encent is abandoning Nintendo,

Defected to Intel?

National Bank Switch, unexpected drama ends!

In 2024, Nintendo's Switch, which was once in full action, unexpectedly suddenly announced that it would be suspended.

The world-famous game handheld Nintendo Switch is about to end its not-so-smooth "national career".

On November 26, the official official account of Tencent Nintendo Switch announced that the Nintendo Switch will gradually stop the Nintendo e store and other network-related operation services.

01 The big hit that was terminated!

On March 31, 2026, the Nintendo e Store will stop selling games or tools and software.

After this date, free trial games and free tools will also not be available.

Until the deadline of May 15, 2026, the Nintendo e store will stop downloading services and redeeming codes at 22 o'clock.

In addition to the Nintendo e store, other network-related services will also be suspended at 22:00 on May 15, 2026.

As compensation, Tencent will launch a "Feedback Program" at the same time as the suspension of a series of services.

At that time, users of the Chinese version will be able to download 4 of the 10 related games such as Mario and Pokémon for free with their WeChat accounts.

The free download service starts on the morning of November 27 and is expected to run until May 15, 2026.

In December 2019, Nintendo was "full of confidence" at the beginning of its cooperation with Tencent to sell Switch consoles and software, and both hoped to use each other's huge influence to open up the Chinese console market.

According to public information, Tencent announced the introduction of the Nintendo Switch console at the end of April 2019, and as of March 2020, the sales of the Chinese version of the Nintendo Switch in the Chinese market exceeded 1 million units, exceeding the sales of PS4 and Xbox One in China in the same period.

In Q1 2020, Nintendo said on an earnings call that it was "very satisfied" with the sales of Switch in the Chinese market.

However, with nearly 70% of Chinese gamers preferring mobile games with lower barriers to entry and easy to operate, the console user base has been difficult to expand.

At the same time, China's review of cultural publications is relatively meticulous and strict, which makes it difficult for the Chinese version of the Switch to be released at the same time as the overseas version, and the scarcity of software further makes it difficult for the market penetration of the Switch to meet expectations.

02 Is it really just a stop loss?

Dramatically, on the same day that the Nintendo e store was announced, at the 2024 Intel New Quality Productivity Technology Ecosystem Conference, Tencent Games and Intel jointly released the world's first glasses-free 3D PC game handheld "Sunday Dragon 3D One".

According to reports, this game handheld is independently developed by Tencent Games and has received technical support from Intel, aiming to explore the application potential of glasses-free 3D technology in game scenes.

Did Tencent abandon Nintendo and go to Intel?

In this regard, Wu Liyang, a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald, Cai Shumin, a reporter from the International Financial News, and Li Yutong, a reporter from the Daily Economic News, had an exchange with Shule.

The performance of the Bank of China Switch is better than nothing, and the suspension of some services can only be regarded as a stop loss for Tencent and Nintendo.

After all, the promotion of the Bank of China Switch was only a "bright card" for the cooperation between the two back then, but everyone knew that it could not be done.

In the future, the real cooperation is to jointly carry out IP development, open up the multi-terminal data exchange of IP games in mobile games, handheld games, consoles and even PCs, and create new popular models.

In the Chinese market, Nintendo is not aimed at expanding the market share of game consoles, and the key is to cooperate in the development of games.

The main reason for the poor promotion of the Bank of China Switch in the domestic market is actually very simple.

Although the number of version number approvals is no longer an issue, for game consoles, the number of games that can be played on the BNM console is still relatively small compared to its overall game inventory, which makes its price-performance ratio seem to be a chicken rib.

In addition, domestic players are generally accustomed to online games, and rely heavily on mobile phones as portable devices, although Switch has the form of a handheld game console, but the convenience is still weaker than that of mobile phones.

In addition, there are fewer domestic console games, which is also a reason why players are not optimistic about the national console.

03 Who can win the handheld?

As for cooperating with Intel, there is no need to over-interpret it.

At present, Tencent is only testing more platforms, including VR, AR and even more black technologies that may bring subversive innovation to the game experience, but it is only a strategic layout, not the main direction.

As for whether Tencent has hardware research and development capabilities, it is foolish to think:

For Tencent, its biggest advantage in hardware development is its ability to buy the technology it wants, but the disadvantage is that it has no experience in in-depth game hardware development.

If the handheld wants to successfully break through in the Chinese market, it is just as simple, that is:

Rich and exciting games, a gameplay experience that is different from mobile games, in addition to portability and battery life, are also key.

From an advanced point of view, in recent years, in addition to smart mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets, smart TVs, VR, AR glasses and other devices have also begun to cooperate extensively with game content providers to build content platforms based on their own R&D capabilities.

It seems that all forces want to explore new growth poles for games, but the core of such devices to achieve breakthroughs is still to achieve breakthroughs in portability and gameplay.

At present, VR or AR glasses are still not portable enough, the comfort is still not high, and the game content is more like watching a show, lacking a unique gameplay experience with strong game entertainment characteristics.

This makes the current exploration still at a superficial level, and mainstream game developers have not really invested more enthusiasm, but only participated and strategically laid out.

It is still necessary to say that VR and AR glasses are the major trend in the future, and combined with the metaverse, the integration of more scenarios will be realized.

Perhaps, once the portability and comfort of related glasses are broken, it is possible to stimulate the enthusiasm of game manufacturers to participate and develop more customized games based on VR and AR glasses.

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