The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (2024)

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (1)

After four successful years on the market, here's what people think of Nintendo's hybrid console.

When the Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, it felt like a breath of fresh air after the admittedly somewhat miserable Wii U era. Because of this positive change in direction, I wanted to see how the Nintendo community as a whole felt about this then-new hybrid machine. This is how the State of Switch survey was born.

Four years later and here we are. The Nintendo Switch is undoubtedly a huge success, as it has now sold over 80 million units worldwide. Home to countless great games, a wealth of unique exclusive experiences, it's something of an indie darling and has a dizzying catalog of titles with games for every taste.The drought of the Wii U era is but a distant memory.

So yeah, overall the Switch is and will remain a bona fide hit for Nintendo.But what do Nintendo enthusiasts think about it in 2021?This is where the State of Switch research comes in handy.

Now in its fourth year, this detailed survey helps paint a picture of how the Nintendo community at large feels about the Switch. It covers a wide range of topics, including game ownership, hardware issues (such as Joy-Con controls), playstyle preferences, future expectations, and much, much more.

There is a significant response every year and 2021 was no different with over 11,500 people in attendance. Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide this insight to the Nintendo community. It is a real pleasure to be able to share this with you.

Here's what thousands of Nintendo enthusiasts have to say about the Nintendo Switch in 2021.

🙅 Don't have a Switch yet

The survey always opens with the question whether the person answering is the owner of the surveyeveryoneNintendo Switch-konsol.

Yes, this is primarily a survey for Switch owners, but these initial questions help give us a little insight into why some people have yet to purchase Nintendo's hybrid machine.

This year these are the most important conclusionswithouten switch:

Of all participantsonly 1.6% of respondents said they do not currently own a Nintendo Switch.
From this group without switch,81% said they planned to buy or receive one at some point. These kinds of figures are by no means surprising to the apparently curious public.
Awaiting a hardware overhaulwas the main reason why respondents do not yet own a Switch.

As the chart above shows, years ago, price was always the biggest factor in why people hadn't purchased a Switch by a significant margin. This year yesmarks the first time an alternative cause (hardware) appears at the top. Just over 28% said they were waiting for a new model, while 21% cited price as the main reason.
Sure, there has been onenotable increase in credible rumors and speculation about new hardwareduring the past year. I would also imagine that there is probably some sort of influence in the thinking after the launch of new hardware from both Sony and Microsoft:people are now, to some extent, ready for Nintendo's next thing.
Besides waiting for new hardware,Price remains an issue for many(21.2% of non-switch owners).
I asked what price people without a Switch would be happy to pay. The average response for an original switch wasabout $200 USD. The MSRP is currently $299.99.
The average price that people without a Switch would be willing to pay for itSwitch Lite from $150 USD. The MSRP is currently $199.99.
Those who are price sensitivethink Nintendo's consoles are between $50 and $100 too high. Last year it was $60 to $70, so there has been some movement at both ends of the scale.
Other reasons why people haven't gotten a Switch yet (shown combined in the diagram above) include lack of a virtual console (3.6%), waiting for a specific game (4.7%) (the sequel to Breath of the Wild was mentioned a few times here), personal timing reasons (15.3% ), stock problems (3.2%) and more. One person saidcurrent control issues with the Joy-Conpreventing them from purchasing the console, another noted that their parents wouldn't let them buy one 🥺.

🤩 Tell me about your Switch

This next part will round out the answersthose who currently own a Nintendo Switch(approximately 11,400 respondents).

Through the introduction ofNintendo Switch LiteAt the end of 2019, the research will now start asking which model(s) people own.

No surprises here -the majority of respondents (91.5%) own the regular Nintendo Switch.
Just belowthree percent of the corresponding (2.8%) ownerjust nownl Nintendo Switch Lite. I would have expected this figure to have been slightly higher compared to last year (2.15%, as shown in the chart below) due to the fact that the Lite has now been on the market longer - about 17 months versus just 5 months last year . year survey.

