Bold: True. My comment was more a "With that said, I think SIE Japan Studio and also Sony's output of games catering to the Japanese audience have at least improved the last 5 years." It wasn't meant so much as an argument against your comment.

Still, I think games like Gravity Rush 1+2, Bloodborne, Soul Sacrifice, and Freedom Wars are quite an improvement compared to how few Japanese games  Sony developed in-house during the PS3 years. I can't name many games that SIE Japan Studio released during the PS3 years that catered to the Japanese audience in a higher degree than Gravity Rush 1+2, Bloodborne, Soul Sacrifice, and Freedom Wars.

Maybe Siren: Blood Curse, White Knight Chronicles, and Demon's Souls. Though it'd be silly to include Demon's Souls and at the same time dismiss Bloodborne.

Like you, I'd love to see more in-house developed games catering to the Japanese from Sony. As I said intitially, I long for a new Ape Escape and The Legend of Dragoon.

I didn't say they weren't competing, i said that saying they're currently doing so in a fashion more comparable to handheld vs home console is a fair position. It could end up being wrong, but it's not unreasonable based on what's currently visible. Even if we assume the Switch's effect on the home and handheld markets is evenly distributed, that would still mean it's competing with the PS4 to a much less significant degree than a comparably successful home console. I personally think the currently available evidence implies a bias towards handhelds though, which includes the usage data you mention (Nintendo themselves have shown that Switch owners are 50%+ more likley to use it primarily as a handheld than docked). The end result being i consider 'more comparable to handheld vs home console than the alternative' a reasonable position.

It is worth noting that the "Switch is a handheld" narrative isn't specific to other fanbases. That same argument has been used against me when I've compared the Switch and PS4's specs (which is already a compromised comparison; i could compare it to the X1X, another 2017 system). Sony, Nintendo, and MS all have fans that are willing to be flexible on what the Switch is depending on the argument :p

http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/slide-3.jpg

This was presented by Nintendo themselves after releasing their software and hardware numbers last month.

And it was kinda expected. Did you see most of the marketing? Do you know what kind of demographic was shown for most of the trailers and commercials?

I'm getting an "Access Denied" error on the link. But it is probably the same I posted before. So, in what this helps to explain why Switch manages to sell a ton of units worldwide without impacting sales from the other consoles? That's the big question here. It's either a different demography (and "demography" is more than just age) or people are double dipping, which is historically unlikely.

It's a hybrid plain and simple no one over the other the current evidence from Nintendo showed an even distribution in both portable and home use, it's competing against the PS4 as a hybrid console as when used as a portable device it's to play home console like experiences.

Portable aspects with the Switch differ from previous portables as the Switch is essentially a home console on the go which is a different experience from any other portable trying to say it's competing as only one type of hardware is flawed as it ignores the full appeal of the device which is gaming tailored to anyone's gaming habits the demand wouldn't be as high if it were just a portable or home console it's the hybrid concept that is driving it.

TBH, MS did pretty well with the 360 with abysmal Japanese sales. You could also be successful without the US if you dominated the other regions well enough. PS4 is sluggish at best in Japan and even then they seem to be doing OK.

OF course, they would be more than happy if they could do well in Japan too. But it's hardly something that will make shareholders mad.

Whoops my bad.

Here’s a better one: https://segmentnext.com/2017/05/01/nintendo-switch-demographics-ps4-xbox-one/

I'm not arguing about what the Switch is, i'm just making observations about where i think it currently sits in the market. Those observations have at no point lead me to claim it's 'competing as only one type of hardware' though. In-fact the post you're replying to is largely focused on highlighting the absence of that point, and the related reasons.

As for usage, Nintendo don't show an even distribution. They show about half of people use it for both, 19% primarily as a home console, and just over 30% primarily as a home console (50%+ more). In the absence of more specific details from Nintendo, that implies a handheld bias. The effect of that is up for debate, and I've expressed my opinion on it.

Come on, you can't really believe this. The best selling Japanese game on PS4 is FF XV (17th), then MGSV at 32th, Bloodborne at 42th,  RE7 at 53th, Dark Souls at 60th, Dragon Quest at 79th. And that's a lot of exaggeration since most of these are quite western-oriented, I would argue that only Dragon Quest really is a Japanese title and it is pretty low on the list. If niche Japanese games pushed consoles outside of Japan, Vita would be a success in the west.

Don't you think that if these titles were a HUGE reason for PS4 sales they shouldn't be showing at the top of the rank in sales? I only see GTA, Fifa and CoD/BF.

Though to be fair, DQXI has released only in Japan.