Global Hardware 16 March 2019

[Bofferbrauer2]

colafitte said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

@bolded: PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and the DS and Gameboy if you include handhelds. So not as rare as you might think.

@underlined: This is because the age doesn't factor nearly as much as you might think. But the real problem is that many Sony fans seem to feel it necessary to point that out over and over and over and over again, and generally to downplay the success of the Switch. Of course, at one point one can get sick and tired of it and counter accordingly.

I don't think anybody is denying that the PS4 is doing great, but trying to rub it in that it very narrowly beat a Switch on drought just doesn't go over well.

@the rest of the text:

I don't expect 25-30M to be sold this fiscal year (which started today, incidentally), but considering the amount of high profile titles the console is getting throughout summer and fall (plus anything that Nintendo or anybody else didn't tell us yet), I find it hard to believe those who expect less than 20M. The baseline is already well up compared to last year despite the lack of new titles yet. There may be no Smash this year, but everything else that comes more than outweighs the Smash/PLG duo that is responsible for most of the sales this past year, directly or indirectly.

Neither of those consoles did sell 15 or more at $300 or more by the time its 6th year ended. Those were the conditions i specifically noted because they are relevant to what i was saying. PS2 was not a $300, PS3 and X360 never sold more than 15M in a year, DS and Gameboy never costed that much,...etc.

Age is relevant at the time to consider performance in a console, i won't change my opinion on that. Every Sony fan downplaying Switch success is wrong. They can justify why Switch is doing what or not, but Switch as a console/portable/hybrid is a success. I can understand you getting tired, as me getting tired of other things i mentioned. But sometimes, it's best no to react to something you consider "downplaying" or "trolling" because then conversation just turns to that.

I can respect anyone expecting 20M shipped for FY2019. A few months ago i admit i was convinced it was impossible, now not that much. In my case i'm not expecting the same growth for shipment than for sales because they not work the same, and this Q4 is a good example. Switch could ship 2'5M but sell almost 4M to consumers. When you accumulate stock left, from previous year you have to sell them first before. That's why i can expect more units sold to consumers than units shipped in 2019. Let's say i expect 18'5M units sold to consumers for 2019. Then i won't surprised if shipments numbers end being 17'5M units.

In my case, i want to wait what Switch does in Q1 2019 because i feel this performance in Q4 2018 is not reliable to predict what Switch is going to do the rest of the year.

Well, neither did the PS4 yet. It could well end up selling only 13 or 14M at the end of the year, which would be in line with PS360 sales at the time. But that's something we're only gonna see by the end of the year.

About your last sentence, did you mean Q1 of the financial year or of the calendar year?