Barkley said:
"generous with the idea of a hybrid console". Please tell me what makes the Switch not a hybrid console, what would it need to have to be a hybrid console? Were any games for the PSP Go designed with TV play in mind? Were many games on the PSP Go playable in splitscreen? Did any games on the PSP Go gain graphical enhancements when played on a TV? Did the PSP Go come bundled with wireless controllers that could be used on a TV? These are the reasons Switch is better described as a hybrid than PSP Go. "Just watch. By the time the last Switch is sold, most Nintendo Switches sold will not be able to be docked to a TV" - Yeah sure lol. "Nintendo Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Doug Bowser (yes, really) said the play time split between docked and undocked play on the Switch is "about even—about 50 percent in the dock and 50 percent away from the dock." The latter time chunk includes both tabletop play and fully handheld play". |
The switch isn't a hybrid console because it's a handheld that shipped a dock in the box, which makes the difference between it and other handhelds pretty minuscule. What would it need to be a "hybrid console"? I'm not sure. I don't think the concept of a hybrid console actually exists outside of marketing speak. I wouldn't call a PS4 that shipped with a mini LCD screen and battery attachment a "hybrid console" either for what that's worth, nor would I call the PS4 a hybrid console if Sony released a handheld version that could be docked to a tv. It's very clear what the Switches primary design focus is, and it's not for TV mode.
Why are you now talking about games? You're shifting the goalposts. Your definition of a hybrid before literally had nothing to do with the games that were created for it, just the capabilities of the hardware. If we're going to talk about defining a hybrid console by the games that are made for it, then the definition is already horrifically flimsy. Assuming that no games were made to take advantage of those features, that doesn't change the fact that those features exist. And I already talked about how silly it is to discuss what's included in the initial console purchase to define a console's "hybridness".
That's a old quote from President Bowser, and was made before several of the Switch's handheld game franchises appeared on the Switch. I'd be interested to find out what the stats are today, or what the stats will be six months from now. Perhaps the introduction of the Switch Lite itself says that the play time has shifted dramatically towards handheld mode. Either way, those stats will change when they release a console that doesn't support tv mode at all.
