Today I cancelled my Switch pre-order.
The reasons are manifold, and some have been repeated over and over by seemingly everyone, but here they are - my reasons.
1) The price. Actually I think the price is great. €300 or thereabouts for a brand new console. However, it's money I can spend better elsewhere right now - for example putting it towards a new guitar amp I need now I'm no longer playing bass in a band, but back on guitar. If there were any bundled games, or even a discounted Zelda bundle, I'd be more interested.
2) Lack of exciting launch (window) titles. Yes yes I know Zelda is coming, but I can buy that on Wii U (which I already own) for €60 without having to buy another console. 1-2 Switch, Bomberman, Just fucking Dance. No thank you, not for anything close to retail price especially. Arms looks like a fun tech demo, but not a full game, and the jury's out on Super Mario Odyssey. Nintendo have yet to disappoint me with a Super Mario game, and I won't jump on the "it's the true sequel to Super Mario 64 we've been waiting for" bandwagon (Sunshine being a fantastic game with a '64-style layout already...) but the presentation didn't impress me in the slightest. I'll wait and see how it looks when it's finished before I make a console purchase based on that game.
3) The cost of accessories. Yes, this is essentially a subheading for point 1. The extra controllers, and especially the spare dock, cost an insane amount of money. Seriously, I've put off buying a second DualShock 4 because it costs €65. €80 though for a pair of JoyCons, or €60 for a Switch Pro controller? No chance. And the plastic steering wheel adapters? They're ok at €15 for two, but couldn't they have been a cheaper pack in for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as they were with the Wii version? Ah Mario Kart - that brings me to perhaps my biggest reason for cancelling.
4) Remakes, remasters, and repurchasing. Sure, if you skipped Wii U you won't have Mario Kart 8. Maybe you enjoyed earlier Rayman games, but haven't played Legends yet. It's perhaps even feasible that you may not have played Skyrim. But Switch's launch window has altogether too many remakes - and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the one that really gets my goat. Collecting all the DLC in one package is nice, and the ability to carry two items harks back to my favourite in the series Double Dash but come on, why isn't this a new game with new tracks and new ideas?
It's not just modern games being remade - I'm also getting sick of Nintendo's money grabbing ways with their old software. I'm as guilty of helping this as anyone - I've purchased Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3 on Wii, Wii U and 3DS. Not to mention on NES, SNES and Gameboy Advance. In this modern age, however, it would be a nice touch if we could keep our purchases tied to our account rather than our console, and enjoy them across any and all of them. We pay good money for the games and the consoles, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect something that has been normal for over 10 years on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam, and nearly as long on iOS and Android. They should also fix the dark, blurry emulators on Wii U.
5) I have too many games to get through already. Hey look, this isn't Nintendo's fault at all! I have so many games on so many systems that I'd like to get through, and the main difficulty I have in doing this is that I keep buying more systems and more games. I have games as far back as Xbox and PS2 that I'd like to complete, as well as several RPGs on Wii and PS3. That's not to mention 80-odd games on PS4 and 25 on Wii U, AND 25 on 3DS, 95% of which I haven't finished - and I'll be adding Resident Evil 7, Kingdom Hearts I.5 & II.5 Remix to those in the next few weeks. And Zelda. Don't forget Zelda. So yeah, a new console will not aid me in catching up.
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So there you go. The main reasons I cancelled my Switch pre-order. The last console I bought at launch was the GameCube. It gave me many of my greatest gaming experiences, and I've owned most every mainstream console released since 1990. These days though, it seems a wiser move to sit back and see how the machine's first couple of years go before making a decision.
The tech sure looks exciting, and it's great to see Nintendo looking outside the box - such as in 1-2 Switch, which encourages new ways to interact with your opponents. However the company seems increasingly to be doing it for the money rather than for the joy of gaming (of course the purpose of a company is to make money, I know. But it should not be to the detriment of the user-base or the final product).
