What people miss about Steam Deck's "loss" to Nintendo
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You're right, the best part of PC gaming is that it's always inclusive, never exclusive. Thanks for the reminder
Did you really just DEI the Steam Deck?
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I just like good games, I'm platform agnostic.
Oh no you don’t. Your baptism is scheduled for next Tuesday. Don’t be late or the water will be cold.
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You have a fanboy perspective here. The Steam Deck's ecosystem is hardware agnostic, and to a large extent, Steam agnostic. No one game needs to "stand out" on the Steam Deck when it plays almost every video game that exists besides the ones Nintendo makes. Out of the sample size of "almost every video game", there's a high chance that there are many that are important to you and not made by Nintendo.
Heh. There’s been way more Steam Deck/PC gaming fanboyism in here than Nintendo fanboyism. By calling someone out as a fanboy, then defending something, then ending your post with an attempted “drop the mic” moment, you’re kinda being a hypocrite.
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Heh. There’s been way more Steam Deck/PC gaming fanboyism in here than Nintendo fanboyism. By calling someone out as a fanboy, then defending something, then ending your post with an attempted “drop the mic” moment, you’re kinda being a hypocrite.
The conversation is about Switch 2 compared to a Steam Deck. Defending an open marketplace without outdated concepts like console exclusives doesn't make me a fanboy for one of the two subjects in this conversation, nor does it make me a hypocrite.
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The conversation is about Switch 2 compared to a Steam Deck. Defending an open marketplace without outdated concepts like console exclusives doesn't make me a fanboy for one of the two subjects in this conversation, nor does it make me a hypocrite.
It most certainly does. People don’t seems to get it’s not WHAT you defend that makes you a fanboy, but HOW you defend it.
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It most certainly does. People don’t seems to get it’s not WHAT you defend that makes you a fanboy, but HOW you defend it.
You're entitled to your opinion, I suppose.
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I've generally seen purchasing a Steam Deck as an informed decision. But most people are very nostalgic (can't blame them, SNES to Wii Zeldas and Metroids were amazing) and have uncontrollable FOMO, which Nintendo keeps on milking even when their software and hardware is noticeably much worse than it's competitors'. If anyone also wants to know how Nintendo currently uses the money they earn, here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n025Gxn5GEM No wonder they're less worried about wasting money on legal battles. No trace of the good old Nintendo.
- For Nintendo fans that may get triggered by this, don't. Just own it. Spending more on something worse doesn't mean you can't enjoy it.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I miss when people getting mad at something was called offending them, not triggering them. Irrational reactions that you hate that you are having that your body forces on you because it superficially resembles a legitimate traumatic situation you were in is nowhere near the same thing as getting offended over someone expressing views in a rough manner on the internet, but I think people talking about merely getting offended as being "triggered" has helped make people a lot less kind towards people suffering with PTSD and a lot more willing to dismiss actual triggers as "just toughen up lol".
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What I like about the deck is I bought it and I instantly already owned >1000 games for it where a good majority of those are playable out of the box.
So ya, I ain't paying $120 CAD per game. Fuck that.
Also my controllers basically all work for it so I don't need to buy these overpriced joycons again for a new system.
Already have webcams if I cared for a silly camera that streams at 2FPS.
It's unfortunate that theres been a lot more attention for optimization from some developers for the switch 2 though, not much we can do about that. Some games I own the deck is screaming and barely handling it and apparently the switch 2 runs it no problem.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I ain’t paying $120 CAD per game.
You are correct. If you want Tears of the Kingdom, it is $130 ($115 plus tax). I am stunned that this is the launch price of Switch 2 games. How high will they go in the future?
The Switch 2 makes even the new ROG Ally X seem like a good deal (assuming it is around $1000 CAD), since you can just play any of your Xbox Play Anywhere games that you have acquired on sale, or have access to via Game Pass. You don't even need a subscription to access online play, and it has free cloud saves.
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It’s silly to compare Switch 2 sales to Steam Deck sales.
The Switch 2 is a locked-down, vertically integrated platform. There are no ROG Switch 2s. No Lenovo Switch 2s. No Switch laptops or tower PCs with discrete GPUs. If you want to play Mario Kart World, your only option is to buy a Switch 2. Period.
Steam Deck, by contrast, isn’t a platform. It’s just one hardware option—one entry point into the sprawling, open ecosystem known as PC gaming.
Every year, around 245 million PCs are shipped globally. If even 20–25% of those are gaming-focused, that’s 49–61 million gaming PCs annually. Steam Deck is a sliver of that. So of course it won’t outsell a console that’s the only gateway to a major IP.
But that’s exactly the point.
