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Kyuu on 15 May 2026
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HebrewGamer said:
Kyuu said:

Software revenue on Playstation is a LOT higher. But their profit margins are a lot smaller because most of that revenue comes from 3rd party content (of which Sony makes 15%-30%). Sony's own software also used to average in the low $20's in the PS4 gen vs today's high $50's/low $60s.

Switch and PS2 are from very different eras and couldn't be more different. So the comparisons strike me as pointless.

No one questions that Nintendo's own software is much bigger than Sony's. But combined software spending (now that you mention "full price") on Nintendo's plafform isn't even comparable with current Playstation.

Due to MTX, Sony generates much more revenue and profit than Nintendo. When you have a few games which can generate billions in revenue per year off a few million whales, you're gonna make a lot more money than relying on 10s of millions of one time purchases.

It's not just MTX. Correct me if I'm wrong (I can't find the latest revenue breakdown for Sony gaming and Nintendo), but Sony's digital sales (minus MTX and services) are around as big as Nintendo's physical + digital + services + MTX. The two aren't comparable. Playstation's spending is on a completely different level.

curl-6 said:
Kyuu said:

 Switch is imprrssive, but it combined the markets of handheld and home consoles (Wii and DS sold 1.8 billion software combined). It basically has no direct competition in the handheld space, which gave it an edge against Playstation. It fundamentally covered a larger market.

The competition Switch faced in the portable space was the fact that pretty much everyone has a phone/tablet with an endless array of very cheap/free to play software available.

Convincing people to buy a portable console is a much harder task in the post-smartphone era, as we saw when the market collapsed from over 230 DS/PSPs in the 7th gen to less than 90 million 3DS/Vitas in the 8th.

Mobile phones aren't yet replacing consoles. In general, they appeal to a very different crowd and play different games. Nintendo has dominated dedicated handhelds since the GameBoy. It's a huge selling point and I don't understand why some people pretend that it isn't.

Doubling as a handheld is a big and real Switch advantage regardless of mobile phones domination. It adds more than it subtracts.