EricHiggin said:
Yup. If games can be fairly easily ported to Switch, then a Switch like console with Switch like hardware wouldn't be any different for SNY or MS. Since third parties are already easily porting to Switch then a Switch like SNY or MS handheld would be no problem porting games to now. Even easier if it's hardware more like what Steam Deck has. 90+ mil sales isn't exactly niche either. That's a big growing pie that's uncut as of now. |
You're both ignoring the main points and pointing to Switch's success as proof that the other manufacturers could and should make a portable version of their current consoles.
If Sony could make a handheld version of the PS5 then the PS5 loses its relevance as the next generation of home console. It is no longer the cutting edge of graphics but the cutting edge of handheld graphics, which remain different things. It means that Sony could have made the PS5 much more powerful than they actually did. Sony and Microsoft don't want to have the best hardware in a certain category. They want to have the best hardware period. There's a reason laptops will always be behind the best desktops and mobile hardware will always be behind dedicated home console hardware.
Could they make a hybrid like Nintendo? Yes. But that would require not just a radical shift in their business strategy. It would require a vast investment as well as a risk on a new product. It would mean splitting their resources. It would mean making development of every first party game more expensive and time consuming in order to make the different versions of the same game. And just because Nintendo succeeds doesn't mean another company will succeed. The Nes and Gameboy had many competitors but achieved total market dominance. The Move never caught on and Kinect after initial success played a big part in why the XB1 sold tens of millions of units less than the 360. The Vita was an unmitigated failure.
With all that in mind, it's easy to see why they are sticking to the dedicated home console market. Nintendo's market is mostly people who wouldn't get a dedicated home console or people who would get the Switch as a second console. The number of people who are getting the Switch as their only console and would otherwise get a Playstation or an Xbox is very low. This means that both have a larger share of the home console pie to go around. It benefits them to not be in direct competition with a third company. If they could put out a handheld or hybrid to test the waters with no investment that would be one thing, but in the real world it takes a lot of time and money to create something like that and bring it to market, all of which could go down the drain if it doesn't sell. If Sony announced a hybrid or handheld device tomorrow, it would have been in development for multiple years and had tens of millions of dollars of R&D put into it at the bare minimum.
