The State of Switch 2020

Three years on, what do folks think of Nintendo's hybrid?

The State of Switch survey has become quite the undertaking, with thousands of Nintendo enthusiasts taking the time to share their thoughts on the Switch — both as a device, and as a platform.

I first started conducting this questionnaire back in 2018 as a way to gauge how people were feeling about Nintendo’s new machine — after a year on the market the hybrid approach still seemed novel, and the buzz around the machine was palpable. Since then, as things have settled in, it’s been interesting to see how folks opinions on the console have evolved.

A few things remain clear: folks love the Switch concept, the machine continues to be well loved, and the appeal of having console quality experiences on the move persists as a big draw.

Now in its third year (this is a firm annual tradition for me at this point), I’m delighted to be able to share with you the State of Switch survey results for 2020. The survey results, cover a wide range of themes, including the Switch Lite, Joy-Con drift repairs, anticipated games, expectations for the future and so much more.

This year over 10,000 respondents graciously took time out of their day to take part — here’s what Nintendo fans have to say about the Nintendo Switch.

Just like last year, there's a great deal of data and results to delve through here, so I've broken the findings down into various sections (which you can navigate to via the jump links below). I've also now got a video in which I talk through the results, which you can watch here. Also, a quick note: This is a live document, and I may still be adding data/making a few changes.

Table of Contents:

• 🙅 Don't own a Switch...yet
• 🤩 Tell me about your Switch
• 🎮 All about the Games
• 🛍 On the eShop
• 🙌 How you play your Switch
• 📡 Switching Online
• 🧰 Durability, Improvements & Changes
• 🔮 Looking ahead

If you enjoy this, you can support my work on Ko-Fi or Patreon:

🙅 Don't own a Switch...yet

As is always the case, I open up the survey by asking if the person answering actually owns a Nintendo Switch console.

This is as good a place as any to start things as it provides a way to gain an insight into why certain folks haven’t (yet) grabbed Nintendo’s machine.

• Of all those responding, around 3% of individuals said they do not currently own a Switch.
• Of those without a Switch, 85% indicated that they do intend to buy (or receive) a Switch at some point in the future. This is no surpise, and is an expected response from such an enquiring audience.
• As has always been the case, price remains the main obstacle for why folks do not yet own a Nintendo Switch.
• Around $230 USD seems to be the price that people would be comfortable paying for the regular Switch.
• Interesingly this average price has gone up, as in last years survey the average 'acceptable' price was $200 USD.
• I also asked what price the Switch 'hold outs' would happily pay for a Nintendo Switch Lite. The average response was around $140 USD.
• No matter whether a regular Switch, or a Switch Lite - those that are price sensitive think Nintendo's console is priced around $60 to $70 USD too high.
• Other common reponses as to why people have yet to get a Switch included waiting for a hardware refresh (that long rumoured Pro model I'd imagine), personal timing reasons, and waiting for a specific game.
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons was by far the number one game that people are waiting for before getting a Switch. Not long to wait now!
• The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild also saw a few responses here as a game folks are waiting for. (I'd say buy a Switch anyway and play the first one!)

🤩 Tell me about your Switch

Next up, it was time to ask questions of those who currently own a Nintendo Switch (around 9,850 respondents).

This year was a little different as the Nintendo Switch Lite has been introduced in the last twelve months — so I started this set of questions by asking which model(s) folks have.

• As you would expect, the majority of survey respondents (94%) own the regular Nintendo Switch.
• Only 2% of those answering own just a Nintendo Switch Lite. This low number is no surprise considering this additional model has only been on the market for less than six months.
• Interestingly, 4% of respondents own both a Nintendo Switch and a Nintendo Switch Lite.
• The fact that dual ownership is higher here than the Switch Lite alone is more than likely due to the enthusiast crowd answering this survey, and is not reflective of the market at large.

I asked those with a Nintendo Switch Lite what it was about this new model that appealed to them.