Hover over the pie chart above on the desktop to see the exact values.

Double ownership (to have both a regular Switch and Lite) comes to 5.5%. Last year I noted that this was likely due to the enthusiastic audience who responded to this survey, but this was based on feedback from respondents to this year's surveyThat is obvioushouseholds with multiple switches are becoming increasingly common, because it was a leading factor in the numbers seen here.
Most explained that they have both machines so they can easily play with their partner or sibling.
A few noted that they now use the original Switch as an exclusively paired machine, with the Lite taking over handheld gaming duties.
A few collectors commented that they have both/multiple machines because they enjoy collecting Nintendo stuff.
A handful of respondents explained thisThe restrictive nature of the Animal Crossing Islandswas the reason they had more than one switch. An expensive way to play!
A few people said they bought a Lite and actually didn't like the form factor, so 'upgraded' and got the original, and in turn gave the Lite to another member of their household. The opposite was also true: some noted that the original Switch was too heavy, so they switched to the newer Lite model.

"Bought a Lite at first but realized it wasn't for me. I decided to buy an original Mario version of the Switch last week and had a lot of fun with the dock mode instead of just portable."

“I bought the original Switch a year after launch. When Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out, I wanted a Switch Lite so my wife could have her own island. We like to use both when playing multiplayer games and plan on using them to use to play Monster Hunter rise together."

"I encountered Joy-Con drift on my original Switch and it started happening during the (Covid) pandemic when Joy-Con replacements were hard to get/find. I decided to buy a Lite because the smaller size appealed to me and I like the idea of having a dedicated handheld, since I mainly play handheld anyway."

"I actually have five in the house. An original Switch and Pink (Coral) Lite for myself. Then three Switches for each child and a Lite for my wife. I have two because I like the docked option, but the form factor and the feel of the Lite is better in the hand."

Now, in addition to the breakdown of regular and Lite, I'm also asking what specific models people own, including color variations.

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (2)

Last year thenNeon Joy-Con variants emerge as the most popular, and this year is no different. In the first two years of the study, the gray models took first place. I think over time people realized that Neon is just that much cooler. Here are the details:

46.9% of respondents own a Switch model with Neon Joy-Cons(this includes both the original and updated battery model).
About 37.3% own a Switch with gray Joy-Cons (this includes both the original and updated battery models).
In total, 6.6% of respondents own a Switch Lite.
Turquoise remains the most popular Switch Lite color for the second year in a row, followed by Gray and then Yellow.
However, I would like to note:Embarrassingly, I forgot to include the coral pink Switch Lite in the survey!🙈 So keep that in mind when looking at the Lite stats above.
The last 9% of respondents own one of the limited edition Switch consoles, such as the Fortnite bundle or Pokemon Switch Lite. This is an increase compared to 4.98% in 2020.

💸Buying behavior

A few questions were asked to get an idea of itsome of the basic buying habits of Switch owners. This is what I found:

Switch owners indicated that theyuse upaveragethere is approximately $100 USD per month at stake.
Ofto the mediaconsumption amounted to USD 67 per month. This median is perhaps a more representative value, as it is clear that a few avid gamers/collectors inflate the average value shown here.
As the diagram below shows,most people (781 respondents) recorded an average spend of €60.

Spending around $60 seems like a good spend for an enthusiastic audience – this could be seen as one 'major' release/game per month or a handful of indie titles.
The pie chart below shows the breakdown of average spending amounts.

