Apparently (?), SIE filed a patent for a Switch-like device with detachable controllers in 2015

[Soundwave]

Nuvendil said:

Soundwave said:

If Sony really wanted to fuck Nintendo they could release this for tablets.

With Playstation branding it likely would get a lot more support than those no-name third party controllers get and it would muddy the market for the Switch.

Though I don't think Sony is quite that evil, I think they at least on some level would like to see the Switch do OK because they know Nintendo brings in kids to traditional gaming which they then end up benefitting from as those kids get a little older and want edgier content, which tends to happen to a lot of kids as they get to about age 11/12/13.

So maybe they go easy on Nintendo on this.

Yeah go ahead and release it for tablets, see how that goes.  But let me clue you in: it would be a waste of time and money.  A huge waste.

And clearly the Sony brand doesn't carry that much weight in Japan or the Vita wouldn't have gotten annihilated there.  And as for the rest of the world, it would go worse, far worse.

Waste of what? It would be virtually no resource cost for Sony, it's just a controller, they make tens of millions of controllers every year. It would be a minimal investment on their part. 

Tablets already sell (far in excess of the 3DS or even Nintendo DS), so there obviously are users out there, I think some people would prefer to pay only say $70 to get a Switch like experience instead of $350 for one with a game. 

I would hope they don't do it, but if I was running Sony I'd probably do it just to make life a little more difficult for Nintendo. The point doesn't even have to be for it to be a huge success, all it has to do is muddy the waters so the Switch is not so unique, once Move and Kinect were released, Wii sales declined rapidly, maybe that was coincidence or maybe it had something to do with the fact that the Wiimote was no longer really anything unique. You could get that same expereince in different ways.