Common reasons as to why folks like the Switch Lite include things such as its cheaper price, better battery life, the portable form-factor, and it being more suitable (comfortable) for younger players.

An interesting tidbit I noticed: A handful of Switch Lite owners commented that they opted for this model as they didn't own a TV.

Here's a few comments from Switch Lite owners explaining why they opted for this particular model:

"A lot more portable and handheld friendly, also I didn't need the TV console functionality."

"...reminds me of a GBA, very nostalgic."

"The form factor, the portability, the colors, the feeling in my hands. It's just such a pretty system."

I then wanted to know why people might own both a regular Switch and a Lite.

Typical responses here comprised of: being a collector, getting one to become a 'multiple Switch household', whether that's for local co-op, or buying it for a child, and for the convience of having the regular Switch permanently docked with the Lite ready to go for any portable play.

"I liked the idea of having both working together. My main Switch is both a home console and a party console, and my Switch Lite is my travel console."

"I'm a hopeless collector and have about 15 Switch consoles"

A couple of people detailed how their original Switch model is now solely a Ring Fit Adventure/fitness machine, with the Lite taking up play duties for everything else.

So, beyond knowing the split between 'regular' and Lite, I also asked about which specific model folks had, right down to colour variations.

For the first time in the three years I've been running this survey, the original Neon Joy-Con variant came out as the most popular choice (much to my surprise, grey always come out on top in years prior).

Of couse, from what I can gather Nintendo have never broken down sales by colour, so this is always interesting to see which option folks prefer:

• 43% of respondents own the original Switch model with Neon Joy-Cons.
• 40% own the original Switch with Grey Joy-Cons.
• A combined 14% (split 9% to Neon and 5% to Grey) own the updated Switch with improved battery (the one with red packaging).
• A combined 6% of respondents own a Switch Lite.
• Turquoise is the most popular Switch Lite colour, followed by Grey and then Yellow.
• The final 5% of respondents own one of the limited edition Switch consoles, such as the Mario Odyssey bundle, or Pokemon Switch Lite.

Note: The above numbers exceed 100% as some people now own multiple Switch machines and picked more than one console.

A question I've asked in the survey every year was when folks first got their Switch.

This was originally a somewhat intriguing question (seing a split between launch day, the holiday season, etc), but as time goes on I think the results don't really tell an interesting story here — especially when you consider that there are now folks who own multiple Switch machines.

As you can see, the most common answer this year was 'Other' - meaning no particular important launch date or holiday. I think this question may get dropped or reworked in future surveys.

A few other questions of a similar ilk covered buying habits:

• Most folks (55%) bought their Switch in a physical store.
• 28% of respondents got their Nintendo Switch online.
• Around 11% got their Switch as a gift.
• Just over 5% of respondents got their Switch second hand (such as via eBay, craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc)
• A few folks mentioned buying it via a friend, or winning it via a competition (congrats!).
• When shopping in-store a few retailers stood out as popular options, with Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart coming out on top.
• Other notable brick and mortar choices included Argos, Bic Camera, Big W, Carrefour, Costco, Datablitz, EB Games, FNAC, Game, JB Hi-Fi, Media Markt, Saturn, Smyths, Target, and even the now shuttered Toys-R-Us.
• When buying online, Amazon was by far and away the most popular retailer.
• Other online retailers that saw plenty of mentions included Argos, Best Buy, Bol, GameStop, Game, Target, Walmart and Nintendo's own online store.

I asked whether folks pre-ordered their Nintendo Switch — 84% of respondents indicated that they had not. Again, this question was probably more appropriate/interesting in the console's early days.

Next up, I asked whether respondents had ever experienced any form of stock-shortages when trying to buy anything Switch related. Be that hardware or software.

I put forward this question as I'd heard anecdotally that a lot of folks were having trouble getting a Switch (particularly around the holidays), or more recently a copy of Ring Fit Adventure.

Nearly 40% of survey respondents revealed that they had come up against some sort of stock shortages when trying to buy something Switch related.