When you combine the values in the pie above,70% spend between €0 and €60 on games every month. The remaining 30% spend anywhere from $61 to $500+.
Continue -most people (just over 50% of all sales since launch in 2017) bought their Switch in a physical store.
This is slightly lower than last year, undoubtedly due to the pandemic.
30% of respondents bought their Nintendo Switch online.
About 14% received the Switch as a gift.
Just over 5% of respondents have used their Switch (such as eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc)

While shopping the store, a few retailers stood out as the popular optionsGameStop, Best Buy and Targetcomes on top.
Other common brick and mortar choices included e.g. Walmart, EB Games, GAME, Media Markt, Toys-R-Us (REST IN PEACE), JB Hi-FI, Argos, Saturn and numerous local retailers.
When you buy online,Amazon is still by far the most popular retailer.
Other online retailers that saw heavy listings included Best Buy, GameStop, Nintendo's online store (available in select markets), Target, Walmart, eBay and other national retailers.
If you're about to shop on Nintendo's eShop70% said they bought a gameexclusivelybecause it was on sale.

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (3)

When asked which games made people choose a Switch,the following titles were listed as 'system vendors'. Animal Crossing: New Horizons received the most responses, followed by Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Titles such as Pokemon (miscellaneous), Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Maker 2 also received a notable number of responses from 'system sellers'.
83.4% of respondents said they had not pre-ordered their Nintendo Switch hardware. This makes sense, as the need to pre-order is only a major need in the early days of a console.

In addition to asking about pre-ordering hardware, I also askedwhether people pre-order software and if so, why:

56.1% of respondents said they actively pre-order future software releases, compared to the 43.8% of those who do not.
As for why people pre-order, the most popular reason was toensuring that the game was available/delivered on release day(day one). Are able topreload a title ready to playwas also a very popular answer here.
Exclusive pre-order bonuses remain attractive to many.
Getting a pre-order discount, just ensuring availability, pre-ordering so as not to forget about release day, and just being excited/being part of the collective hype for a release were also common reasons mentioned.

"Depends on the game. Mainly to make sure I have/pre-load it on day one. Bonuses are nice, but generally not a deciding factor for me."

"...sometimes games that are really hyped are fun to play on day one, when the community is buzzing with excitement."

"When I pre-order a game, I'm generally very excited about it. That's why I like to pre-order so I can play it as soon as it's available."

I then asked whether the respondents had ever done thisare experiencing stock shortages of any kind when purchasing Switch-related items, regardless of whether it is hardware or software.

I added this question to the survey last year after more reports of people having trouble getting a Switch or specific games like Ring Fit Adventure.

The result was almost comparable to the 2020 survey40% of respondents to the 2021 survey reported experiencing some form of inventory shortagewhen you try to buy something related to Switch.

In a follow-up question I askedwhich goods people had difficulty purchasing:

The most common answer here was unsurprisingly Switch hardware (including special editions like the Animal Crossing-themed Switch), followed by Ring Fit Adventure, controllers (like Joy-Con sets in new colors), Amiibo and a selection of games – including one. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

Although it comes in at a 60/40 splitthe majority did not face a shortage- This number still seems remarkable. Last year I attributed this to perhaps operational issues, seasonal demand, or supply issues beyond Nintendo's control. I imagine the pandemic hasn't helped Nintendo overcome the existing challenges they've faced here.

🎮 Everything about the games

The next set of questions wasalt om Nintendo Switch-software. As such, the results here dive into things like how many games people currently own for their Switch, the most played titles, the breakdown of physical/digital game ownership, and more.

They medicate and switchowns an average of 28 games.
This isan increase of 16.6% compared to last year— The average response in 2020 was 24.
In 2019, the average response was 16 games owned. In 2018, there were 10 games owned.
The above values are all averages,the median liability in 2021 for this question is 20 games owned.
These healthy, growing attachment rates reflect a strong digital market and a broad library of available titles. There are currently over 5,000 games available on the Nintendo Switch.
The violin chart below shows the distribution of responses over the past four years. The broader shape/spread shows how often a response occurs.

