‘The Only Game Console Is the Switch’ Post Goes Viral — 5ch: ‘It’s Not Becoming That Way, It’s Been That Way for a While’

From our other sites

The story

A story spread online after someone, when asked about home consoles, reportedly replied, “Aren’t game consoles just Switch?” The tale became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. In the thread, comments poured in saying “Switch is basically synonymous with game consoles now,” with many pointing to the gap in name recognition compared to PlayStation. Meanwhile, some argued the pecking order for gaming devices runs “smartphone > PC > Nintendo > PlayStation,” sparking further debate over whether that ranking itself holds up.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:25
lol (5ch laughter slang, literally "grass")
3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
Lmao, they're just plain ignorant
57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:13
Re: #3
Saying "real gamers use PS5" is the ignorant take here
4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
That's about the level of its name recognition these days.
Though Madoka Magica Portable was a masterpiece, mind you (PSP spin-off of the anime).
39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:05
Re: #38
Correction:
Home console: ✕
Digital download: ○
41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:06
Re: #39
Maybe they mean the Vita TV
46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:08
Knowing "Portable" because you memorized it for a vocab test is kind of cute, lol
49AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:09
Re: #46
Right
Such a student thing to say
That freshness and innocence is different from us
47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:09
No, there's value in it — now they know PlayStation exists. Once they look it up, they'll realize the Switch was garbage all along.
50AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:10
Re: #47
Guess it'll come out that PlayStation isn't worth buying
56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:12
Re: #47
At this point, just learning it exists isn't enough anymore. For this person, dedicated home consoles have already become a thing of history, so the bar is set incredibly high.
63AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:15
"Game console" basically means Switch now —
that's becoming the common perception.
74AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:22
Re: #63
It's not "becoming" that — it's been that way for a while now
67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:18
PlayStation was the #1 game console 25 years ago, but if you rank today's gaming devices by purchase priority, it's smartphone > PC > Nintendo > PlayStation — dead last at #4. It's in a spot only hardcore enthusiasts bother with.
73AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:20
Re: #67
Slightly off — "PC" in everyday use includes PCs without a graphics card too
97AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:32
And even my parents back home only ever owned a PS1.
Even people from that generation say PlayStation stopped at the first one, lol
116AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:39
Re: #97
The real phase is coming next, where even parents won't know what PlayStation is. If you're already losing it over stuff like this, you won't last.
123AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:42
This really shows the kind of intelligence level Nintendo has cornered the market on
126AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:43
Re: #123
Name recognition and intelligence level are two different things
130AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:45
Re: #126
Isn't the whole point of name recognition how well it reaches even idiots?
136AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:48
Re: #130
Oh, so PlayStation is "for people with high intelligence," is it?
This one's a classic.
138AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:50
Re: #130
Then PlayStation has even less name recognition, doesn't it

Background and Key Points of This Topic

Platform rivalries are a frequent sight on the Hardware/Industry board, but this particular spark appears to have come from an offhand remark that took on a life of its own. In Japan, the Nintendo Switch has spread across a wide range of age groups and is increasingly used as a stand-in term for “home game console” itself. PlayStation, meanwhile, has a long history but is often cited as lagging behind in recognition among younger generations. The “smartphone → PC → Nintendo → PlayStation” purchase-priority ranking that came up in the thread is based on individual impressions rather than any official statistics. Indeed, some replies pushed back on the simple ranking, pointing out that “PC” as a category also includes ordinary computers with no gaming use in mind. The fact that what “game console” even refers to is shifting depending on generation and use case appears to be the underlying reason this reaction spread as widely as it did.

※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “Gamer: ‘What’s a home console? Aren’t game consoles just Switch?’ → Goes massively viral lol”.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *