The trouble with that is, the catalogue increases in a tech sense every new gen.

Unfortunately, it'd be too big if it took discs. You'll have to settle with digital only.

hopefully Sony learned from its previous attemptto copy Nintendo's trend setting....the ol...MOOOOOOOVVEEE.

Can I ask how you read that from what was said? Either I’m the stupid one here and I’m incorrectly read the quote or ...

They can't ignore Switch. Why? Not just that it's selling well, but it may be taking away potential PS4 customers.

PS makes money selling games and subscriptions. In order to sell those items they first need to sell you a PS4.

If people are buying Switch's, and not PS4's, then PS doesn't sell as many games and subscriptions.

An easy way to sell more PS4's, as per BF, is to drop the price, and/or add more value.

Your point about them making a similar product is not very good - Sony doesn’t have the intention of making a handheld ever again. They said so themselves but also they don’t need to. Your point about pricing is sound and, of course, logical but that’s not what his answer was. From the answer the way they’re talking about prevent consumers from migrating from the PS4 to the Switch - by keeping them engaged over longer terms. That’s different from prevents people from choosing a Switch over a PS4 - “we’re working to get more customers paying continuously for content, for example through paid subscription services." 

So you see, there is a difference. Also, the PS4 is having its best selling year despite the Switch release so it’s not about people not buying PS4s but about keeping people on the PS4.

Well If I continued my train of thought, then if cheap PS4's still aren't drawing enough attention away from Switch, then you either launch new hardware or you 'copy' the hardware giving your existing hardware a problem. Wouldn't be the first time.

What is talked about is selling consoles, games, and services. PSN service requires a PS device. No PS device, no service. The more PS devices you own, the more games and subscriptions you are likely to buy. If people like someone else's hardware better, and your sales drop, you don't just constantly jack up the price of your service. That works, but for only so long. Just look at XB1 and all the bundles and price drops and new hardware over the years.

Shareholders don't care all that much about how stable your existing customer base is. It matters, but it's not what they crave. They care more about how much your customer base is going to continue to grow. If Switch is getting in the way, PS needs to let the shareholders know they have an answer.

But he’s not talking about hardware sales dropping though. We know for a fact that hardware sales are not dropping, quite the contrary, but the strategy he mentioned has nothing to do with selling hardware.

And shareholders care about profit, not customer base. They wouldn’t mind customer base decreasing if profits are going up.

A big reason to bring out more form factors is to add value to their digital services. If your Blu-ray copy is limited to your console, but the digital copy can be played on the home console, a tablet/portable, and a phone, then they can drive more people to purchase digital.

Additionally, they can inrease the value of PlayStation Vue, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Video, PlayStation Music, and PlayStation +, by offering the full PS4 experience, as opposed to the gimped versions offered on current Mobile dvices, and Streaming Boxes.

The more people connected to PSN, and the more devices that connect to PSN, the greater the potential for additional services to come to the platform. Sony can make bank on people using their platform through web browsing and ad based apps. The whole idea is to get people in your ecosystem for all of their day to day tasks, regaurdless of where they are, or what they are doing.

After selling over 80 mill PSPs, Sony blew it with the Vita. Expensive memory cards, rear touch instead of L2 + R2, the name "Vita" instead of PSP 2, and last but not least, a weak game library. Both Sony's home and handheld consoles have always been sold primarily on the basis of 3rd party support (Gran Turismo is the exception, but ironically that series never released on Vita).

Sony also thought 3rd parties would (help) carry the Vita but 3rd parties were more interested in the mobile platform where they could earn at least as much money with much less effort, investment and risk. Even Nintendo, whose handheld consoles sell gangbusters, have learned that you cannot rely on 3rd parties to sell your console. At best, they'll arrive later when there's a guarantee for profits. Therefore, they made Switch to be a hybrid so they could combine the home and handheld libraries and support the Switch themselves.

With 3DS and Switch, Nintendo provides all of the best-selling games themselves with only Monster Hunter as the exception. Sony would also have to be able to provide the content themselves and the only way I see them capable of that is if they make a hybrid or a handheld that can run all PS4 games in downscaled form.

However, a "PSP 3" would still need an identity and exclusive games, and for this I think Sony would be wise to buy a smaller developer such as Sanzaru Games (Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Secret Agent Clank) or Level- 5 (Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, Yo-Kai Watch, Ni no Kuni, Professor Layton, Inzuma Eleven). These games are not AAA games, but they fit the handheld format so well. It would also need an exclusive Gran Turismo, God of War and Daxter, and Sony funded third party games such as a smaller GTA, Fallout, Minecraft, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy.

I've enjoyed my Vita a lot. Especially on long distance travels. Therefore, I might be interested in a "PSP 3" if it supported SD cards, had L2 + R2 and ran the entire PS4 library in downscaled form. Though I doubt they'll release a new handheld. I think they're more likely to introduce a new kind of controller for phones as an alternative to touch and tilt. Soon, phones are capable of running downscaled PS4 games and there's a lot of potential for Sony to grow in the mobile market and increase the number of subscribers of services such as PS Now and PS Vue.