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (4)

As you might expect, in the early stages of the Switch's life, it was more common for people to have a smaller library of games.
As the chart above shows, distribution is now stretched over the years and larger/growing libraries are emphasized.
Of the 11,282 respondents who completed this question,401 (3.5%) said they have 100 or more Switch games.
As always, some avid collectors undoubtedly took the survey, as quite a few respondents said they had hundreds of games for the Switch, pushing the average up.
One respondent said he owned more than 1,000 games.
I asked what's wronginmust-have game for every Switch owner. Breath of the Wild was the top answer, followed by Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
I asked respondents how many games they owneddisadvantage— these are games that a player has purchased/received, but has not yet played or completed.The average liability for backlog titles was 5 games.
Just over 20% of the 10,852 respondents to this backlog question (20.56%) indicated they had 10 or more games to rewatch. Just over 1% said they had more than 100 games behind them.
I asked a similar question, this time about games that are considered "abandoned" - meaning a player started a game but has since abandoned it completely for some reason (such as not liking it, finding it too hard find, etc.).The average responsibility for interrupted games was 3.

Every year I also ask respondents to share their opinionswhat percentage of their current Switch library is digital.

Over the four years that I have been conducting this research, the results for this question have remained fairly consistent.

🛍 In the eShop

The following is a series of themquestions about user behavior when using the Switch digital store— Nintendo eShop.

When you see an eShop listing for a game, some86% of respondents read the game text description.
Of the 86%, 31% read the text descriptionwhole55% scan/read at least part of it – underscoring the importance of this text in potentially influencing purchasing decisions.
14% of users said they don't read the description of a game on the eShop. This may be because they have done previous research, such as reading about a game online or watching a trailer elsewhere.
If an eShop listing has a video trailer available, people are likely to watch it.
Over70% of respondents said they would watch a trailerif that is possible.
I also asked if people look at the images (screenshots) available in an eShop listing. Most people do that.
49% of respondents will watchbeeavailable screens. While 44% will watch at least some.
Almost60% of Switch owners use the Wish List featureavailable in the eShop.

Based on the above I askedhow much an eShop listing influences a user's purchasing decisions.

The response here wasn't overly strong by any means, with most saying it was only "somewhat influential."

An interesting data point here for publishers/developers. When I askedhow likely a Switch player is to download a game demo from the eShopthe results showed a relatively average response. Although the majority here said they would probably get a demo (35%), this wasn't very convincing.

The Nintendo Switch has a 'Gold Coins' rewards feature where users get points when they make a purchase, which they can then redeem for a discount on a future game. I asked about usersUsually keep these or use them with every purchase.55% indicate that they use it every time, while45% said they enjoyed saving, only use them if they have a significant amount.

🙌 How do you play on your Switch?

For the next set of questions, I explored things like preferred play style, what controllers people like to use, and more.

Average,Switch owners typically spend about 5.5 hours per week playing/using their console.
The media responsibility here is 5 hours per week on the transfer.
This average is lower than the seven hours in last year's survey. While it's not a huge change, it is unexpected. My expectation here would have been a slight increase year-on-year as we all spent more time at home due to the pandemic.
The Switch remains a solo affair.When asked how many people use a respondent's Switch, the average answer was 1.5, with an average answer of 1. This preference not to share a switch is somewhat consistent with the growing trend of households with multiple switches.

Playing on TV remains the most popular playing style, and is the favorite way to play for 55.7% of Switch owners.
Handheld comes into play, with tabletop games being the least preferred option.

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (7)

The average Switch owner has about three controllers. This is consistent with data from both 2020 and 2019.
More than 65% of respondents said thisThe Pro Controller is their favorite input device.
The Pro Controller is the preferred control method for Switch owners, the included Joy-Con Grip was the second preference, while split Joy-Con gaming took third place.
72.5% of respondents said this is the casenot own a third party controller. I would suggest maybe giving it a try if you want to avoid drift 😏... but more on that later.
Of the 27.5% of respondents with an external controller,the most popular choices for third-party gamepads are from 8BitDo and PowerA. Hori and PDP also saw a large number of responses here.
Nearly 90% of Switch owners have a microSD card in their machine(87,9%).
Of those who use a memory card,the 128 GB capacity remains the best choicefor people.
256 GB was the second best answer, while the second most common answer last year was 64 GB.
Higher capacity cards in general (such as 256 GB, 512 GB and 400 GB) saw a significant increase in ownership compared to last year. This trend will continue as the price of these cards drops.
Nearly 100 Switch owners said they had the expensive 1TB microSD cards in their Switch.
Only 19% of Switch owners said they use a portable battery charger with their console. It seemsBattery life on the Switch isn't really an issue for most gamers.

