The Switch collapses handheld and console into one device

What happened

For nearly thirty years the company had run two businesses at once, portables and living room consoles, each with its own hardware, software teams and release schedule. The new machine ended that split. A tablet with a mobile processor ran the games; a dock connected it to a television and charged it; two slim controllers slid off the sides for handheld play, shared multiplayer or motion control. Nothing about the concept was technically radical, and the execution was what convinced people, particularly the few seconds it takes to lift the unit out of the dock and keep playing.

The launch software helped enormously. Breath of the Wild rebuilt its series around open exploration, climbing, cooking and physical systems that players could exploit in unintended ways, and it was received as one of the finest games of its era. A remarkable run of releases followed over the next few years across the company's major franchises. The commercial recovery was decisive, since the preceding console had failed badly enough to threaten the hardware business, and the new system went on to become one of the best-selling platforms in the medium's history.

There were also structural consequences for the wider industry. Modest specifications and a large audience made the platform attractive to independent developers, whose games sold well to players looking for something to play in bed or on a train, and a steady stream of ports from older systems found a second life there. Durability complaints about the detachable controllers led to repair programs over the years. Later revisions added a handheld-only model and a brighter screen without splitting the library, and the hybrid idea proved influential enough that portable computers running full game collections followed within five years.

The world at the time

Phones had eliminated the market for cheap portable amusement, leaving dedicated handhelds needing a stronger reason to exist. The company's previous console had sold poorly and confused buyers with its purpose. Mobile processors, meanwhile, had become powerful enough to run substantial games on battery, which made the hybrid idea practical rather than merely appealing.

What it changed

Portable gaming computers running large existing libraries appeared within a few years, following the same instinct about play away from a television. A successor arrived in 2025 keeping the hybrid design and most of the library. The platform's openness to small studios also made it one of the most important storefronts for independent games in the world.