Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto thinks people don't really care about console specs all that much anymore.
Since the GameCube era, Nintendo seemingly hasn't prioritized having the most "powerful" console. Perhaps this approach is a lesson from the PS2 handily beating it despite being the weakest console between it, GameCube, and Xbox, and the massive sales success of the DS, which dwarfed the still-very-much-successful PSP. The Wii and the Switch proved that innovation works even in the face of being weaker consoles (and I'm sure the Wii U could've done well with a better name, but at the very least, it paved the way for Switch).
So, speaking to Famitsu, and translated by GamesRadar+, Miyamoto explains, "We were really pleased to see that the Switch was around for 8 or 9 years," guessing that, "I think it's because, nowadays, customers aren't always looking for the best specs."
"At Nintendo we always offer 'styles of play that only we can create,' and this includes the [hardware] interface," Miyamoto says. He suggests Nintendo competes with the "play anywhere" nature of mobile games, saying, "Our console has the benefit of being faster and more flexible [to develop for] compared to smartphones. When creating for general-use platforms, the workload is higher as you have to ensure it is compatible with all versions [of smart device]."
While the discussion online about console specs and game performance is certainly very loud, I do think Miyamoto is ultimately right.
There's a reason the original Nintendo Switch is close to becoming the best-selling console of all time, because most people probably just don't care. Sure, it won't be playing Crimson Desert at 4K/60fps, but when you have Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8, Breath of the Wild, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, that probably doesn't really matter.