📡 Changes online

Of those who answer,almost 90% indicated that they were or currently are paying members of the Nintendo Switch Online service(89.6%). That is about ten percent higher than last year (2020), which itself was ten percent higher than the year before (2019). The service has seen steady 10% annual growth over the past three years.

I asked the remaining 10% why they never signed up for Nintendo's online offering. Common reasons included simply not needing/not playing online games, budget reasons and not being considered worth the price.

Here are a few quick onescomments from those who are not currently Switch Online customers:

“..I don't like the idea of paying for features that should be standard in 2021, like cloud savings.”

"Because it's P2P and not real Nintendo servers, so it's based on who has the hosting and usually all hosts have bad upload speeds."

"From what I've seen (especially with SSBU) it doesn't seem worth it. I'm also quite disappointed that Nintendo has done away with the Virtual Console in favor of locking retro games behind their paid subscription - I do that too." I really want to support that decision."

Around60% of paying members have an annual subscription. This is no surprise as this is a cost-effective option compared to the monthly and quarterly options.

A significant number of respondents reported having a family membership (25.7%) —this is a shared subscription that is still cheaper if you can form a group (of up to eight members).

I asked those with family memberships if they shared the plan with anyone outside their immediate family, almost 64% said they did. Having a mix of friends, family and people from the internet seemed to be the most common approach to how this plan is used, and it makes perfect sense as it's easy enough to group together and enjoy the shared savings.

I also asked if any Switch Online users have canceled their membership and rejoined at some point. Only 19% of respondents said this was the case, mostly as a way to save some money. A few noted that they canceled because they weren't using the service much, and a few others said they were just taking a break.

Ofof course, the main reason people join the Switch Online service is to play online, access to classic Nintendo games (NES and SNES apps) is also a big draw and was the second most common reason for signing up. Cloud storage and access to exclusive titles like Tetris 99 also received many mentions.

Only 5.6% of paying Nintendo Switch Online members use the Nintendo Switch Online app for voice chat. It's still an unpopular option and not very well supported by many games. It is therefore no surprise that a whopping 94.4% choose to use something else. Discord is the best alternative to voice chat.

Ifthe current voice chat solution is still so unpopular that I asked what users would rather see Nintendo do. Out of 9230 people who answered this questionmost (44.2%) said they would like to see Nintendo integrate their own voice service directly onto the Switch, eliminating the need for a separate smartphone app. Integrating other voice services, such as Discord, into the system was also a popular option here (41.6%). Some games on Switch, like Fortnite and Overwatch, have their own in-game voice chat service without the need for a separate system. 11.5% said they would be happy to see more games take this approach. Only 2.7% said they just wanted to watchonlygame uses current official app as voice chat solution.

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (8)

Access to the classic SNES and NES games is a big reason why people pay Switch Online members - that's why I asked these membersif they had played one of the growing collection of retro titles available.More than 85% indicated that this was the case.

Although such a large group of respondents indicated that they had played the NES and SNES games on offer, it seems that they did not spend much time on them. The average play time for these older titles (whether NES or SNES) is between 0 and 5 hours for most players. People played SNES titles longer than the NES collection, but not by much.

The SNES games offered are by far the most popular selection. I have askedwhich game is available as part of the Switch Online membership, people have played the most.The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was by far the first choice, followed by other SNES classics like Super Mario World, Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country. Super Mario Bros. 3 was the most talked about NES game.

