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Nu-13 on 05 March 2020
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Otter said:
Nu-13 said:

And you are wrong on all interpretations. Starting with the fact the switch is a direct competitor in the console market. As for second console: if you mean purchased later, the switch is as much of a second console compared to ps4/x1 as the ps4/x1 are second consoles compared to wii, ps3 and x360. Being of a different generation means that most purchasers will already own a previous gen console.

If you mean the system people mostly play on if they own more than one, the numbers on this topic do not say anything about that. And if you're talking about purchase preference, many prefer a switch and maybe one of ps4 or x1, with precious few owning both a ps4 and x1. As the switch is the common deniminator in that equation, that makes the others secondary. As I said before, this will be observed better during the 10th gen since all 3 will belong to the same gen and the lines won't be blurred.

Keeping in mind that this is all supposed to be fun, hobbyist speculation. This assumptions seems very far off imo

You're implying that for those with cross console ownership, the Switch is a longterm replacement for their PS4/Xbox One and they will skip PS5/XSX? Now of course this will be the case for some people, but for the majority? I struggle to see it. Even just if we break it down by game type.

_Someone who bought a PS4 for Final FantasyXV, Kingdom Hearts3, Persona5 ignoring FFVII remakes for the year because animal crossing is on the way?

_Someone who bought a PS4 for single player action adventure games like Uncharted, Assassins Creed, Horizon, God of War, Star Wars etc finding solace in the one mainline Zelda game released every 4 years? Possible but for most I think not. 

_Someone who's into Souls games, Bloodborne, Nioh, Sekiro or action games like DMC ignoring the much higher count of titles in the PS4's library.

_Someone who has a healthy enjoyment of FPS like COD, Battlefield, Titanfall, ApexLegends, Destiny, Metro etc finding their fix with what on the Switch?

I could go on for a long time. The point is to question why would someone buy a PS4 to begin with, from that how exactly does the Switch replace those gaming needs? 

There's obviously nothing to prove but i enjoy analysing these topics and it seems so obvious that the Switch is not replacing PS4, for the most part it has a very distinct library of successful games and this is what lends it such high cross ownership (almost half of Switch owners own a PS4). This becomes more clear when we look at what sells well on the switch. From third parties the best physical selling Switch title is Minecraft at less than 2m. That is not a big number. Switch software sales are so heavily driven towards a handful of franchises from Nintendo (Mario- 8 titles, Pokemon, Zelda, Splatoon and smash). Games that do amazingly well on Switch are not available on PS4 and vise versa, they rarely cross over in genre and its hard to imagine one replaces another if someone has interest in both. 


This is nothing to do with putting Nintendo down. 

Neither. Particularly baffled with what you said about people skipping ps5 or xsx. I expect many to skipp those consoles because they will buy a switch 2 instead, not because of the existence of a previous gen system.

Here's an amazing concept that you're missing: People can keep buying games for the consoles they own. Someone who purchased a ps4 or x1 and later got a switch can buy any game that releases for either platform and interests them. Though I'm amazed at how hard you downplayed switch software in that sequence.

Again, saying almost half of switch owners have a ps4 is as relevant more than half of ps4 owners have a ps3.

Ah the old "3rd parties don't sell on nintendo", including wrong numbers as an example. Can't sell what isn't there. The games that do release on switch sell as much or even better than on other consoles.

I will conclude by saying that nothing you said has to do with competition. Two consoles can have entirely different game libraries and be direct competitors. Because most consumers choose one over the others. Being released 3 years after those consoles means people who got a ps4 or x1 early on will have waited enough and be ready to purshase another console. Had the switch, ps4 and x1 released closer together (being part of the same gen) would have resulted in way less overlap.