IcaroRibeiro said:
Why are you guys keep this narrative that Switch is a portable when it's a hybrid. It's the hardware main selling point. Lite had exactly the same specs of Standard Switch and is 100 USD less expensive, if public was that earger for portable models Lite was supposed to be at least outselling the standard Switch |
We are not claiming the Switch is a full-blown portable machine at all. Of course it is a hybrid. That's our point. The console being a hybrid (= can also be used as a portable) is a selling point of the Switch. If your claim was true that people moved to mobile, customers would think the Switch being a hybrid is a bad thing and would actively avoid the Switch because of this. In fact, that's exactly what many people argued before the Switch released: "It's a hybrid and people don't want to play portably because mobile gaming has killed dedicated handheld gaming. Therefore, the Switch is going to fail".
In reality, there was always huge demand for handheld gaming. It was just one Nintendo handheld that underperformed, the 3DS. It is absolutely impossible to draw from this the conclusion that mobile has killed dedicated handheld gaming. That's like saying "it rained yesterday, therefore the sun will never shine again". In reality the 3DS underperformed because of the usual reasons consoles fail: It was too expensive at launch for what it offered. It offered a gimmick (3D) people didn't like. And it lacked good games at first (the first really big 3DS game was Ocarina of Time 3D, a remake and months after launch).
The story that "mobile killed dedicated handhelds" was always wrong. Just like "the casualz now play on mobile!", which was always given as the reason the Wii U failed. In 2017/2018 people claimed Nintendo should concentrate on hardcore games to make the Switch successful because "the casuals have moved on". Fast forward to 2020 and - obviously - the Switch is selling like crazy because of games like Animal Crossing and Ring Fit Adventure, games that appeal to casual players and women.
Also, your example of Switch Lite sales does not fly: The Switch Lite is a less expensive version with less features. Of course it sells less than the main unit, you can't even play system sellers like Ring fit Adventure on the model! Software sells hardware! The real question is: How well would a home console only Switch sell? And the answer is: Very badly, because as a pure home console the Switch is not very attractive. Nintendo's success comes from owning the portable market right now.
Again, you are the one who claims mobile heavily affected dedicated handheld sales by using a sample size of one handheld (3DS) which obviously failed for other reasons. That's all the evidence you got. So the burden is on you to prove that handheld play is not a selling point of the Switch and that mobile has actually affected dedicated handhelds. Because if mobile truly had strongly affected dedicated handheld gaming, people would actively avoid the Switch as its mobility wouldn't be a selling point. In reality, the reverse is true: The Switch is selling because it is also a handheld.