I have askedwhich game people would like to see added to the NES and SNES collections. Here's a selection of the most popular comments, showing which titles people want to see next (in order of # of comments):Earthbound, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy-titels, diverse Mega Man-games, Castlevania, TMNT: Turtles in Time, Tetris, Street Fighter 2 en Battletoads. I think this shows that there's still a lot of low-hanging fruit, and it would be nice to see some of these popular titles added to the service alongside the more obscure releases Nintendo has been adding lately.

With many NES and SNES games available, I thought I'd ask what people hope to see in the future. So I asked if I had to choose just one,which library of games would people most like to see come to the Switch Online service?.

OfThe best and probably obvious answer was the Nintendo 64. This makes sense and will follow the evolution of the home console from NES, to SNES, to N64. GameCube was the second most common answer, followed by Game Boy Advance. If I were a betting man, I'd bet we're more likely to see Game Boy/GBA titles before we see N64. We shall see.

Just under 60% of Nintendo Switch Online members said they found the service good value for money. I asked members to rate the current service out of five. 40.6% rated the service 3 out of 5. Whichever way you look at it, there is still a lot of room for improvement here.

I've closed this section asking for any additional comments members may have about Nintendo's online service. Common points raised included:Want to see dedicated servers for multiplayer, add a native messaging system with voice support, make more classic games available on a more consistent schedule, and offer eShop discounts to members.

🧰 Sustainability, improvements and changes

This next section provides answers to questions about hardware and software problems.

Just like last year, I start with questions about how the Joy-Con works.

Of the 11,131 respondents to the question "Do you have experience operating the Joy-Con?"more than 65% said yes.
In the 2020 survey, 54.5% said they had experienced drift – up from this year's 65.9% whoa 20% increase in Joy-Con drift releases year over year.
This annual increase in the number of people who say they have experienced Joy-Con drift is not a good sign and suggests that Nintendo has yet to gain any real traction on solving the seemingly widespread problem.
Strangely enough, only about 20% of those who experienced problems sent their working Joy-Con to Nintendo for repair.
The majority (93.2%) of those who sent their broken controllers to Nintendo received a free repair.
If Nintendo charges a Switch owner for a Joy-Con repair, the data shows that the cost of that repair appears to be around $40 USD.
About 450 respondents said they've had to send their Joy-Con controllers to Nintendo for repair more than once.

The results of the 2021 State of Switch survey (9)

In addition to the Joy-Con controls, I ask whether Switch owners have experience with itany other kind of hardware problem. 75% said they had no other problems. About 25% of respondents said this was the case.

Like last year, the most common hardware issue besides the controls were other Joy-Con issues, whether it was controller disconnecting or button freezes. Nintendo needs to fix this for the next new hardware.

Broken stands, reduced battery life and scratched screens also caused a lot of reactions here. I'd say battery life and screen scratches are undoubtedly the result of heavy use and general wear and tear - but as for the stand, it's no surprise people are saying it's broken - it's very thin.

Since fixing the Joy-Con controls is now a given, I askedwhat are the other hardware improvements that people would like to see-longer battery life and Bluetooth support took first place. A higher resolution screen and more storage were also popular choices.

I asked those who took the survey to comment on their thoughts on the Switch hardware and its overall durability. Here are a few notes:

"Aside from the Joy-Con controls, everything is fine with my Switch."

"An overall more durable Joy-Con would be appreciated considering the price. The Switch itself has pretty solid hardware, aside from the need for an Ethernet port."

"Apart from the stand, the Switch seems durable enough. Operational issues are an issue, although I haven't experienced this."

“..it is very disappointing that the Switch will not have Bluetooth compatibility in 2021.”

"I've been lucky not to experience Joy-Con drift. But given how widespread it is, I think Nintendo would do well to redesign the controllers for the next one."

"If you compare it to previous Nintendo hardware, it feels much more fragile..."

"Considering how much it's been played since launch, it's had a pretty good run."

"I've been using Nintendo products since the late 1990s and the Joy-Con controllers are the first and only piece of Nintendo hardware I've ever had to replace."

