Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime believes that the PS4 and Xbox One are not competitors of the Switch.
At the Geekwire Summit in Seattle, Reggie said (as per Ars Technica) that Nintendo is mainly competing for the entertainment time of gamers instead of hardware competition. “That time you spend surfing the Web, watching a movie, watching a telecast of a conference: that’s all entertainment time we’re competing for. My competitive set is much bigger than my direct competitors in Sony and Microsoft. I compete for time.”
Reggie’s statement implies that Nintendo is mainly focused on making the Switch the go-to platform for one’s spare time. Arguably, the Nintendo Switch is going in a far different direction compared to the other platforms, where both PS4 and Xbox One focused on a technical perspective to deliver games with better graphical fidelity and performance. Being a hybrid-console, Switch players can play games on their TV and resume their session on the go.
Switch’s stance on online interactions with friends is also far different from its competitors, particularly regarding voice chat. “We believe the easiest way for you to connect and have a peer-to-peer experience with voice chat is with your mobile phone. It’s always there, it’s always with you,” said Reggie.
It’s safe to say that Nintendo’s upcoming Switch model planned for 2019 is designed to efficiently capture more entertainment time from gamers. Perhaps it will have a few highly desired after features to keep Switch owners engaged more than ever.