PC gaming is too decentralized for any single device to dominate. The last “PC” that did was the Commodore 64, which sold 12.5–17 million units over 12 years because it was a self-contained platform, unlike modern Windows, Mac, or Linux machines.
That the Steam Deck has sold 4 million units despite competing with every other gaming PC in existence is remarkable. It didn’t just sell—it legitimized a category. Handheld PC gaming is now a thing. That’s why Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI have followed. Even Microsoft is getting in, optimizing Windows for handhelds—something they would never have done if the Steam Deck didn't hold their feet to the fire.
So no, Steam Deck didn’t outsell the Switch 2. It didn’t need to.
It won by changing the landscape.
No shame to anyone who bought a switch 2. My partner got one during pre-sales and is incredibly happy to have gotten one, and I feel so happy for him that he gets to have some joy in his life with it. I wish you the same joy.
But I just can't get into it. I didn't grow up with nintendo so the properties really don't mean much to me. And now, I just don't think I can swallow paying hundreds of dollars to start, then another hundred dollars to get games that seemingly play the same way as they did in the last release, plus a yearly subscription for online play. You may not see what you purchased the same way, and I'm glad that it's meaningful to you even if I can't find the same meaning in it -- it's good that there exists something for everyone's niche.
I don't see why this needs to be a competition. Are there really people out there who were about to get a steam deck but decided not to in favour of a switch 2? I feel like switch owners are well aware that it's a Nintendo machine and theyre not gonna be playing a lot of their favourite out-of-franchise games on it. That's what they expect and thats what they'll likely get.
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I've generally seen purchasing a Steam Deck as an informed decision. But most people are very nostalgic (can't blame them, SNES to Wii Zeldas and Metroids were amazing) and have uncontrollable FOMO, which Nintendo keeps on milking even when their software and hardware is noticeably much worse than it's competitors'. If anyone also wants to know how Nintendo currently uses the money they earn, here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n025Gxn5GEM No wonder they're less worried about wasting money on legal battles. No trace of the good old Nintendo.
- For Nintendo fans that may get triggered by this, don't. Just own it. Spending more on something worse doesn't mean you can't enjoy it.
But most people are very nostalgic (can’t blame them, SNES to Wii Zeldas and Metroids were amazing) and have uncontrollable FOMO, which Nintendo keeps on milking even when their software and hardware is noticeably much worse than it’s competitors’.
This reads like someone who never played any of the switch titles. It's not simply nostalgia. The switch titles were objectively good despite lackluster hardware. The switch lasted for almost a decade and is still playable today. People are buying switch 2 to be able to play the Nintendo exclusives.
It's true that the hardware is largely lackluster, but especially in the case of the first party titles, and in general overall, the lackluster hardware just doesn't prevent the games from looking and running great. Nintendo invests in developers capable of running large, complex games on somewhat modest hardware.
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What kind of idiots are comparing the two? They're different things with entirely different markets. There was never a battle to be had lol
what are you talking about? they share the same handheld console market. most people are not gonna buy more than 1 handheld.
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Yep give it a year or so. The emulator will be up and running.
I hope so but switch 1 emulation took like 3 years to get it into a good state
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It’s silly to compare Switch 2 sales to Steam Deck sales.
The Switch 2 is a locked-down, vertically integrated platform. There are no ROG Switch 2s. No Lenovo Switch 2s. No Switch laptops or tower PCs with discrete GPUs. If you want to play Mario Kart World, your only option is to buy a Switch 2. Period.
Steam Deck, by contrast, isn’t a platform. It’s just one hardware option—one entry point into the sprawling, open ecosystem known as PC gaming.
Every year, around 245 million PCs are shipped globally. If even 20–25% of those are gaming-focused, that’s 49–61 million gaming PCs annually. Steam Deck is a sliver of that. So of course it won’t outsell a console that’s the only gateway to a major IP.
But that’s exactly the point.
PC gaming is too decentralized for any single device to dominate. The last “PC” that did was the Commodore 64, which sold 12.5–17 million units over 12 years because it was a self-contained platform, unlike modern Windows, Mac, or Linux machines.
That the Steam Deck has sold 4 million units despite competing with every other gaming PC in existence is remarkable. It didn’t just sell—it legitimized a category. Handheld PC gaming is now a thing. That’s why Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI have followed. Even Microsoft is getting in, optimizing Windows for handhelds—something they would never have done if the Steam Deck didn't hold their feet to the fire.
So no, Steam Deck didn’t outsell the Switch 2. It didn’t need to.
It won by changing the landscape.
