How The Switch Could Bring Back Local Multiplayer In A Big Way

nintendo-switch
Source: Forbes

Slightly over a year ago, I wrote an article for CV about offline multiplayer and how its future looked bleak. Developers had been – and still are – dropping this feature in favour of online modes, believing consumers are more interested in playing online than locally.

It’s cold, detached, but convenient and enables forms of play not available prior to the internet. Playing online is a nice inclusion, just not when it displaces the option of playing with friends in the same room.
Sadly, even the few games that support local multiplayer these days often feel stripped back when compared to titles available a decade ago.

The same story could not be less true as of this year – well, for Nintendo at least. The Switch, Ninty’s home/handheld, large quantity selling revolution, looks like it could achieve something no console has attempted in a long time: to make playing with your friends around a single screen an integral part of the console experience.

One of its main selling points is that it comes with two detachable controllers that can be used by two players, meaning local multiplayer is possible anywhere if you are carrying a Switch.

However, this alone wouldn’t be enough to persuade developers into including local multiplayer, though. No, these developers will be coaxed by a large user base. Sales for the console have been a force since its release, outselling its competitors in four of the last six months, according to recent results by The NPD Group.
These sales indicate that there is a quality which is attracting gamers other than the fact that it is a new Nintendo product.

Ninty’s previous console, the Wii U, sold poorly and, other than the successful Wii, both the Gamecube and the N64 had unimpressive sales.

Perhaps consumers are excited because it is a hybrid console, capable of being taken anywhere without restriction. If this is the case – something I believe is likely – consumers will be more inclined to play local multiplayer due to it always being available if they ever wish to use it.

This could be in Nintendo’s line of thinking, too. Even as early as the first advertisements, the games that were shown were of people gathered around a Switch, highlighting how it has been designed to be a social experience. A console that can be brought to where people want to socialise, rather than one restricting gamers to a room where a console is set up.

If this is the reason, then the Switch could become a social experience bigger than the Wii. One where friends could have the opportunity to play anywhere and everywhere. During a work break, at a train station or even in a park. An almost endless list of possibilities

This quality would enable it to appeal to a wide demographic who wouldn’t normally want to play games due to the convenience of it being able to be brought to them.

All of this would be pointless if the Switch didn’t have a strong array of first and third-party games and, so far, the console is delivering.

Currently, there are a number of strong local multiplayer titles including Mario Kart, Arms, Bomberman, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and a host of other titles that are perfect for playing on a small screen. Then there are smaller downloadable titles and retro games that will carry their own appeal.

The Switch not only caters to a typical home console audience but a handheld one, too, meaning titles like Pokemon could be played across two consoles like a Gameboy, just as comfortably as any home console title.

It should be noted, though, that developers are often slow to react and creating games takes a long time, so it could be a few years until the fruits of local multiplayer can be seen in future games. Nevertheless, it is exciting for people like myself who grew up playing games such as Super Mario Kart and Goldeneye.

A new generation of gamers may soon have the same opportunity.

However, whether this can be sustained by Ninty over the console’s lifetime remains to be seen, but the signs look positive and consumer’s large appetite for buying the Switch will entice developers to create more games.

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