 In my opinion, okay, I'm glad that the Nintendo Switch doesn't have a virtual console yet. Maybe even at all ever, but certainly so I'm glad there hasn't been one yet. I feel like it was a very strategic move by Nintendo not to put a virtual console on the system. And now there is so much that goes into this and it's a topic that I've talked about many times before. It's not a conversation I've been shy about having. In fact, like a year and a bit ago on the channel I made a whole video like this about why I felt like Nintendo decided not to have a virtual console on the system. Because it's obviously a conscious choice. The Wii U launched with a virtual console, it's not hard to make that happen, especially when so many people want it, so why? Why would there be no virtual console if it was such the moneymaker, easy money that everyone thinks it would be for Nintendo to take their old games that they know they can resell in large amounts? Why would they not just do that when this many people want it, unless there's a reason? Nintendo aren't dumb. Clearly they're doing something right with this system and there's been so many little elements that have gone into the Switch being such a huge success and believe me, I want these games as much as you, I mean if I, I feel like the reason why it hasn't happened is the reasons I'm gonna go through today and I'm glad it hasn't happened but if it happened tomorrow, a virtual console landed on Switch, I'm not like some retro game Scrooge and if you're telling me that I can wake up tomorrow and play Earthbound on my systems, like there's clearly a part of me that wants that as much as everyone else, but there's a big a part of me that's really glad it hasn't happened yet. When everyone talks about the Wii U and how it was a failure and it was, they say it was such an awesome system though because it had virtual console. Yes it did and it was the best part about that system but the system failed because it had no other games because no one wanted to make games for that system. For a couple of reasons, one, the system sold like crap as it was and making a game for a system that has such a low install base, it's a huge risk and when you made a game for that system, you were also competing with Nintendo. You were competing with their own AAA amazing games they were putting out on the thing but you were also competing with the virtual console. Especially if you were an indie developer at the time back in 2014, whenever that was, a lot of kick starters around that time were like yeah we'll put it on Wii U if we get into the stretch goal but how many of those actually ended up not releasing on Wii U and instead they just skipped it. They saved their money and then maybe even ended up releasing on Switch later on because they couldn't compete with Nintendo's old games. And I know a part of this might seem crazy now. Remember when the Switch launched the whole thing was it has no games, it has no games, where's the virtual console, it has no games. But think even further back to the Wii U when it literally had no games. The eShop now on the Switch is thriving with indie games being some of the best sellers. You go to that best seller tab on the eShop and more often than not, the number one selling game is an indie game. It didn't used to be like that, especially not with Nintendo systems. The Wii U launched literally the same year as that documentary on indie games, indie games, the movie or whatever. It was at the peak of indie games blowing up in the gaming world. And yet the Wii U didn't see indie success, the Switch did. What's the biggest difference here? A virtual console. Very shortly after the Wii U launched a couple months later, there was virtual console. Indie games were nowhere to be seen. Put yourself in the position where even tomorrow, even now with how much we love these nineties as Nintendo has now affectionately named them, that they've been that much of a success on the system, they've been given this much room to breathe and grow that we have entire nindie directs now presented by Nintendo. And we'll get to that, but blows my mind. But anyway, even now we're at this point, imagine tomorrow, a brand new indie game you've never seen before is on the system. You know, it's like $9.99, however much they usually are. You hadn't say, I mean, like the tourist, I'd never, I didn't know what that was. Let's say that was there and then for $4.99 earthbound released on the same day on the virtual console. Which one are you buying? There's this one game you've never heard of, you've never seen before. And then there's this Nintendo gem. Maybe you've never played it before, but you've heard so much about it, or maybe you just love earthbound and having it on the Switch is so freaking awesome. That's where your money is going. And chances are it's the cheaper buy, too. Let's say that happens tomorrow in this hypothetical situation. Nintendo makes easy money off a game they didn't really have to do anything for. But let's go back to when the Switch launched and have that same scenario happen. Back then, when games like Kamiko were $5, games like Snake Pass, games that I wouldn't even know the name of and we wouldn't even appreciate at this point if they were buried in a virtual console. Indie games like that were the go-to games after you finished Breath of the Wild because that's what we had. And those games did so well because of that and people discovered those games, found out how fun they were. That other developers started putting their games on the Switch. Their indie games or even maybe third party developers started looking at the Switch like Bethesda started looking at the Switch because these indie games were doing so well. They wanted a piece of the pie and they had room to breathe. They had room to grow. Indie games very quickly started to dominate the system and you want more proof of that? I've made 19 videos now on indie games on the Switch worth buying