Of course, this means the majority did not face shortages — yet I think this does exhibit that Nintendo have had some issues in meeting demand (whether for operational reasons, seasonal demands, or supply issues beyond their control).

I should have expanded on this question with a follow-up, asking what specific items folks were struggling to obtain.

🎮 All about the Games

The next batch of questions are all about Nintendo Switch software — things like how many games people own, the split between physical and digital game ownership, eShop behaviour, how people buy games, and most played titles.

• Those with a Switch own an average of 24 games.
• This is up 50% on last year, as the 2019 average answer was 16.
• In 2018, the average answer was 10 games owned.
• The above values are all averages, the median for this questions is 18 games.
• Some collectors no doubt filled out this years survey, as a fair few respondents said they owned over 200 games for the Switch - pushing up the average.

In terms what games folks own, I always like to get a good idea of which Nintendo-published games people have picked up.

• Over 85% of survey respondents said they own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This attach rate is up on last year by around five percent.
• Over 70% of those responding said they own Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• The above four titles really seem to be the system seller 'must owns'.
• Big 2019 titles, such as Super Mario Maker 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 3 all sat between 30% to 40% ownership.
• Pokemon Sword seems more popular than Pokemon Shield, with the former beating the latter at 30% to 25% ownership respectively.
• Around 20% of survey respondents own Astral Chain.
• Some 15% of those replying own Ring Fit Adventure.
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 was just shy of 10% attach rate of those surveyed.
• Around three percent of respondents picked up Daemon X Machina.
• Surpringly, the LABO Variety Kit came out above the VR kit (5.5% versus 3%) — I expected the VR Kit would have done better here.

As mentioned above, over 70% of respondents noted that they owned Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (75.7% to be precise) — I asked all of those with the game who they would like to see join the Smash roster as a future DLC character. Now, of course, these decisions are likely already made and tied up, so this is very much a 'just for fun' type question.

Here are the top six answers given, when asked who folks would like to see join the Smash Bros. Ultimate roster:

Yup, Waluigi came out on top, followed by Sora, Halo's Master Chief, Minecraft Steve, Doom Guy (I think the recent love in with Animal Crossing may have helped here), and Crash Bandicoot.

Other popular Smash requests included: Akira Howard from Astral Chain, Amaterasu from Okami, 2B from Nier Automata, Cooking Mama (this one surprised me), the Hornet from Hollow Knight, a Monster Hunter rep of some sort, and Elma from Xenoblade. Oh and my personal request of Viewtiful Joe saw a handful of responses.

Someone asked for Dwight Schrute from The Office, which I found amusing. Another asked for Microsoft's Clippy to make an apperance. This one individual was very specific in asking for: "The lizard merchant from Star Fox Adventures who goes 'no, that's too low'". Oh, and well done to the two people who said they wanted to see 'your mom' in Smash. 🙄 GG.

The next set of questions proved a little bit contentious. They asked about average play times, tied to amount spent. Now, these questions were asked to see whether folks made a connection between the money spent on a game and what time they put into it.

This was included as I'd seen a fair bit of noise around whether a game that's say, ten dollars, can or should provide a certain amount of set playtime. To be clear, I think such a line of thinking is a bit daft — as it doesn't matter how much you spend on a game if you enjoy it. Attaching a dollar amount to each hour spent playing seems silly to me — but I wanted to check whether this was "a thing".

Here's what folks said:

• When asked how much time folks spend with a full-priced game, the average answer was around 50 hours.
• When it comes to a game with a $20-$30 value, the average play time response here was nearer to 30 hours.
• Finally, I asked how much time folks typically spend with a game priced $5 or less. The average answer here was around 10 hours.

On reflection I think I probably could have asked the above question in a better way, as although there is a difference in the responses given, I think the way in which the survey asked the question invited a response of a certain type, and wasn't open ended enough. If I was to ask something similar again, it would need work.