After asking about the hardware, I moved ona few questions about possible software problemspeople may have met each other. Fortunately, these are not nearly as common, with only15% of respondents said they had encountered a software-related problem. These mainly include games or operating system crashes/freezes. Performance issues with Minecraft in particular were mentioned a few times. A few people mentioned WiFi issues, but this can be classified as a hardware issue.

As beforewhich software improvements people most want to see on the Switch,more themes remain the biggest demand. Media apps (like Netflix), a performance system, and some kind of built-in messaging service also remain coveted improvements. Directories and improvements to the eShop also scored highly. A handful of comments said they'd like to see some sort of StreetPass service on the Switch.

Then I asked if people had replaced the plastic housing on their Joy-Con controllers. This DIY mod gives your controllers a customized look and remains a niche activity, as only about 6% of respondents said they have done so, the same as last year.

Once again, just like last year, the modding scene remains an enthusiastic affair - as only 3.6% said they had modded/hacked/modified their Switch in some way.

🔮Looking ahead

The final round of questions tends to look ahead to the future and ask what people still want from the Switch.

I'll start by asking what people from the Nintendo franchise think is missing from the Switch library.

Here isthe five best answers:

Metroid
F-nul
Ster you
Earthbound (mother)
Boy Icarus

Yes, we know thatMetroid is on its way and it remains a highly anticipated release, as it also took the top spot in 2020. Let's hope we get some Metroid news soon (be it Prime 4 or something 2D).

Last year's survey found that both Pikmin and Paper Mario were in this top five, so it's nice to see that these two franchises have since seen a Switch release (even if one was a port). Star Fox and Kid Icarus are the two newcomers in this top five.

Other popular answers included: Super Mario Strikers, Wario Ware, Golden Sun, some sort of Wii Sports sequel, and a Rhythm Heaven release.

I ask toowhich game has already been announcedpeople are looking forward to it the most. Out of 10,787 answersThe sequel to Breath of the Wild is by far the most anticipated Switch game (34.1%)– followed by the aforementioned Metroid Prime 4 (8.4%), Splatoon 3 (7.6%) and the upcoming Monster Hunter: Rise (4.7%). Skyward Sword HD (4.6%), the new Mario Golf game (4.5%) and New Pokemon Snap (4.0%) were also popular choices. The remaining 32% of responses consisted of numerous other titles, including Shin Megami Tensei V, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and the title Project Triangle Strategy.

I then askwhich third-party franchises people would like to see come to Nintendo Switch.

For the third year in a rowPersona is the most sought-after franchise on Switch— I would caution that even though Persona 5 Strikers is now on the Nintendo machine, the answers here refer to the main series and not any spin-off titles.

For third-party franchises on Switch, these arethe five best answers:

Persona
Grand Theft Auto
Fall out
glory
Kingdom of hearts

Grand Theft Auto on the Switch feels like a missed opportunity at the moment. GTA V came out in 2013 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, so a Switch port doesn't feel like it's out of the realm of possibility. But even if that didn't work out, some of the earlier GTA games, like GTA III and Vice City, were released on smartphones back in 2011/2012. So setsomethingfrom the series on Switch would certainly be a hit – the appetite is there.

Other popular answers included games like: Call of Duty, Mass Effect, Metal Gear, Yakuza and Genshin Impact.

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of credible rumors about updated/new Switch hardware from Nintendo over the past year. As such, we now have a rough idea of what a potential new model could bring to the table. However, nothing is official until Nintendo says so. That's why I ask the following question: Without knowing any details,how likely are people to buy an updated Nintendo Switch?-invisible sight. Like I said, I know most people wouldn't make such a blind purchase, but I ask this to get some insight into Nintendo's customer loyalty.

The average responseon a scale of 1 to 10 it came out to about 5.3. About 20% of respondents to this question chose 10 on the scale, meaning they would buy Nintendo's next hardware withouteveryoneforeknowledge.

Last year I askedhow many years Switch owners expect Nintendo to continue supporting the platform, release van games, hardware-updates, software-updates, enz.

