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LethalP on 07 June 2018
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The_Liquid_Laser said:
LethalP said:

The Switch isn't selling to the same market as the PS4. The Switch is selling to the Nintendo market, the one they carved out for themselves. The library isn't robust enough to replace the PlayStation, it gets gimped versions of the very odd third party game like FIFA and Doom, but the full vision is realised the PS/Xbox/PC. It's a completely different demographic for Switch.

The industry and public don't view the Switch as an alternative to the PS4 or Xbox One. If they did and it was in the same market it would have directly eaten into the sales of the PS4, but it hasn't. On the contrary the PS4 has had two of it's fastest selling years so far all while the Switch was on the market.

The Switch releasing 3 years prior to PS5 means nothing for the growth of a PlayStation console. If Xbox got a 3 year head start that would be significant, because they sell to the same demographic and those same people who got an Xbox in those 3 years could have bought a PS5 instead. PS and Xbox are the core consumer base, the Switch isn't.

Why don't you know this? Fucks sake, you know what I find strange about gaming? It's the only medium I know of where it's die hard practitioners don't even know how their own industry works.

(referring to bold)  I read your post and think the exact same thing.  Where the hell does a "Nintendo market" come from?  Companies don't get their own market.  Companies compete with each other.  A person doesn't even need to take business 101 to know that companies compete with each other.  This idea that there is a "Nintendo market" spits in the face of basic reasoning.  Nintendo and Sony know that they are competing with each other.  For some reason, there are people on this forum that haven't figured this out yet.

Even the Wii and PS3 were competing with each other.  The games on the two consoles were radically different, but they were still competing.  Every so often Shadow1980 will post a chart showing XBox360+PS3 is tracking lower than XBox+PS2 and XB1+PS4.  Where did those customers go in Gen 7?  They went to the Wii.  The games were so different and yet the Wii still took gamers away from PS3 and XBox360.

Well the Switch games are not radically different this time around.  Zelda Breath of the Wild is like other open world fantasy games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Witcher 3.  That's why Bethesda feels comfortable porting Skyrim.  The Switch is now a lot more similar to what Sony and Microsoft have.  Switch is the go-to console for fighting games, and fighting gamers are the most hardcore bunch around.  Nintendo leads the way with Smash Bros, and then third parties bring their fighting games like Street Fighter or SNK Heroines.  And that is how it goes for every genre.  Third parties are seeing that the core stuff sells on the Switch.  Splatoon 2 is selling great so expect more online shooters to come to Switch.  Xenoblade Chronicles is selling decent so expect more JRPGs to come to Switch.  Of course Switch will have plenty of platformers, tactical RPGs, racing games and local multiplayer games. 

Switch will have plenty of every type of game that a core gamer would want.  That is why PS5 is in trouble.  If Sony just lets Nintendo sell the Switch for 3-4 years with zero competition, then who will be left to buy a PS5?  Everyone will be enjoying their Switch instead. 



It's not called 'the Nintendo market' like it's a thing. It's simply the demographic Nintendo hardware sells to. The Swtich, along with the Wii, WiiU and their handhelds continues to be a console that gets third party games as side filler, rather than something specifically designed to run on it from a fundamental level. This is felt even buy Nintendo buyers and very often you see games that could sell 10 million on a PlayStation struggle to sell 1 million on the Switch. The Wii is competing, but not directly in the same market. Unlike PS or Xbox, it's sales does not depend on how well the direct competiton is selling.

PS and Xbox sales even eachother out at around 170-180 million units. Depending on the gen they both get different slices of the pie, last gen it was more equal, this gen PS4 gets the lions share. The Switch isn't eating into this pie at all. We know this because 2017 and 2018, the 2 years so far PS4 and Switch have existed in tandem, have been the best 2 years for PS4 sales and indeed Xbox One sales. They are both experiencing similar growth the PS3/360 did in 2010/2011.

The Switch is getting third party dreggs. It's getting 360 ports and gimped mutilations of current gen games that had to be made by a seperate studio. Current gen games can't simply be ported to Switch, it's too weak to run the renderer's. As for fighters, the PS4 has the lions share. Actually, the PC does but whatever. In the world of consoles not owning a PS4 as a fighting game fanboy would be insane.

The Switch still doesn't sell satisfactory ammounts of third party software, unless it's a JRPG or Sonic or something. Skyrim is yet to hit a million, yeah it's a late port but still, it's Skyrim. The problem is Switch gets too many late ports. God forbid a third party game be ready on the Switch at the same time it launches on PS4. This kills momentum it could have had. And lets face it, it's not getting CoD, Battlefield, Red Dead, Far Cry, Tomb Raider, Avengers game, many of the big titles. The only significant game releases Switch gets on time, or at all are it's own exclusives.

I'll give the Switch this, it's doing better with third parties than the 3DS. It's on the right track, but it can only go so far. It's going to be one hell of a console to own eventually with a robust library of it's own, but it can never replace the function that the PS4 and Xbox One have, and that is being the base line for AAA development. Which is why as soon as PS5 releases, third party games will start looking better, because PS/Xbox change the lowest common denominator, not Nintendo consoles.