Topic: Did the Nintendo Switch kill the dedicated home console???

@WoomyNNYes

At this point in time I can’t see Nintendo going back to the standard home console setup. I think they realize the hybrid option provides a better balance for the average gamer. The portability allows the system to compete for attention from cell phones/tablets. I do believe the Dock option is here to stay for now, maybe they include some added processing or features the dock provides this time around. Right now it’s essentially just a piece of plastic sitting under our TVs.

You’ve pretty much summed up my biggest beef with modern gaming. And it’s why I’ve walked away from most of gaming.

I don’t want to sit there and wait for my PlayStation, Steam, or my games to update. I just pick up the switch, and just start playing. With how my life is, I don’t want to wait for updates.

The Switch only killed the NINTENDO dedicated home console, not dedicated home consoles period. Microsoft and Sony still don't think the Switch measures up to home consoles in power and performance and they'll continue to do so until either hybrid consoles can be proven to be either comparable in power or more profitable.

@Rainz
I'm not sure what you're replying to there but it's certainly not my post. All I was saying was that the only advantage a "tethered" console has is that it doesn't have to worry about power consumption, thermals, weight or motion. Which means they can use mechanical parts, like HDDs and optical media. It also means they can use less power efficient hardware. And because it's not portable they don't have to include a screen or a battery. And all of the above have allowed tethered consoles to be CHEAPER for a given spec, which is why throughout the years portable consoles have been a couple of generations behind

Like how the GBA was basically a portable SNES in the GC era. Or how the DS was like a tricked out N64 in the 360 era. Or the 3DS was basically a portable GameCube while the competition was starting to march towards 4K in the home console space. And now the Switch is basically a specked out PS3 sitting on shelves alongside the PS5. Could Nintendo have made a portable PS4 back in 2013? Probably not... but if they could have it wouldn't have been anywhere near as cheap as the PS4

But in recent years those advantages are starting to erode. There's no interest or really any need for larger capacity optical media, we hit 100GB and stopped. But NAND ROMs (i.e. cartridges) continue to increase in capacity year on year. At the same time HDDs are disappearing, as I said in a couple of years SSDs will be cheaper per GB and all of the console manufacturers have abandoned HDDs at this point. Switch 2 won't be behind in terms of storage, at least for a given price point. So the only advantage left is the relative spec and non-inclusion of a screen/battery. Which is still an advantage but.... that gap is closing also

So yes, the space that "home consoles" can be viable in is shrinking. These days you would really struggle to justify making a low spec home console given you can just add a screen and a battery and it's instantly more appealing. But this has nothing to do with Nintendo's efforts. It's just how the advances in technology, and storage in particular, have changed the landscape

Lastly your point about TVs costing money is odd. TVs have if anything got cheaper over time, they're not that big of an expense. I remember somewhere around 2008/2007 my parents upgrading from our old 4:3 20" CRT to a 32" 16:9 1080p LCD TV. It was the TV my Wii was connected to so I was heavily involved with figuring out what the best screen to get was. It set us back ~$1400AU from memory. In comparison, last year I picked myself up a 52" UHD OLED TV that has all the goodies like HDR, VRR and HDMI 2.1 with support for 120Hz/4K resolutions. It was ~$1500AU. Taking into account for inflation it should've been ~$2000AU if it was to cost the SAME as the 32" LCD my parents got in 2007/8. And I went with a decent OLED TV, I could've gone for a 65" LCD for something closer to $1000AU

@skywake

Right…we are more agreeing than we are disagreeing! As you mentioned there’s no point in producing a low spec home console anymore. With faster processors, higher fidelity, definition outputs and improved power efficiency are all natural progressions. Inflation already has ppl paying closer attention to the power consumption of their devices/appliances. The TV specs and definition format at the time can dictate the benchmarks for these consoles. We’re already seeing 8K Ultra TVs, so if you’re looking to optimize your home gaming experience and maximize the value of the console….you’re going to have to upgrade from 4K sooner than later. If Sony opts to one up MS by making the PS6 8K compatible…that’s a cost passed on to the consumer. Of course you dont have to chase the TV upgrades but that almost self defeats the purpose of buying a high spec console. Surely the cost of TVs decrease over time but there will always be an added cost of a TV /Monitor to maximize value as the tech in these consoles evolve.

For me, yea, they absolutely murdered the traditional tied-to-a-TV home console.

I'm not much of a graphics person, and I'll pretty much play anything as long as the gameplay is fun. I keep passing up chances to get a PS5 for the last year or so because I'm still having a blast on my Switch and swinging back and getting 100% in fun games like 3D World and Kirby and Three Houses - and to be able to take all that stuff on the go? Come on, no competition whatsoever for a person like me.

I've always been a bit of a handheld gamer, though. I was raised on the GameBoy and NES, and between the two I'd take the GameBoy any day. I use my OLED Switch more in handheld than on the TV, even when I'm just around the house. So I just have that predisposition to prefer the screen in my hands all the way back from when I was a kid.