stressballs@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Would switch 1 have done anywhere near what it did without pandemic? Every last model of the DS is still incredibly expensive on the aftermarket, due to pandemic. Before that used consoles of previous generations were pretty readily available at cheap prices.
Point being of pandemic made even a bygone generation of handhelds revitalized and holding value for 5 years. It’s impact on Switch 1 sales cannot be underestimated.
We’ll see how the holidays go for Switch 2 without the power of FOMO and existential nomadic existence.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 5 days ago
There was a whole price fixing thing for retro games that happened in the same time frame, so it’s not an experiment that could be run with only a single variable. Old hardware is going to become more expensive as time goes on, as it becomes harder to source; young people are finding a curiosity with old tech that has no mandatory online connectivity, for a host of reasons; and quite honestly, the Switch 1 launched with Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild in its first year, with Smash soon after, Mario Kart 8 being one of the best-selling games of all time even before the pandemic, and Animal Crossing would have done gangbusters regardless. I’m convinced the pandemic had little to do with its success, even if Animal Crossing has a major chapter in it.
stressballs@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Wait, are you dismissing the impact of pandemic as the single biggest factor in handheld sales from 2020-2021?