Kazuhiko Takeda, Sony’s head of corporate planning, has come out and exclaimed that “Sony cannot ignore the Switch” in an interview with Nikkei Asia. Nintendo has been pushing the narrative since the Wii days that they are not competing with Sony and Microsoft. Sony obviously views this very differently and sees the Nintendo Switch as a direct threat.
“At our gaming business, sales of the PlayStation 4 are strong heading into the holidays. But we can’t ignore the Nintendo Switch, which has also captured consumers’ attention. Our business model involves selling both the game console and the software for it, so we’re working to get more customers paying continuously for content, for example through paid subscription services.“
This is huge. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sony try to seize the portable market again. The problem is this didn’t work last time. Nintendo still dominated. In fact, they continue to dominate even more so now with the Nintendo Switch being a hybrid system. What is worrying is that Sony is pushing for more paid subscription services. PlayStation Plus is enough. What else will they do? It will no doubt cause a backlash with gamers, especially those in the United States. Just look at EA and lootcrates.
It’s unknown if the Switch will eventually rival the PlayStation 4, but at this point owning both systems is best for gamers who can afford it.