Related to playtime, is the question asking which one game people have spent the most time playing. This can be checked in a Switch user's bio. As is always the case (increasingly so with the Switch's diverse library) this one sees a wide range of responses. Here are the top five most common replies:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
3. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
4. Splatoon 2
5. Stardew Valley

These results are very similar to last year - but of course Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a new entry (plenty of hours to be sunk into that game, so no surprise to see it chart). The staying power of Breath of the Wild is staggering - it has sat at the top of this playtime question every year.

Other games that proved popular here included: Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the latest Pokemon games, Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition, The Binding of Isaac, Hollow Knight, Super Mario Odyssey, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

How do people feel about Nintendo porting older titles to the Switch? Turns out folks are ok with it. In fact, 87% of respondents would be happy to see more ports on the system.

Ports are one thing, but what about Nintendo's IP focus. When asked to pick whether Nintendo should work on creating new franchices (like Splatoon), or concentrate on returning old series, such as F-Zero, the split was 60/40 in favour of creating brand new games.

I wanted to know whether folks take advantage of the fact that the Nintendo Switch is region free. I asked if respondents had played any games from a country other than their own — be that either physical copies or a game via the eShop.

Around 33% of those who replied said yes to this, with the main reason being due to a games limited availability. Cost was also a driving factor, but plenty of other reasons were shared, including: moving to another country, buying a game when abroad, and living in a country where the eShop or retail support is limited/none existent.

Although the majority of Switch owners do not take advantage of the region-free nature of the device, a sizeable number of owners do, and their reasons for doing so seem well-founded. This is a welcome feature of the Switch, so I'd like to see it stick around in any future hardware.

Every year I also ask respondents to share what percentage of their Switch games library is digital. With each passing year I expect the digital number to shoot up, but much to my surprise the results here have been fairly consistent for the past three years at around 50/50.

In 2018, it was just shy of 50% digital. In 2019, 52% of a Switch owners library was digital. For 2020 that figure stands at 55%. So yes, it's creeping up, but by no means is the rise a dramatic one.

I think half the reason why I always expect digital ownership to be way higher is based on my own expereinces. The Switch has a vast digital library, and the console is now home to over 3,000 games (it was at around 1,700 this time last year) — I'd say my Switch library is probably around 80/20 in favour of digital titles.

🛍 On the eShop

As we've just been talking about digital games, now is a good time to go through the questions asked about the eShop.

When it comes to getting a game digitally, most people seem prepared to pay what they would for a full-priced physical title (around $60).

I asked when buying a game on the eShop, what the maximum folks would be willing to pay — this question was designed to see whether there is any reluctance to match digital spend to that of physical goods, and whether in general there was a frame of mind around digital games and their perceived value.

Now, I expected some folks would be hesitant to match the price of a physical product, and the answers here did prove there is an element of truth to that. But by and large, it seems compared to physical games a good number of people are prepared to pay similar prices for their digital equivilent.

Next, I asked a series of questions around behaviour when using the Switch's digital store.

• When viewing a games eShop listing, some 87% of respondents will read the games text description.
• Of that 87%, 38% read the text description in full — highlighting the importance for many that this text has in regards to buying descisions.
• Only 13% tend not to read an eShop listings description — this may be due to reading about a game online or elsewhere.
• I asked whether folks look at the images (screenshots) available in an eShop listing. It's of no surprise, but most folks do.
• 57% of respondents will look at all available screenshots. Whereas 38% will atleast look at some of them.
• If a video trailer is available on an eShop listing people are generally likely to watch it.
• 74% of folks said they'll watch a trailer on the eShop whilst browsing.

Taking into account all of the above eShop elements, I asked how much an eShop listing influences purchasing decisions.

There was a fairly split response to this, although the results do show it really does not hurt to have a rich, detailed eShop listing — especially as "Not at all influential" came dead last:

I also asked some questions around sales on the eShop.

I wanted to know just how compelling an eShop sale can be — and it's pretty decisive as over 70% of respondents said they had bought a game on the eShop just because it was on sale. A good sale can flip someone from skipping on a game, to picking it up and giving it a go.

