why?

 

[Dio]

I would say it's whatever gen the Xbox One and PS4 are as it is competing with them and came out during that sort of time period.

 

[Fraxinus]

I would say it's whatever gen the Xbox One and PS4 are as it is competing with them and came out during that sort of time period.

^ In nintendo's latest financial report, they confirm it is considered a part of this console generation. I don't know which generation that is, but Nintendo says so.

 

[Spirit]

This is something I never look into because it really doesn't matter to me.

I don't think people should pay much attention to it either, the most important thing to note for me is which consoles are on the shelves at the time.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

actually on a similar note, what would you consider the dreamcast? its obviously the successor to the saturn yet it came out in the time of the ps1 and n64, and it barley even lived long enough to see the release of the gamecube and xbox

 

[A Link In Time]

actually on a similar note, what would you consider the dreamcast? its obviously the successor to the saturn yet it came out in the time of the ps1 and n64, and it barley even lived long enough to see the release of the gamecube and xbox

The Dreamcast is definitely Sega's 6th gen console following their 3rd gen Master System, 4th gen Genesis, and 5th gen Saturn.

 

[the8thark]

Nintendo themselves consider Switch in the same era as PS4 and XB1. Though I think it’s more comparing to the direct competition than saying “generation”

We all know the idea of a console generation is a thing of the past. Sony and MS moved away from that with pro consoles. Nintendo moved away from that by releasing the Switch when it had to be released, not at the usual 5 years after the previous console.

The only ones who insist console generations are still a thing are stuck in the past and refuse to move into 2018.

 

[Emma]

Because it's what Nintendo has done for the last few generations. The wii was not even remotely trying to be a seventh generation console. They literally repackaged a GameCube in a new shell and marketed it as a new system. This is why Dolphin was entirely capable of playing GameCube games out of the box despite being made for Wii games initially. The GameCube was the most capable console in the sixth generation, but it lags behind in the seventh. The PS3 and 360 far outpacing it.

The Wii U comes out and people call it eighth generation, but it's really not. It's what Nintendo should have made in the first place for the seventh generation and it's comparable in capability to the 360 and PS3. It never felt like a next-gen console to me. To me, it had the distinct impression of Nintendo playing catch up with Microsoft and Sony after the Wii reached the peak of what it could do and couldn't keep up anymore.

The Switch honestly is more of the same thing. Playing catch up with the PS4 and XB1. Since it does not outpace them, and falls behind the XB1X and PS4 Pro, It's insane to call it a Ninth generation console. It does not add anything new, it doesn't outpace the other systems. Just because it has a new gimmick doesn't mean it's the launch of a new generation. It's really just more fallout from their poor decision to reuse the GameCube with the Wii. While at face value it appeared to be a runaway success, it was an incredibly bad decision long term. And Nintendo has been trying to play catch up ever since. You cannot get third party support if you lag behind other systems. It makes it too expensive to port games to the system because they have to cut it up and make sacrifices to get it working on the more limited system. Which costs a lot of time and money and makes it far less worth even attempting.

Just because a new console is launched doesn't mean that's the start of a new console generation.

Console generations really are just determined by hardware power and capability. The primary governing factor is how third party developers can develop and port their games to other systems. If there's too much difference in power between consoles, it'll cost too much to port games to all systems. Therefore, third parties are in control over what defines a console generation.

The Switch is made to match up to the original Xbox One and Playstation 4. It was made that way on purpose to attract third party developers. The only new thing that Nintendo contributed that will have any lasting impact (trust me, gimmicks like the joycons will not last) is that they used cartridge games. That's definitely something the other console makers should adopt. Disks are completely obsolete. But that one thing does not make a new console generation.

The Wii, I'd argue was a sixth generation console and really just consider a re-release of the GameCube. Nintendo's seventh gen console was the Wii U. And their eighth is the Switch. No one is in the ninth yet. And I don't think we'll get to that for at least two more years. Probably Holiday 2020. Nintendo loves to release new systems, and abandon their current one, every five years, even though that is not economically viable for the gaming industry these days. However, they always make sure they match current competing hardware when they do. So Nintendo is never going to be the one to launch a new generation. That'll be Sony or Microsoft.

 

[A Link In Time]

From reading this thread, it's clear to me that a lot of people disagree with my assessment in the opening post, which I'm surprised at. I did not know that so many people consider the Switch to be of the same generation as the PS4 and Xbox One. I can't wrap my head around that because it is the successor to both the 3DS and Wii U. Even though the Wii U had a truncated life span, the 3DS was on the market for six years before being succeeded by what is clearly a generational leap in hardware.

 

[Cfrock]

Broadly speaking, console generations are defined by hardware capability and not how many products a company has released. Like @Emma said:

Console generations really are just determined by hardware power and capability.

The whole generations thing is a bit of a holdover from the 'Bit Wars' of the 80s and 90s. It was easy to say 16-bit systems were a new generation compared to 8-bit. Likewise with 32-bit and then 64-bit. Hardware capability is still the rough benchmark we use, but it's not as clear cut as it used to be. Like Emma said, the Wii used 6th Gen hardware, the Wii U 7th, and now the Switch uses 8th.

It's tempting to define generations by what's on the market, but even then it makes more sense to bring the Wii U 'up' a generation that it does the Switch. The Wii U and Switch have both been competing with the PS4 and Xbox One so they can both comfortably be considered part of that same generation. Think of the Switch as something along the lines of the PS4 Pro or the Xbox One S/X. It's not too dissimilar to the Atari 2600 and 5200 both being considered 2nd Gen consoles despite the 5200 being a more technically advanced machine.

actually on a similar note, what would you consider the dreamcast?

The Dreamcast would be 6th Gen, along with the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. In terms of market competition, it overlaps with the 5th Gen, but it was still alive when the PS2 was available, though only briefly. The main point is that it was a technology leap over the Saturn, N64, and PS1. It was early, sure, but it was still 6th Gen because it used new tech ahead of the older machines. In comparison, the Switch doesn't. It's on par with its 8th Gen competitors, behind them still if we want to get blunt.

Nintendo moved away from that by releasing the Switch when it had to be released, not at the usual 5 years after the previous console.

The Wii U came out in 2012 and the Switch was just shy of five years later in 2017. Nintendo didn't really break from the old standard in that regard.

 

[the8thark]

The Wii U came out in 2012 and the Switch was just shy of five years later in 2017. Nintendo didn't really break from the old standard in that regard.

November 2012 (WiiU) to March 2017 (Switch). That is 4 years and 4 months. To me 8 months away from 5 years is not "just shy" of 5 years. But it's ok if we agree to disagree there.
I do think that old standard was broken for the Switch. It had to happen though.

 

[A Link In Time]

@Cfrock Console generations have always been defined by years on the market, not console power. I don't know where you guys are getting the different opinion. Here are a few sources listing the Wii as a seventh gen console.

https://en.www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_generation_of_video_game_consoles

https://www.ign.com/lists/games-of-a-generation

https://venturebeat.com/2014/08/20/heres-who-won-each-console-war/

The 3DS is on track to be 8 years old soon. Given the Switch is selling faster than the 3DS, I believe it will remain on the market longer. The PS5 and Next Xbox are rumored to launch by November 2020. That means the Switch will have competed with the PS4 and Xbox One for 3 years and 8 months. If it lasts for 8 years at least, it will have competed with the PS5 and Next Xbox for longer.

Regardless, I believe that even if you just focus on power, multiple people in this thread have completely ignored that the Switch is a hybrid console. The Switch is the successor to both the 3DS and Wii U. The Switch is a substantial power increase over any handheld system we have seen so far, and is a generational leap above the 3DS.