IT’S OFFICIAL! The Nintendo Switch is one-year old and with that, is Sony planning to take back its crown as the superior device developer (specs-wise of course!) for the handheld market? Sure there’s a lot of buzz that got shot down and splatted to the ground, face first, when it comes to Sony and its rumored Playstation Vita successor. And they’d probably think twice, thrice or even 10 times over before they take the jump into the handheld market due to its failures to the Playstation Vita despite having a great run with its predecessor the Playstation Portable.
But due to the recent announcement that Sony is seizing its Playstation Plus titles for the older generations, namely the Playstation 3 and the Playstation Vita, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumors of a successor is actually true. Call it wishful thinking if you want because that’s mostly likely what it’ll ever be after E3 2018 or 2019.
Anyway this is my theory, or rather a scientific guess, a hypothesis, just try not to take this seriously… I’m no scientist after all nor am I a guru of any sort. To start it off, the Playstation boss Andrew House claimed at TGS 2017 which was held on September that there is a lack of demand in markets in the West and felt the limited potential of the Playstation Vita was due to the popularity of smartphones which I guess is true as everyone that has a handheld does have a smartphone but not everyone that has smartphone has a handheld device. Now, we can all agree that the Playstation 4 was a widely loved console, it has some amazing sales on launch until now. But then again, the Nintendo Switch also had a great year which surpassed the PS4 by 460,000 units give or take on both of its first year. This gets me to my next point in this matter, Nintendo Switch has proven and still proves to this day there is value in portable devices and it’s certainly making an impact on consoles such as the Playstation 4 whether we like it or not. As new games arrive, more and more games come out for both devices making consumers decide which is “THE BETTER OPTION”, would you rather be chained playing at home? Or would you go with the best of both worlds playing on the go, or fully decked out in the couch? If I may add, the PS4 Remote Play while it is an option it still requires you to have pretty good internet speeds on both ends before you can find it worth your time and unless you’re doing it in a friend or relative’s house you might as well just bring the console and maybe a portable HDMI monitor with you.
But isn’t the Switch still inferior in processing capabilities? (said my inner voice in a loud yet sweet tone) And to answer that question, Yes, YES! IT IS. You mostly likely won’t see games like GTA V, The Witcher 3, or any power-hungry, processor-crazy games for that matter. The difference is obvious, it’ll never bear fruit. Now I ask you this my inner voice from wherever you are, would you even play that on the go? Is it even worth playing while you’re travelling, maybe in the bus to work, a train to your hometown, or simply a casual drive (just don’t play and drive xD) to the beach? I’ll admit games like that are better off on consoles but there’s a better option, a gaming laptop, because as far as AAA games go, it’s always better on the GO! And sadly your PS4 has to GO, GO, GO!
So now you probably think Sony is backed to a corner here, a gaming laptop could easily take over their market for AAA titles while the Nintendo Switch is conquering the other end of the stick. So unless Sony can take back its stick, there’s no carrot for you, “you donkey!” said Gordon Ramsay. (LOL!)
And yeah I know, gaming laptops are a bit of a premium compared to consoles even if you added a 1080p or a cheaper, more affordable 4K monitor to the table. But that is something consumers would have to decide if they want portability over uhhmm… being locked up in a room?! As for the peeps that think Sony is just doing fine, look around you, it might not seem obvious now but it’s happening, maybe not among your friends and colleagues but out there, there are people that’s making those decisions and unless Sony makes a move, it’s going to continue until they’re forced to play their hand.
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