Due to the heated debate in this thread Poll - Is Switch a 9th gen console? (and many others on this site) regarding whether the Nintendo Switch should be looked at as a "console with portability" or a "handheld that can connect to a tv", I thought it would be interesting to see how 3rd Party software developers have handled the Switch. Here is a comparison of major 3rd party multiplatform releases, and how the developers handled them as console or handheld ports. The games are not listed in any particular order. In the cases of series, I did group them together in order of older to newest. If a platform had been either discontinued or not released yet at the time the software was released, I listed that platform as "N/A" (not-applicable). I was going to put a column for the Wii U, but decided against it, because it is well known that 3rd Party developers mostly abandoned developing for the Wii U about 13 months after the console was released.
| 3DS | PS Vita | PS3 |
XBox 360 | Switch | PS4 | XBox One | |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LA Noire | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| The Witcher 3 | No | No | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Doom (2016) | No | No | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Doom Eternal | No | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | No | No | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wolfenstein: Young Blood | No | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NBA 2K18 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NBA 2K19 | No | No | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NBA 2K20 | No | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FIFA 15 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| FIFA 16 | No | No | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| FIFA 17 | No | No | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| FIFA 18 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FIFA 19 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FIFA 20 | No | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Assassin's Creed III | No | No | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Assassin's Creed III: Liberation | No | Yes | No | No | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Assassin's Creed III: Remastered | No | No | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops II | No | No | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified | No | Yes | No | No | N/A | N/A | N/A |
As you can see in the FIFA section of the chart, EA made a specific decision to stop releasing handheld versions of FIFA after FIFA 15 released in September 2014. But when the Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017, it received a console port of FIFA 18 just like the PS4 and XBox One.
As for the NBA 2K series, I had to go all the way back to NBA 2K13 to find a handheld version for the PSP. 2K Sports stopped releasing a handheld port of NBA 2K after that version released in 2012. The 3DS and the Vita did not get a single port or version of an NBA 2K game. But, the Nintendo Switch has received the same console port as PS4 and XBox One every year since the Switch released.
When Assassin's Creed III released in 2012 for the Wii U, PS3, and XBox 360, the PlayStation Vita handheld received the spinoff title "Assassin's Creed III: Liberation" instead. In 2019, the Nintendo Switch received Assassin's Creed III: Remastered along with the PS4 and XBox One.
The same situation occurred with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops II in 2012. The WiiU, PS3, and XBox 360 all received the home console version. Meanwhile, the PlayStation Vita received Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified. The game was set between Black Ops and Black Ops II, and received extremely negative reviews.
All of this tells me that 3rd Party developers have been treating the Nintendo Switch as a home console when it comes to porting their software releases. A home console that has the advantage of being able to be seemlessly taken on the go. Even though the Switch ports have in instances had some concessions made, the Switch has not received the handheld spinoff titles that previous handheld devices have normally received in place of home console versions.
The Switch is a hybrid by its nature, yes. But, there are far too many people who vehemently try to peg it as "just a handheld with t/v out functionality". There are charts that prove that Switch owners use the docked and hybrid mix more than those who only ever play it in handheld mode. The Switch Lite, which was heralded as "proof that the Switch is a handheld" since it can not be docked, has not sold more than the OG Switch. When the Switch is sold out, it is typically the docked models that get bought up first. If I recall correctly, sales reports for the Switch hardware sales boom from the early months of COVID-19 and Animal Crossing release went out of their way to mention that it was excess unsold Switch Lites that helped keep the Switch from running out of stock sooner than it would have.
Please discuss why you do or do not believe the major 3rd party multiplat releases on the Switch lend more to a view of the Switch as home console/portable hybrid than a "handheld with t/v out".