Actually you will be able to play switch two games on PC. It's only a matter of time so no your only option isn't just switch two. It's patience
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But most people are very nostalgic (can’t blame them, SNES to Wii Zeldas and Metroids were amazing) and have uncontrollable FOMO, which Nintendo keeps on milking even when their software and hardware is noticeably much worse than it’s competitors’.
This reads like someone who never played any of the switch titles. It's not simply nostalgia. The switch titles were objectively good despite lackluster hardware. The switch lasted for almost a decade and is still playable today. People are buying switch 2 to be able to play the Nintendo exclusives.
It's true that the hardware is largely lackluster, but especially in the case of the first party titles, and in general overall, the lackluster hardware just doesn't prevent the games from looking and running great. Nintendo invests in developers capable of running large, complex games on somewhat modest hardware.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Got my hands on the first Switch model and it's available games on it's release date. I've played Nintendo games all my life. I just weigh the pros and cons of every option and am not ashamed to say Nintendo products and services aren't a good deal right now. It doesn't mean I can't appreciate the artistry and optimization efforts of development teams (Genyo Takeda did wonderful things at Nintendo until he retired, for instance), it means I carefully choose which hoops I jump through to purchase, play and keep the games I love.
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Got my hands on the first Switch model and it's available games on it's release date. I've played Nintendo games all my life. I just weigh the pros and cons of every option and am not ashamed to say Nintendo products and services aren't a good deal right now. It doesn't mean I can't appreciate the artistry and optimization efforts of development teams (Genyo Takeda did wonderful things at Nintendo until he retired, for instance), it means I carefully choose which hoops I jump through to purchase, play and keep the games I love.
You were saying earlier the main reason someone would buy a switch 2 was nostalgia. Nintendo still makes great games that generally run great even on their lowered speced hardware. Some of the games for the switch were some of the best installments in their respective franchises.
I've become disillusioned a bit with them for other reasons (console repairability, their litigiousness, the semi-closed ecosystem, joycon drift, the higher game price points lately) but the exclusive games are still rocking, and the exclusive games are a lot of the reason you'd buy a switch 2.
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It’s silly to compare Switch 2 sales to Steam Deck sales.
The Switch 2 is a locked-down, vertically integrated platform. There are no ROG Switch 2s. No Lenovo Switch 2s. No Switch laptops or tower PCs with discrete GPUs. If you want to play Mario Kart World, your only option is to buy a Switch 2. Period.
Steam Deck, by contrast, isn’t a platform. It’s just one hardware option—one entry point into the sprawling, open ecosystem known as PC gaming.
Every year, around 245 million PCs are shipped globally. If even 20–25% of those are gaming-focused, that’s 49–61 million gaming PCs annually. Steam Deck is a sliver of that. So of course it won’t outsell a console that’s the only gateway to a major IP.
But that’s exactly the point.
PC gaming is too decentralized for any single device to dominate. The last “PC” that did was the Commodore 64, which sold 12.5–17 million units over 12 years because it was a self-contained platform, unlike modern Windows, Mac, or Linux machines.
That the Steam Deck has sold 4 million units despite competing with every other gaming PC in existence is remarkable. It didn’t just sell—it legitimized a category. Handheld PC gaming is now a thing. That’s why Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI have followed. Even Microsoft is getting in, optimizing Windows for handhelds—something they would never have done if the Steam Deck didn't hold their feet to the fire.
So no, Steam Deck didn’t outsell the Switch 2. It didn’t need to.
It won by changing the landscape.
Console wars stopped being cool years ago. Everyone has their preferences and favorites, no need to shit on someone's fun because you think yours is better.
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This is such a wild take. « I buy the steam deck because I am informed and smart, they buy the switch 2 because they’re nostalgic impulsive morons ».
Has it ever occurred to you that not everybody is you, and people have different tastes ? Some gamers want to play the latest COD, others are Final Fantasy super fan, and others want to play Zelda and Mario. Most people even just play on a smartphone! (Disgusting, I know).
Your lack of basic awareness of what an individual is is astonishing. May I never meet and have to talk to someone like you again.
wrote last edited by [email protected]One way to get offended and misinterpret a sentence. Lol no one wants to talk to you anyways lil bro.
Edit: of course you drive a Tesla
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Actually you will be able to play switch two games on PC. It's only a matter of time so no your only option isn't just switch two. It's patience
Welcome aboard [email protected]
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Console wars stopped being cool years ago. Everyone has their preferences and favorites, no need to shit on someone's fun because you think yours is better.
There's no hate for Nintendo here, just explaining why Steam Deck is different.
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There's no hate for Nintendo here, just explaining why Steam Deck is different.
Sorry, should've clarified that this isn't directed towards you, OP! Just at a lot of the other comments in here who are acting like someone else's decision to buy an expensive gadget is a personal insult to them.