and each one does as good better than the last with hundreds of thousands of views of people trying to find out what new indie games are worth buying and amongst all the indie games releasing on the Switch, my videos on those indie games get more views consistently than 10 lists I do of physical big budget games releasing. And I really feel like that was Nintendo's intention. The Wii U failed more than anything I feel. It could never come back because it had no games because people developers couldn't compete with Nintendo on Nintendo's own system. And if they had have put those virtual console games on the Switch at launch, it was just smothered in like a hundred games immediately would have been awesome for us. But we would have bought and burned through that finite amount of retro games Nintendo had to sell. And then there's no more after that. Nintendo isn't making new retro games. You know who's still making games? Indie developers, third party developers. And I mean, the proof, it's the Wii U. I keep pointing down here because the Wii U is down here. I Nintendo really couldn't rely on the virtual console once again. They tried it on the Wii U and it did not work. So, OK, cool. If that's the case, where do we go from here? Because at this point, the Switch is blowing up and a lot of people, even friends of mine, Arlo has made the argument the Switch is as hot as it can be right now. Capitalize, put the virtual console on the Switch at this point. I kind of feel like the Switch is doing so hot because of all the steps that along the way that have gone into making the Switch what it is. This isn't the Switch. I actually think it would be a pretty radical and crazy idea to at this point, introduce something into the Switch's ecosystem as game changing as virtual console. Because again, we know what would happen tomorrow if that happened. Everyone's buying the retro games. And how long does that last? Let's say Nintendo drops all of it at once. How long does that play out for? Like, how long do people work through that catalog of virtual console games before they start dipping back into new games again? If Nintendo scatters the releases and, let's say, every two months, they release a new wave, kind of like how they've been doing with the free ones, then every two months, no indie developer is going to want to release a game. They're going to want to wait a week or two until the retro games have been out. It really does mess with the ecosystem of the Switch a lot when you start doing that. And I think even more evidence that plays into Nintendo not wanting to sell their retro games on the system again is to appease people. Everyone that really wanted to be able to play something retro on their Switch, they did release with the online NES and SNES games. But they made them free. So you didn't have to buy them so that your wallet was still freed up to buy other games. Hey, I mean, come on. I think when that happened, I just went, that is pretty brilliant, Nintendo. I wholeheartedly believe the reason that we have games like Golf Story and now Sports Story games like Taurus, which just released, which is also a Switch exclusive indie game. The reason why indie developers can even consider making a Switch exclusive indie game is because there is no virtual console. And I don't think Nintendo wants to be that company anymore that just resells their old stuff. Every one of their systems show that Nintendo loves to innovate and move forward in the gaming industry. And Breath of the Wild is a huge example of them trying to push the boundaries in what they can do and how they innovate in a video game. I mean, I know they appreciate they love their history and they love that we love it as much as they do. But just like any other company, they want to look forward. They don't want to keep looking back and think that the best way they can make money is by reselling their old stuff. They want to make the most amount of money they can selling their new stuff and look into new experiences and new innovation and new things and new games in the future. I am just like so many of you where I will gladly rebuy these old games again and again and again. But I think it's worth taking a step back, looking at the Switch and everything it's accomplished and consider that maybe that's because Nintendo hasn't had to rely on their virtual console for the first time in over a decade. Everyone not only wants a Switch, but wants to put their games on Switch. And I know rebuying our old games would be nice, would be great. But how many times are we going to rebuy these games on the next generation of systems? And trying new experiences, it's honestly good for you. Nintendo releasing virtual console to me, it just seems like a cash grab. Regardless of how that affects other developers supporting the system. And I'm not 100% down with that. And I don't want to see their biggest successes come from their past. But I want to play Metroid Fusion now. And I don't care about these indie games I haven't played before. All right. Maybe I'm seeing this completely wrong. All I know is Nintendo for sure has a reason why there's no virtual console on Switch and seeing how much success the Switch has had. I can only assume, I can only plus one and one to equal two, that it was a conscious choice by Nintendo to step out of the way and let their system succeed on its own. And I'm really glad. Just my opinion, if you're not totally mad at me, hey, would you please hair flip all over that subscribe button? I really enjoy doing these discussion pieces. And well, I enjoy them when they don't blow up in my face. But it's something I feel very passionately about, very passionately about because I love my Switch. I love its success. I love Nintendo and I absolutely love Indies. And even more than any of that, I love actually having games released on my Nintendo system and not having to justify if it's worth buying every other month. Maybe that's just me.