Quick Read: Switch 2 Or PlayStation 5?
[Midweek Read] Comparing Nintendo's newest with Sony's dominant machine.
Microsoft and their Xbox brand have all but capitulated in the brutal, two front war against the Japanese juggernauts Sony and Nintendo leaving the modern console gamer with 2 sensible options: the Nintendo Switch 2 or the Sony PlayStation 5. I’ve owned the Switch 2 since launch and my PS5 for a little over a month now and I have some thoughts on them both.
In today’s post, I’m going to be comparing the consoles in key areas and laying out the kind of gamer I think would get the most benefit out of either machine. Let’s get started.
Library
If there’s one thing the Switch 2 and PS5 have in common it’s that they both haven’t got any games. Of course, I’m exaggerating and the Switch 2’s life has barely started yet but when 2/3 of your big first-party launch titles are a 4K, 60FPS patch for an old Zelda game I’m not going to pull my punches. The PlayStation 5 is even more embarrassing, that console is approaching 6 years old and off the top of my head, excluding any Japan-only titles, I can only think of about half a dozen exclusives that aren’t on PC or PlayStation 4.
Excluding any performance upgrades or tacked on mini-DLC, your hard-hitting Switch 2 exclusives are Mario Kart World: a divisive title but one I personally like a lot. Donkey Kong Bananza: a great 3D platformer. Kirby Air Riders: a sequel to a racing game nobody I know who had a Gamecube had ever heard of, with no upcoming add-ons. And finally, Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment… still not as good as the original.
For the PlayStation 5 your heavy hitters are games like Astro Bot: an award-winning platformer in the vein of Nintendo. Gran Turismo 7: the cream of the crop in the ‘simcade’ accessible racing simulator space. Ghost Of Yotei: an open-world samurai revenge romp through icy Hokkaido. And Death Stranding 2: Hideo Kojima’s continuing descent into self-indulgent mania… but likely coming to PC this year.
Winner: PlayStation 5… but not for long.
The PS5 has more to offer at the moment, especially with the Switch 2’s Game Key Card situation but once the Switch 2 gets its own Zelda, Splatoon, 3D Mario and Pokémon game it should surpass the Sony first party line-up easily, at least in my own gaming tastes; the Switch 2’s handheld nature makes it the best platform for indie games. You ain’t seeing Mario on Steam.
Hardware
On paper, the PlayStation 5 should win this by a landslide. Sony’s machine is more powerful, has better storage, can be customised and upgraded relatively cheaply, has the more versatile games medium with Blu-Ray and has a wider range of specialised peripherals such as the Pulse 3D headset line and even an upcoming 27” monitor specifically designed for use with the platform.
There’s just one problem: the PS5 itself and the accompanying DualSense controller are big, ugly, cheap feeling crap.
After just one month, the texturing on the back of my DualSense already feels worn, it has a small nick on the grip, the buttons feel more mushy than they used to and after playing Demon’s Souls, my R1 (that game’s attack button) is noticeably less clicky than L1; the battery life is dreadful and the build quality is shoddy, with every inch of the pad feeling cheap, the two analogue sticks using the most low-cost rubber you could get away with and having visible seams from the manufacturing process. The console isn’t quite as dire but those wobbly, flimsy swappable panels add to the bulk of the machine while making it look like the collars of a white shirt. Hideous.
Now, the Switch 2 has its own flaws too. Obviously, this dockable tablet with detachable controllers isn’t quite as powerful as the PS5: it’s capabilities are about on-par with the Series S instead (or about on-par with a stock PS4 in handheld mode) it’s un-ergonomic too and those Joy-Con 2’s still aren’t ideal with the buttons being tiny, noisy little things but where the Switch 2 excels is build quality. The materials used are tough yet pleasing to hold, the screen is probably the best I’ve ever seen on a non-OLED device, paired with the dock, the Switch 2 easily blends in on a desk or TV stand and damn is the pro controller good, apart from not having analogue triggers, it blows the DualSense out of the water.
Winner: Switch 2.
It isn’t as powerful and it lacks ergonomically but the build quality is fantastic across the board and my Switch 2 Pro-Controller has been dropped once or twice and looks newer than my 1-month old DualSense. My PS3 Slim feels more premium than the PS5.
System And Services
This is the section in which I think personal taste and nostalgia will matter most.