Now, sometimes the eShop often has sales in which games are heavily discounted. These 'Super-Max-Sales' can see some games reduced by up-to 90% (make of that what you will). I asked if survey respondents had ever bought one of these deeply discounted titles, and around 63% of those replying said they had.

Another question around eShop sales asked just how many of the games on offer people tend to look at. 90% of folks will browse the current offers when a sale is taking place. Only 10% of respondents indicated that they tend not to browse — I'm assuming these respondents only purchase a game with clear intent - they go in knowing what they want.

When asked how likely respondents were to download a game demo from the eShop, the responses were somewhat split.

Now, although the data here shows that people are more likely than not to grab a demo, I found the data interesting in that it's not inherently always a surefire way to get folks to take an interest in a game.

Finally, on the eShop I asked what people would do to improve the eShop digital store experience. Common responses here included:

• Wanting Nintendo to implement (or bring back) a user review or rating system.
• Making performance tweaks — wanting a faster eShop, with less 'lag' came up a ton.
• Improved wishlist features.
• The ability to gift a game to someone.
• Enhanced search features, which brings me on to the next point...
• The option to add more filters (a popular comment was wanting a way to filter out 'mobile' games — a tricky one to put into practice I'd imagine).
• As above, a lot of comments around quality control and "genuinely great games" being drowned out by "shovelware".
• A way to handle refunds.
• Adding music was as ever, a popular request. Just imagine...

Here's a few comments people left about the eShop, and what they would like to see:

"An 'if you play this you might like this' recommendations feature."

"A section where you can see what games your friends play."

"eliminate those that put their game as 99% off so it rises to best selling — a week later they remove the discount"

"A way to search for tags, like 'Open World', this doesn't give good results right now."

From reviewing all of the comments left about the Switch's digital store one thing is very clear to me — the way in which the eShop works today is no longer best serving the user. With a library in excess of 3,000 titles and an average of around 20 new games being added each week, it's clear that the eShop now needs a rethink.

Filters and search will go some way to fix this, but at a certain point that may feel like a band-aid over a bigger problem. The eShop needs a complete redesign at now in order to better highlight what's on offer, and avoid games being lost from 'page one' into the obscurity of the Switch's vast library. A new design is a thing loads of you want to see.

🙌 How you play your Switch

This next round of questions explored things like play-style, controller preferences, accessories and more.

• Generally, Switch owners will spend an average of 7 hours a week playing/using their console.
• Playing on the TV remains the most popular play-style, but it's close...
• Handheld play is the preference of around 48% of players.
• Only two percent of folks spend most of their time playing in Table Top mode.

• The average Switch owner has around three controllers. This matches the data from 2019.
• For over 60% of respondents the Pro Controller is the input device of choice.
• Over 85% of those responding have a microSD card in their Switch.
• Of those using a memory card, the 128GB capacity is the clear favourite for folks.
• Only 25% of Switch owners use a portable battery charger with their console.
• For most, the Switch is a solo-affair. When asked how many people use a respondents Switch, the average answer was 1.

Oh, and it's nice to know this survey can provide a public service:

"It took until this survey for me to realize there even was a microSD slot on the Switch. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like it's kind of hidden away.""

📡 Switching Online

Of those responding, over 80% indicated that they were currently a paying member of the Nintendo Switch Online service. This is up ten percent on last year.

Most folks (around 65%) are on the annual plan — this makes sense as its the cheapest option long term.

A good number of respondents indicated that they're in a Family Membership (this is a shared plan that works out cheaper still if you can form a group).

Of those in a Family Plan, only 30% were made up of strictly family members. A mix of friends, family and folks from the interner seemed to be the more common approach.

Of course, the reason people are paid up members? To play online. Over 83% of respondents listed this as the key reason for signing up.

Access to classic games (those available via the NES and SNES apps) came in second, with 49% of respondents listing that as a reason they joined.