This year I asked the same question, andSwitch owners want Nintendo to continue supporting the Switch for another five years. Considering the answer in 2020 was six years, that makes perfect sense: you survey respondents are a consistent bunch.

To avoid having your calendar blown out of such a lifespan, the Switch would be supported until 2026 - which would make it around nine years old. Depending on the direction Nintendo takes with new hardware this year, I think this could be a realistic expectation.

A quick side note: in addition to Nintendo, I also ask somethingOther thingssystems that people owned. As you'd expect, the PC came out on top, with 72% of respondents owning one, while the Mac came in at 21%. In terms of pure gaming platforms, 41% owned a PS4 and 18% owned an Xbox One. Ownership of VR (Oculus, Vive, etc.) stands at 12%, and those signed into Google Stadia make up 2.3% of respondents. A few new options for this year: 11% said they own a PS5, while 5.4% said they own an Xbox Series S or X.

To wrap things up, I ask peoplehow satisfied they are with the Nintendo Switch in general.On a scale of 1 to 5, the average is 3.9. Last year it was 4.4. I wonder why this has dropped a bit - I imagine the continued unrest surrounding the Joy-Con operation hasn't helped the long-term vision here.

I'll end this extensive article with some parting comments (both good and bad) from survey respondents:

"..it's one of my favorite systems and the fact that I can play complex games on the go is great!"

"As a Wii U owner and lifelong Nintendo fan, I'm very happy that Nintendo has returned to the mainstream with the Switch, and many of the games on the platform are fantastic. The focus on third-party support, especially indie games, is also been a breath of fresh air. However, I also think Nintendo needs to stop trying to succeed so they are more willing to charge more for less and wait years before they can properly bring old games to the platform. It's disappointing because it hurts the consumer and possibly also the public opinion of Nintendo."

"[Nintendo is] great when they make their own unique, innovative, charming thing."

"While I'm extremely happy with the Switch and its game library, I feel like Nintendo is getting complacent with ports, lack of UI updates for the Switch, poor inventory management, and poor communication. I worry that success is making them lazy, instead instead of pursuing fun titles and innovation, they will rely heavily on reputation and re-releases."

“Having a Nintendo Switch helped me get through the COVID pandemic”

“I don't think Nintendo can ever have separate console/handheld hardware again. They struck gold with the Switch and being a hybrid is really their unique selling point at this point. I hope they realize what a unique position this is and that whatever comes next will have to be 'next level' compared to the Switch.”

"Great console, love the mobility"

"The durability of the controllers is by far the most pressing issue. It is unacceptable that such 'high-end' controllers do not last long."

"..despite the poor graphics compared to other systems, the versatility it offers is a bargain."

"I really like the Switch and Nintendo as a whole. However, I am not happy with certain business decisions aimed at creating artificial scarcity..."

“I love it. I play it 90% handheld, but I love plugging it in for game nights or just when I want to enjoy the beauty of Breath of the Wild or my island on Animal Crossing "A truly blessed system"

"It's not perfect, but it has exceeded my expectations. I've used the ability to seamlessly switch between TV and handheld mode a lot more than I originally thought I would."

"..one of Nintendo's most innovative consoles."

'I hope Nintendo sticks to the hybrid Switch concept'

🎉 This is how you sit!

Thank you for taking the time to review all the survey results — I hope the results proved interesting.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete the 2021 survey, share it and overall make it such a success. Your continued involvement in this extensive annual project of mine remains humbling.

If you have completed the survey and have any suggestions, or simply have some comments/thoughts after reading the results, please feel free tomessage me on Twitteror send me an email atchris@switchweekly.com.

Finally, as I'm sure you can imagine, it takes a lot of time to go through all the data and compile the results – so if you enjoyed this, please consider 'buy me a cup of coffee' ofsupport my work through Patreon, or coppera 60-page PDF version of this reportIf you don't know me eitherpublish a weekly Nintendo newsletter- you must subscribe. 😊

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So,
Chris✌️