We all know that Nintendo Switch is a huge success. And some parts of this achievement are due to it being a handheld and a home console at the same time. Lots of people find it quite convenient.

But I was wondering... Now that Nintendo has fully recovered from the Wii U failure with the Switch, should they make their next-gen console another hybrid? I see people talking about a future "Switch 2" already, but is that what they should do from now? I mean, never split again?

What do you think?

Oh, I forgot about that...

I'll edit the main topic.

They probably will - if they actually make a hybrid to start with, instead of handheld masquerading as a hybrid (imagine Switch, just with dock that has additonal GPU inside).

That said, I don't care about handhelds at all and just want decently powerful home console from them, but chances are that will not happen anytime soon.

Why not? What's the alternative, separating handheld and home console and cut the potential software sales by half?

Yes, there's only one problem I see with this strategy, putting all your eggs in one basket.

If they ever have a failed system again it's going to be a disaster.

With the WiiU they had the 3DS to prop them up for a few years, but the recent financial report revealed that the Switch accounts for 96% of Nintendo's Revenue... 96% of revenue from a single product! Imagine where Nintendo would be now if the Switch didn't take off.

If they have a single system strategy and release a system that bombs, they're screwed.

So they just need to make sure that doesn't happen and they're golden. Other than that one concern hybrid is clearly the way to go for them.

Nintendo should definitely stick with the hybrid strategy going forward.  If they do, then we are going to see a permanent change in the marketplace.  Nintendo didn't follow through with motion controls in the long term and yet they were around long enough for Sony and Microsoft to try their own versions.  

We still have a few years before we see what the Switch 2 is like, but if Nintendo keeps with the same strategy then the other console makers will either end up copying or leaving the market.

Either way would be fine by me, they should do whatever they want and odds are people will still throw cash at them no matter what it is.
Myself included of course.

Yes. I've given up on Nintendo having specs to the level of Sony and Microsoft. That hasn't happened since the GameCube. And even the N64 and GameCube had very low file sizes due to cartridges and miniDVDs respectively. Since I've accepted that Nintendo's specs will be so far behind, then keep the hybrid nature. The Switch may be very, very weak spec-wise for home consoles. But it's the best for handhelds by default. I'd rather buy one platform and not have to split my money and time between two. And I think it will benefit Nintendo in the long-run.

Switch is clearly pivoting to a family of systems that all run the same software, on largely the same hardware á la Apples mobile device family.
So I think the future is less dependant on an actual Hybrid formfactor existing, (although I love it and think they should continue that formfactor going forward) than on the idea that all of their Hardware is going to run the same SoC, regardless of formfactor.

The unification of their HC and HH decisions has been really beneficial to Nintendos release schedule and the fact that the consumer gets to take the full HC experience on the go continues to be a major selling point in their favour. I don‘t see them giving those benefits up again.

So even if they split into HH and HC skus again at some point, I expect the internals to be largely identical between all formfactors going forward.

That being said, they should absolutely go forward with the hybrid as the lead formfactor, imo.

Is there a choice? They can't compete with Playstation when it comes to strict home consoles.