PAOerfulone said:
Cannibalize - When a company reduces the sales of one of its products by introducing another similar product. So, if the Switch were cannibalizing the sales of any product, it would be the 3DS and/or Wii U, since both systems are made by Nintendo. So, "cannibalize" isn't the right word here. As far as the PS4 goes, with or without the Switch, it would still be selling the numbers that it is selling because the dedicated console market in Japan is in decline, it's been in decline for a long time now. Japanese Home Console Sales: PS1-N64-Saturn: 30.7 million PS2-GC-XB-DC: 30 million PS3-360-Wii: 24.9 million PS4-XB1-Wii U: 8.86 million (thus far) Based on where the dedicated home console market in Japan is today compared to 10-15 years ago, the ceiling has gotten considerably lower for the PS4. Best case scenario I see is that the PS4 sells 15 million in Japan, but that would still put it well below the PS1 and especially the PS2. And the PS4 is the current leader in the dedicated home console market. It's no fault of Sony's, the market is just not there the way it used to. As for the Switch, it was obvious from its reveal that the Switch would take over Japan and become THE new king of that market and no amount of Monster Hunter for PS4 can change that outcome. Even the most skeptic and pessimistic doubters of the Switch at the time of its reveal said it would at least do well in Japan. So, long story short. The sales of the Switch and PS4 have nothing or at least very little to do with each other. One is selling in a market that is on the decline. The other is selling because it is serving as a bridge between that market and the new dominant, portable market, and quite simply, it's the next Nintendo portable.
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Cannibalize is the wrong word yes, but anyone thinking that the Switch and the PS4 are not stealing sales from one another is just being delusional.
There are people out there in the world, or in this case Japan, that are choosing between the two. If both didn't exist, they would get the one that did. But since they both exist, some people are choosing one or the other.