The reason would be Xbox taking back some market share. 

That is a good point so it is possible Xbox does notably better this gen without necessarily taking back much market share. Though stuff like the Zenimax acquisition makes me think it's extremely likely that at least a bit will be taken back.

That is a good point so it is possible Xbox does notably better this gen without necessarily taking back much market share. Though stuff like the Zenimax acquisition makes me think it's extremely likely that at least a bit will be taken back.

Switch week 40 is 250,000 from just Spain/UK/Japan.

I don't want to drag on this topic but as someone who is first and foremost a Nintendo-gamer, owning all Nintendo consoles (except the Virtual Boy) I can somewhat relate to where Alistair is coming from. I play may Switch 95% docked and I always very much preferred Nintendo's home consoles over the handhelds. It is my wet dream that Nintendo will release a powerful home console in the future. But I understand that this is not very likely and I also understand why Nintendo is doing what they are doing. It simply makes the most sense, businesswise. Seeing that the Switch is tremendously successful, how will the successor look like? Well, most probably just a more powerful Switch (yes, probably with one or two new little gimmicks).

But how did Nintendo came to where they are now? Looking back, their handhelds were always much more successful than their home consoles and their profits even more so. You have to consider that handhelds are cheaper to make and their games are faster and cheaper to make, all resulting in adding up to the profit. Nevertheless, the Wii was tremendously successful and Nintendo thought they have found the golden formula for their home consoles, i.e. cheap casual console with a gimmick (remote controllers). But then, obviously, they didn't really understand their own golden formula and instead of continuing with just a more powerful Wii 2 (a Super Wii), they released the Wii U instead, a complete new console, expensive and with a complete new gimmick (gamepad with a screen). Sure, you still could use your Wii remote controllers on it but barely any new interesting game came out using them and the horrendous marketing did the rest to kill off the success of the Wii U.

With that, Nintendo was at their lowest point, even their newest handheld, the Nintendo 3DS, was not a success compared to its tremendously successful predecessor, the DS. I can only guess what Nintendo talked about then in their board meetings but I think they analysed the gaming market and looked at their competitors. Sony and Microsoft had successful powerful home consoles and it was clear where the road is leading to in the next generations: to even more powerful and even more expensive consoles. Sony and Microsoft will fight each other in a red ocean market with diminishing returns. So, they thought, if we enter this market as well, this red ocean will become even bloodier and the return will diminish even further. Further, they knew that Nintendo is a much smaller company than Sony and Microsoft, in order words, the war chests of their competitors are much bigger and they are able to stay in the fight for a much longer time. Sony and Microsoft can afford to sell consoles for a loss, Nintendo can't (yes they did it in the beginning for the Wii U but they hated it), Sony and Microsoft can afford to invest into expensive high-end servers for online gaming, related community services and support, etc. pp., Nintendo can't. For that, Nintendo must rely much more on expensive 3rd parties and external contractors than their competitors who have lots of the necessary knowledge and manpower inhouse. The 7. generation has shown that online gaming is huge and will have a huge growth rate. Nintendo will not really be able to compete with Sony and Microsoft on that ground. On top of it, smartphones came and became a serious thread for handheld consoles.

So what to do, they ask themselves? Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, "How about a hybrid console?", someone asked. All the others: "a hybrid console?" Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, "that's actually a very clever idea if we do it right!" Thus, project NX was born and resulted in the Nintendo Switch which in turn determined the fate of Nintendo... .

I guess I don't see Nintendo as having left the home console business....  I play my Switch just like a regular console all the time.  It has HD graphics, supports 4 players split screen, has digital surround sound.  It functions as both a mobile and home console.  Nintendo isn't into the graphics war and they shouldn't be.  Their best selling consoles were never the most powerful on the market.  In fact the few times they did play the graphics war, it didn't go well with the N64 and Gamecube.  

Nintendo isn't in the same market as Sony, they just aren't.  Their strategy is completely different and that is fine.  I don't personally want Nintendo to mimic Sony, because I already have a ps1/ps2/ps3/ps4/ps5.  Different is good.  Variety is good.  

And I would absolutely be stunned if Nintendo's next console isn't simply a Switch II.  The Switch will be a top 3 all time selling console, it only needs to sell something like 25 million more, which is doable between 2021 holidays and 2022.  It won't pass the DS or ps2, IMHO.  

I feel pretty much the same.

If I wanted another PS5 or Xbox Series, I'd just buy a PS5 or an Xbox Series, (and eventually I probably will) if I wanted the best graphics I'd invest in a high end gaming PC.

To me, Switch is great for what it is; a flexible alternative platform to the PS/Xbox model with a strong and growing catalogue of excellent games, some of the best of which are exclusive.

Never once while playing Mario Odyssey or Metroid Dread have I stopped and thought "man this would be great if only it was in 4K with raytracing", I was too busy having a blast.