Cloud saves was another driving factor, with 42% of those responding noting that as a motivator for signing up.

Members of the Nintendo Switch Online service also get access to the Nintendo Switch Online app — this is meant to be used for voice chat in certain titles, but it's clear not many folks like it. Only 3% of respondents said they use it. 97% do not actively use this app, prefering instead to use something like Discord.

As mentioned above, access to classic games seems to be quite the draw for people — so I asked Switch Online members whether they had played any of the retro games available. Nearly 90% indicated that they had.

Despite such a large number of respondents saying they had given the NES and SNES games on Switch a try, they don't seem to have stuck with them for very long — as average play-time for these older titles falls between 0-5 hours for most.

Of all the games available it seems the more recent SNES additions have been more warmly welcomed than those from the initial NES batch. When I asked what single retro game folks have enjoyed playing the most as part of their membership, titles such as Super Mario World, F-Zero, Super Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past saw far more responses than anything else.

I also asked what game people want to see added to the NES and SNES collections: people want classics such as Earthbound, Donkey Kong Country, Battletoads, Castlevania, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy titles.

A handful of people want to see Duck Hunt added to the service, but I'm unsure how that could work.

Just over 60% of Nintendo Switch Online members said they think the service provides good value for money. Of course, this leaves plenty of room for improvement.

Common areas for Nintendo to focus on in order to bolster their online offering include: Adding a native messaging system, implementing party chat, and introducing a Nintendo 64 library of classic games to play.

I'm a paying member, and generally agree with the sentiment here which seems to be: it's fine.

🧰 Durability, Improvements & Changes

A big area of focus in this year's survey was Joy-Con drift. Now this isn't a new problem, but it seemed to have gotten particularly pronounced during 2019. As such, I led with a series of questions relating to this issue.

• More than half of those responding to the survey shared that they have expereinced some form of Joy-Con drift.
• 54.5% said they had experienced drift, versus the 45.5% who faced no issues.
• Of those who faced problems, around 20% sent their drifting Joy-Cons to Nintendo for repair.
• Thankfully, the majority of those sending their broken controllers into Nintendo did receive a free repair.
• 90% said Nintendo fixed their Joy-Con for free (myself included!).

Putting aside drift issues, I asked if folks had experienced any other form of hardware related problems. Around 22% of respondents said they had.

The most common was yet another Joy-Con problem - with the controllers disconnecting. It seems these tiny little controllers cause plenty of people a headache.

A couple of hundred respondents noted that they had hardware issues around: poor battery life, a broken kickstand, and small cracks in the plastic body. These issues aren't particularly widespread, so could be attributed to general wear and tear/usage?

I asked what the one single hardware improvememnt folks would want to see - to no surprise people want the drift sorted. Bluetooth support and improved battery life were also popular choices.

Beyond hardware, I asked about any software issues people had faced. These don't seem to be too common, as only 14% said they'd run up against a software issue. These include games or the operating system crashing, and some freezing. A few mentioned Wi-Fi disconnecting, but this could also be classed as a hardware problem.

When it comes to software improvements, folks still want themes on their Switch, and they want to see apps such as Netflix and Hulu on the system. Built in messaging and an Achievements system also remain sought after improvements.

I asked whether folks had changed the shell of their Joy-Con - going for a custom look. This is something that you can do yourself, or get a specialist store to do for you. Only around 6% of respondents said they are rocking custom Joy-Cons. A niche thing to do perhaps.

Even more niche is the modding scene - as only around 3.5% of respondents said they had modded/hacked/altered their Switch hardware in any way.

🔮 Looking ahead

These final set of questions look forward, asking what people still want on to see on the Switch, how happy they are with it, and how likely they'd be to jump on whatever is next.

To start, I wanted to know which Nintendo franchise folks were missing the most. I asked what single Nintendo property, that's not yet on the Switch, respondents would most like to see come to the machine.

Despite the question specifying that announced games don't really count here, the number one response was for Metroid. Yes, we know Prime 4 is on the way, and this response makes it clear there's now a real appetite for it.

