Nintendo says docked / undocked playtime on Switch is “about even”
Switch offers two completely different play styles. You can choose to dock it like a home console, or take the gaming experience anywhere with portable play.
Interestingly, it seems the two are being used at a similar rate. Nintendo senior VP for sales and marketing Doug Bowser told Ars that the split between the two modes is “about even – about 50 percent in the dock and 50 percent away from the dock.” Undocked includes tabletop play as well as fully handheld play. Bowser added that Nintendo doesn’t keep track of which “undocked” mode a player is using.
Bowser went on to say that usage rates can vary by individual game. Just Dance is mainly a docked title, but games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are more equally balanced.
Bowser mentioned to Ars:
“One of the nice things we’ve seen with the Switch is we’re able to read more telemetry data in how players are engaging with the content. We get that when they connect, if they have a Nintendo account we have the ability to understand how they’re engaging with the device….From a positioning standpoint we can look at various titles and how they’re being played. That allows us to think about various ways with digital marketing and some of our videos to know how to position them.”