With the most basic subscription for both, you get the ability to party chat, play online and some free stuff: either a few free games monthly on PlayStation which seem to exclusively be either amazing or awful and with Nintendo you get pretty much every SNES and NES game worth owning available to play as long as your membership is active. If you’re a big retro gamer, Switch 2 is better here, if you’re more modern-inclined, particularly a digital-centric gamer then PlayStation 5’s basic membership is better.
Upgrade a level: to PlayStation Plus Extra and to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack and the retro versus modern focus becomes even more strong.
With Expansion Pack, you get the greatest hits of virtually every Nintendo console ever made before the Wii, with more games added monthly, plus the Mega Drive, which I don’t need to tell you was also brilliant. This is the best way to play retro games today, full-stop. I don’t have the Expansion Pack because I own all of these consoles already but if you don’t and you want a trip down memory lane? This is perfect.
PlayStation Plus Extra on the other hand gets you an enormous suite of modern games to install or stream: virtually all of the PlayStation 5’s biggest titles, lots of PlayStation 4 games and most of Ubisoft’s catalogue too. If you’re a big Sony fan, are gaming on a budget and like a good Far Cry or narrative-based exclusive to switch off to after a long day then this is the one for you.
Nintendo’s memberships stop here but Sony has one final tier: PlayStation Plus Premium. Premium gets you a suite of PlayStation 1-3 and PSP games as well as access to some of Sony’s films. This one is a pretty hefty £18 a month but if you want to revisit a few games you grew up with and enjoy Sony’s films then this might be worth it.
In terms of the services available? PlayStation 5 wipes the floor with the Switch 2. You can get YouTube, virtually every streaming service, Discord and even listen to Spotify while you play, the servers tend to be a bit better for multiplayer as well; Switch 2 has a significantly better user interface than the bloated mess on PS5 but you can’t even watch YouTube on it and Nintendo’s lack of giving a shit about multiplayer is infamous at this point.
Winner: PlayStation 5 but retro gamers will love Switch 2.
Apps And Ecosystem
Both the PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 have tertiary apps that provide some extra functions.
The PlayStation App lets you browse the store, download screenshots and recorded footage to your phone, browse your friends list, trophies, see when downloads are finished: basically, it does everything you could ever want. All of that being said, I find the layout to be quite unpleasant and uploading game captures takes forever in comparison to the Nintendo equivalent.
Nintendo have an absurd number of apps for you to download: Nintendo Music, Nintendo Today, Nintendo Switch App and I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting; I’d rather they were consolidated together into one place. Anyway, the Nintendo Switch App does a lot of the same things the PlayStation one does except the download notifications are locked behind the Parental Controls App for some God-forsaken reason and game captures upload almost instantly once you tell the console to do so.
Winner: Nintendo… but only by attrition.
Nintendo wins here not because the Switch App is better than the PlayStation one but because it’s not a fair fight, Nintendo has a whole suite of options for your phone whereas Sony just has one.
Settling The Score
If it hasn’t been made obvious already then this isn’t a Wii-U versus PlayStation 4 situation: both the Switch 2 and the PlayStation 5 are great consoles that will be worth the price for the right owner… but the right owner is a matter of taste.
If you want a streaming, gaming and potentially Blu-Ray playing box all in one, aren’t so attached to physical media, enjoy narrative-focused, technically flawless games with the latest graphics and also like to party up with your chums and play some CoD then the PlayStation 5 is for you.
If you want a portable, dock-able, fashionable and shareable gaming device, are more committed to physical media, are just as happy playing games from 1986 as 2026, aren’t too fussed about multiplayer and if the thought that the best is yet to come excites you then the Switch 2 is your console.
Thank you very much for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed today’s post, as always I’ll be happy to chat in the comments below and please like and subscribe to the Journal for more.
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I love the ergonomics of my Dualsense Edge but god the build quality is bad and the battery life is terrible. Wth Sony? You can't build a $200 controller that feels premium?
Larger screen size on Switch 2 is a game changer for me vs original Switch - it has become my go-to gaming device on the road vs my laptop.
I'm still so on the fence regarding Switch 2 ports. I'm really really hoping its done a bit better this time around. Some of the Switch ones were (and still are) a money-grabbing disaster.
Some of the early ports I've played say otherwise. But its too soon to make a call, as some are actually for Switch 1, and are incidentally on the Nintendo Store.
But that all said: When I travel, I can't lug my PS5 with me. The portability is still a huge component of the Switch. Will be interesting to see if Sony patches this up with a new device this year.