Microsoft has taken note of the Nintendo Switch’s massive success. The software giant is gearing up to unveil its Xbox Project Scorpio console at the E3 event on June 11. Ahead of the E3 show, Microsoft has put up a survey for members of the Xbox Live Rewards program. The survey includes questions about the Xbox Project Scorpio, Sony PlayStation 4 Pro, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo’s SNES Classic Edition.
The most and least appealing features of Nintendo Switch
In one of the questions, the Redmond-based company asked participants to rate their level of interest in the listed consoles on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 meaning Not Interested, and 5 means Extremely Interested). Microsoft has described Project Scorpio as the most powerful gaming consoles ever. The E3 event will officially begin on June 13, but major publishers will start holding press conferences from June 10 itself.
You can take the survey here. It was first spotted by folks at the gaming forum NeoGAF. The survey asks what features of Nintendo Switch you find the most appealing. The options include price, Joy-Con controllers, game catalog, portability, microSD support, or local multiplayer game play. You can select any two of them.
Microsoft also asks you about the least appealing features of Nintendo Switch. The choices here include price, game catalog, controllers, lack of backward compatibility, battery life, internal memory, no VR support, technical glitches, and lack of availability. Microsoft is too late in the Project Scorpio development process to make changes to its console based on the survey, but it’s good to see the Xbox maker taking note of the Switch’s success.
Will Nintendo release SNES Classic at E3?
It is unclear why Microsoft included the Nintendo SNES Classic Edition in the survey. Is it an indication that Nintendo would announce the SNES at the E3? A large number of Nintendo fans were left disappointed when the Japanese company discontinued the NES Classic Edition. Nintendo is yet to confirm it, but a report claimed in April that the company was working on a SNES Mini due to arrive later this year.
Maybe Microsoft knows about Nintendo’s SNES plans…or maybe it doesn’t. The survey question about the SNES might have been a hypothetical one to gauge consumer interest in the console.
Nintendo Switch, Project Scorpio target different gamers
Microsoft’s Project Scorpio is way more powerful than Nintendo Switch. The Scorpio features 12GB GDDR RAM, six teraflops of GPU, a custom octa-core chipset with 2.3GHz clock speed, 1TB of storage, and 326GB/s of memory bandwidth. Project Scorpio will offer true 4K gameplay and support 4K HDR videos. It will also be compatible with the existing Xbox One games.
Nintendo Switch targets a different audience than Project Scorpio. It’s a hybrid console that has been designed more like a mobile phone than a PC. You can carry the Nintendo Switch around or attach it to a TV to play games. On the other hand, Project Scorpio and PS4 Pro have been designed more like PCs with Bluetooth controllers and powerful graphics cards, says The Guardian.
Nintendo Switch production ramped up
Nintendo Switch has been around for about three months, but it is still difficult to find in stores. Demand for the console is so strong that whenever a store receives a restock, it runs out of stock within hours. Nintendo sold more than 2.74 million units during the launch month alone. It has ramped up production. Nintendo now aims to manufacture 18 million Switch units by March 2018, up from the previous target of 10 million units. The production ramp-up has led to a tussle between Nintendo and smartphone vendors over components. Nintendo Switch and smartphones use many of the same components.
The company reportedly increased production to prevent “customer tantrums” during the holiday period, when Nintendo Switch sales are expected to peak. Nintendo is also planning to release the Super Mario Odyssey this holiday season. The company wants to ensure that there are enough consoles to play on when the game comes out.
