It's the right choice in my opinion. Rather than spend another few years working on the new engine and possibly going into development hell again, they're going to move back to the old engine and release the game straight into early access to gain some momentum and progress

If we're going by piracy logic then you can buy a $200 used Switch and hack it to download games for free. I genuinely don't think a phone or tablet would ever be a good experience. nobody is going to play with touch controls, it doesn't let you play games on the TV, the emulator has compatibility issues and bugs, not to mention how most phones throttle hard when they get warm. I'm not buying this discussion at all.

Android has Genshin Impact, GRID Autosport, Pascal’s Wager, Sky: Children of the Light, The Banner Saga Trilogy.

...So basically mediocre Android games and rare ports of older games. Nobody is buying a handheld console to play these.

Android has a couple high-profile indie games like Stardew Valley and some rare ports of older games, that's it. I wouldn't call it very good. and unless you're willing to shell out $150+ for a great telescopic controller there's no way playing on the tablet would be comfortable.

There are Android tablets that are much cheaper than the Switch, more powerful, more battery efficient. Also, play games better.

You're not really suggesting that playing mediocre android games on a touchscreen tablet is the same market as a handheld gaming device with controllers