Clearly the PS5 is simply going to have to have a crazy final quarter.  

Nintendo will probably remain the #1 system every year from here on out as long as consoles remain a thing. That is unless they do something boneheaded like make the Switch 3 digital-only.

Definitely likely until the Switch 3 arrives, that's for sure.  Anything releasing from here on out is just going to be too expensive to compete with Switch 2 sales, considering we have Pokemon Gen 10 next year and probably 3D Mario.  In the years to follow, we will get heavy-hitters like a brand new Zelda game, a traditional Splatoon game, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, possibly a 2D Mario and eventually Pokemon Gen 11 - to say nothing of any other Pokemon titles, Mario Parties, etc.  And Switch 2 will still receive a decent amount of 3rd party games considering current gen will be supported for the foreseeable future.

The only thing that would stand a chance price-wise would be the upcoming PS Portable and I don't see it competing in sales with the aforementioned lineup of Switch 2.  Most Playstation/tech fans are still going to want a next-gen experience compared to what will essentially be a handheld PS5.  And it will still be more expensive than Switch 2.

Potential price hikes will affect everything, Switch 2 the least, in fact, due to less RAM requirements.  Throw in the prospects of a Switch 2 Lite and it's a done deal.

Nintendo could just offer a de-content package of the Switch2 without the dock and the T-bone for the joysticks. Offer those as separate purchases,

Just the tabled, two joysticks, power supply. Smaller and lighter package is also less logistics costs. No extra engineering cost, just new packaging.

For people that already have a Switch2, but want another one in their household, they don't need a second dock. There are also plenty of handhold gaming only. Or for people splitting their investments with purchasing the dock later or second hand.

Offer it at $399, next to the full package $499 one.

This will also help bridge the gap in Europe when Switch1 is ending sale there.

I can see Nintendo doing this to counter when the PlayStation handheld arrives.

Isn’t the dock pretty much just a bunch of connectors? Can they actually save meaningful money by excluding it? And the joycon holder I assume costs them a few dollars at most.

Pricing isn't always only determined by the component cost (bill of material). It is also a means to peak consumers interest in the line up. They could still go for the more expensive full package model. See how Switch1 OLED outsells the regular Switch, or how the base Steamdeck isn't sold with a controller included (prob the least sold option in practice).

We see this strategy with many different products as well. Examples are a plenty like cars or restaurants. Offer a cheaper entry line product to get people in the door, who consequently will spend for a higher priced product in the end.

Wow, PS5 at 3.5 million at the halfway point of the year is a crazy statistic. S2 at 6 million ain't that hot either but PS5 sales are just an absolute failure this year.

Increasing the price of the systems as they age rather than decreasing the price of systems as they age is killing the industry.

Sales of the 3 systems at this point are basically decent, bad, and dead. Literally no winners anymore, especially not gamers.

It seems big portion of the people voted for the comparison to remains as is. 40% is more than what I would've liked if I was going to change the comparison. Therefore unless the ratio gets at least to 70% - 30% for "yes" I am leaving it as it is. Honestly I can't see how PS5 will catch up to the Switch 2. GTA 6 is strong enough to help it, however the time is less than what it needs in my opinion. If the launch was in September, then sure, it would have a real chance, but in November, this has to be some very very big spike in sales for the second half of November and December for the PS5 to be at least competitive in the end to the Switch 2's total number for the year.

Sony's quartly report is tomorrow. If it turns out that they simply can't get the supply then we can reevaluate our stances. I think that simply bundling GTA 6 with PS5 is enough to generate the demand necessary to beat the Switch 2. However, it really is a moot point if they can't even procur the RAM and storage needed to build the consoles. We haven't had the luxary of seeing real competition between Nintendo and Sony this gen at all because there are forces outside of the gaming industry that are limiting supply. Covid hit PS5 and advantaged the Switch. The Ram supply is hitting both the PS5 and Switch 2... and admittedly its going to effect Sony more because the PS5 uses more ram and storage. I wish we could have gotten a chance to see both cosoles see to thei fullest ability.

As of last report, Sony said they expect shipments of PS5 to roughly equal those from the last FY. This would roughly be around 16 million units. This roughly matches Nintendo's stated prediction at their last fiscal. If Sony has to shift down due to supply constraints then we will begin to determin what is actually possible. If Nintendo has to then turn around and do something similar on 8/6 or changes their forcast higher as they had hoped to be able to do, that will again inform us as what is actually possible.

If Nintendo releases Metroid Ravenous or 1 2 3 Switch then there's no competition with PlayStation LOL. Of course I am kidding, but seeing that Xboxes are selling at the loss, I don't think Sony will keep current pricing going at $649 when memory prices are going to increase by about 20 to 30% next quarter. It's a game over for cheap consoles and the winner of this race has been decided.