Poll - Is Switch a 9th gen console?

[GamingRabbit]

Dulfite said:

Fair points!

So if the rumors of Xbox having a third console are true, and it happens to be a Switch competitor, or if Sony does, that will solve all are problems as we can track it and Switch in the traditional handheld slots of 3DS/Vita for this generation?

Is it really necessary to have a competitor to be tracked in the handheld slot?

It's not like it isnt a handheld anymore, just because noone else released one, right?

Plus, while it's already very plausible to track the switch as a handheld, because its hardware is that of one,

it's also sales data on purchasing behavior which put the switch more in line with handhelds.

1. People are likely to buy more than one system. This has been true for every nintendo handheld thus far.

Be it because a household has multiple kids or because the parents themselves play on it. (And many more reasons, not named here)

But I've never seen any data, that it's normal for asingle household buy multiple N64s, GCs, Wiis or even WiiUs.

Compeared to handhelds households with multiple nintendo home consoles of the same kind are rare.

And from my experience, switch behaves like a handheld in that regard, because it's not uncommon at all for someone to have 2 or more switches.

2. Not a strong argument and more like a hint, but Nintendos HC dont tend to be all that "sucessful". Most have been below 50m, with only the wii being above.

Handhelds however have always been far above 50m and sometimes even above 100m (GBC, NDS)

As of now, it's more likely that the Switch's success comes from it being handheld, not a home console.

3. Sales data on 3rd party games show a fascinating image. People tend to say that 3rd party games

dont sell on nintendos systems, but history says otherwise, at least for their home consoles.

In fact, nintendos home consoles are ones which have good sales numbers on 3rd party games.

I've made a comparison a few weeks ago, and these are number I got.

AVG = average, ATR = attach rate, IB = install base

What we can see is that regardless of the home console being a flop or top, 3rd party game sales are strong relative to its installbase

with an attach rate of 5% +/- 1% (roughly).

Handhelds on the other hand have a much lower attach rate within the 2% range.

Also, from what I've seen, this trend continues throughout the majority of 3rd party games.

This puts 3rd party sales ~ 2:1 in favor of Nintendos home consoles... at least if you go by attach rate.

Switch falls right into the typical 2% range for handhelds.

That means that people purchase games with the same behavior they purchased games for nintendos past handhelds.

Last edited by GamingRabbit - on 03 August 2020