The Nintendo Switch has been a tremendous success so far, becoming Nintendo’s fastest selling system of all time on the back of an incredible lineup of games- but so far, its success has not come at the expense of the PS4. The PS4 has continued to have its best year ever this year, even as the Switch has sold millions and millions of units.
But it seems like Sony has finally awoken to the threat that the Switch and its success could imply. Speaking to Asia Nikkei, Sony’s Kazuhiko Takeda, Sony’s head of corporate planning, said that the Switch is a factor that they can no longer ignore with regards to their gaming business.
“At our gaming business, sales of the PlayStation 4 are strong heading into the holidays,” he said. “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.”
What this mans is unclear- at the very least, it is now apparent that Sony acknowledges the Nintendo Switch as a legitimate competitor in the market, and they will work to counter it. Whether they do it by putting out an equivalent product (unlikely), doubling own on their subscription based services to keep users in their ecosystem (likely), and even extend those services to Nintendo’s base to expand their earnings (hugely unlikely), it is clear the Switch is something they will factor in all their considerations regarding their gaming business going forward.