By now the discourse around the Switch 2 and its pricing has more or less solidified. Bar- ring an adjustment in price due to everything going on, it’s likely that everyone who cares has already made up their minds as to their feelings on the topic. I’m no different. I was excited for the stuff coming to Switch 2 right up until I saw the pricing structure and Nintendo’s plans for the future.

Unless something big changes, I’m probably not going to bother with Switch 2. It’s not just about how the company is handling this system and its games, though. If I’m being honest with myself, I think I stopped being a Nintendo fan a long time ago.

Just to get this out of the way, I still think Nintendo’s first-party games are often of top-tier quality. They don’t make as many truly great games as they used to, but they still put out a small handful of homeruns each generation. Among those homeruns, though, for me personally, the must-haves are becoming fewer and fewer.

On the Switch, I think there were only two or three, with the only truly new ones being Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Mario Odyssey. If it weren’t for those and my wanting to occasionally play some older games online with my friends back home (over a really laggy NSO), I probably would almost never power on my Switch.

They’ve also been doing things for years and years that I just haven’t been a fan of. Charging an extra $50 for N64 games on NSO, charging for NSO without doing anything to make it run more stably, constantly copyrighting anyone attempting to share music from Nintendo games without providing any way to listen to it legally (there’s an app now, but, seriously, you’re gonna make me download yet another app just to listen to your video game music? Seriously?).

There’s also the regular, and awfully convenient for Nintendo, shortages of physical goods like Amiibo and SNES Classic; frequent use of FOMO tactics for even digital goods, and NEVER discounting their 1st party games, especially this generation on the Switch. Oh, and let’s not forget the company’s constant war against emulation and fan-made projects, its crusade against the pro Smash Bros community, its constant lawsuits against anyone and everyone that so much as breathes the name “Mario”, and that retroactive patent nonsense against Palworld.

If it were any other company, Nintendo would be rightfully and near-universally hated as one of the worst, most anti-consumer companies in the industry. But, so far, they’re not. Why? Because they have Mario. Because they have Pokemon, and because so many of us still so badly want to see them as the company they were back in the 90s and 00s. I’ve been no different, I suppose. Despite everything, I’ve allowed myself to overlook it all and just carry on as if nothing is wrong. I don’t think I can do that anymore, though.

Video games are not what they were when the Switch released, and they certainly aren’t what they were back in the 90s, 00s and 10s. There are so many options on every platform now that there’s no longer any reason to continue on being taken advantage of by Nintendo and the AAA sector of the business. I don’t need a Switch 2, nor do I need to pay $70, $80 or $90 for a new game.

I don’t need to sign up for barely functioning online services that provide little value for the money, and I don’t need participate in systems designed to further limit my access to my games and my ability to share them. (I see what you’re doing with that new sharing system Nintendo, and I reject it).

I’ll play old games with original hardware. I’ll buy stuff on sale on PS, Steam and GoG, and I’ll spend my hard-earned money supporting companies and developers who actually value my business. There is exactly 1 more Switch game coming that I want, and you know what? I’m going to wait until I can pick it up second-hand at a used game store. Forget buying it new. I’ve waited over 7 years for it at this point already, so what’s another year or so?

I’m certain that Switch 2 will still sell out, and I’m sure that the new Mario Kart and Donkey Kong will be massive hits. I’m also sure that Nintendo will do fine and that it will continue doing nasty, anti-consumer things. But yeah, I feel like this Switch 2 incident was the wake-up call I needed when it comes to Nintendo, and I think I’m really done buying their stuff. I’ll always love the Nintendo from my youth, but this Nintendo? No, this Nintendo just ain’t it.

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It should go without saying that I don’t hold anything against those who still enjoy Nintendo and are looking forward to Switch 2. If I can like and dislike what I will, so can eve-ryone else. That being said, how do you feel about Nintendo? Think you’ll buy a Switch 2 or are you thinking of bowing out here too?

Image from the Nintendo website