In 2019's survey, Pikmin and F-Zero saw more resonses than Metroid - so that Metroid delay is clearly playing on people's minds.

Here's the top five 'missing' Nintendo games folks want on the Switch:

1. Metroid
2. Pikmin
3. F-Zero
4. Paper Mario
5. Earthbound (Mother)

Other popular responses included: Starfox, Kid Icarus, Golden Sun, Mario Strikers, Advance Wars, Wario Ware and Wii Sports.

A fair number of folks also put requests in for new entries in the Rhythm Heaven series.

Next, I asked what third-party franchise people would like to see come to the Switch.

Just like last year, Persona and Kingdom Hearts are the series folks most want to see on Switch — these two were the most popular responses yet again. Now, the Switch does have Persona 5 Scramble, but many noted in their response that they wanted to see the main series come to Nintendo's machine.

When asked what third-party franchise folks want on the Switch, these were the top five answers:

1. Persona
2. Kingdom Hearts
3. Halo
4. Grand Theft Auto
5. Fallout

Other popular responses included games such as: Banjo & Kazooie, Call of Duty, Borderlands, more Final Fantasy, Mass Effect, Metal Gear, NieR Automata, and Yakuza.

A good number of folks also want to see Rare's retro collection 'Rare Replay' come over to the Switch. That would be sweet, particularly for any older Nintendo fans.

A fun question I like to ask is how likely folks would be willing to buy an updated Switch hardware revision - without knowing any details. Now, I know most people won't make a blind purchase, but I ask this as a way to get a read on what level of customer loyalty Nintendo have built up for themselves during the Switch period.

The answer here? Well, on a scale of 1 to 10, the average response landed at around 5.4. Take from that what you will, but as the below chart shows, a good 15% said they would buy Nintendo's next hardware refresh without a doubt.

I think this is a somewhat interesting read on how folks trust Nintendo to an extent.

A new question I asked this year was around platform support. Asking how many years Switch owners expect Nintendo to continue to support the Switch, releasing games, updates, etc.

Nintendo Switch owners would like Nintendo to continue to support the Switch as a platform for a further six years. This would take the device into 2026 - making it around nine years old. This isn't an absurd ambition - as a ten year lifespan for a console isn't wholly unheard of (just don't ask the Wii U).

Next, a little demographic info - but from a gaming perspective. I asked what was the very first Nintendo system that survey respondents owned. I can't assume anything, but I think the responses suggest a good mix of ages here — The NES was the top answer, but the Game Boy Advance came in second.

I also asked what other systems people owned, beyond Nintendo. To little surprise, the PC came out on top, with 80% of respondents owning one. Around 50% owned a PS4. With Xbox One and Mac trailing at around 22% ownership. A few new options for this year: 11% said they owned some form of VR system (such as an Oculus), and 1% said they're signed up for Google Stadia — I wonder if I'll be able to include that option next year....

Anyway, to close things I ask how satisfied people are with the Nintendo Switch. On a scale of 1 to 5, the average comes out at 4.4. People love this little machine.

Here are a few parting comments from survey respondents:

"Overall the Switch is a great piece of hardware. It is a portable system that gives gaming quality of the early part of this generation. It pairs very well with a mid-tier PC setup."

"It's a great concept with mostly great execution."

"Good console! Really feel like Nintendo hit their stride in the last few years."

🎉 That's it!

Thank you so much for taking a look through the all of the survey results - It's a long read, so I hope the results proved interesting.

As ever, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you who took the time to fill it out, share it and make the survey such a success yet again. Three years running and your involvement and feedback remains humbling.

Of course, if you took the survey and have any suggestions or comments please do say hello via Twitter.

Finally, as I'm sure you can imagine, putting all of this together takes an appreciable amount of time — so if you've enjoyed this please do consider 'buying me a coffee' on Ko-Fi or supporting what I do via Patreon.

Thanks,
Chris ✌️