Steam Deck Isn't The Nintendo Switch 2 Killer You Think It Is

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jade King

Published Apr 10, 2025

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Steam Deck

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Since its release back in February 2022, Valve’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Steam Deck console, an impressive number for a relatively niche handheld that focuses mostly on an existing market of PC players. Compared to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch though, it’s minuscule.

This is why I’ve always found aꦐ direct comparison between the consoles to be unfair, since one is both a home console and a handheld with a dedicated library of exclusive titles, while the other leverages a digital ecosystem that has existed for decades at this point. They can both be played in the palm of your hand and are excellent systems in th♛eir own right, but I don’t think you can call them competitors without a massive pile of asterisks.

Please Stop Pitting The Steam Deck And Switch 2 Against Each Other

None of those things prevented people from doing exactly that when the Nintendo Switch 2 was shown off last week as part of the long-awaited Direct, with some critics claiming it wasn’t nearly as exciting as Valve’s handheld/PC gaming console and that it tries in vain to fill a gap in the market that has been occupied by Valve for a long time. This simply isn’t true, though, and you only need to take one brief glimpse beneath th♚e surface to see.

Yes, gaming PCs are more powerful than every single console if you have enough money, but like most people, I ☂don’t...

Everyone I know who owns a Steam Deck does not use the device as their main driver. The majority of owners picked one up because it offered a potentially transformative perspective on their existing PC gamin💝g experience. No more playing video games hunched over a desk long into the n♍ight, but instead, a functional, comfortable, and surprisingly powerful handheld that seamlessly transported that experience anywhere you liked. Well, battery life permitting.

You can purchase a dock, but it isn’t essential to the experience, nor is it really encouraged🉐. I know the Steam Deck is capable of running more powerful triple-A games, but myself and a large majority of the platform’s audience use it for smaller indie and older titles, while home consoles and PCs are used for just about everything else. The🌊 Switch 2 isn’t geared as an accompanying device to anything but its own thing with an unrivalled install base.

They Might Be Alike, But Also Couldn’t Be More Different

Mario Kart World Nintendo Switch 2 Variable Pricing

Compared to the Steam Deck’s modest sales of 4 million units, . Obviously, it has several years on Valve here, ꦇbut that disparity alone is enough to tell you; one is a mainstream home console for all ages, and the other is a niche handheld primarily focused on a single audience - and that is more than okay. If anything, it’s eꦦxciting that two drastically different handheld consoles can exist at the same time, not to mention the plethora of third-party competitors that have since sprung up alongside them.

This i💞s without mentioning that Steam Deck has become a pretty active place to go and emulate your favourite Switch games for superior visuals and performance. With the Switch 2, this might not be necessary anymore.

People who are repeatedly saying there is no reason to pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 instead of a Steam Deck are missing the point that they cater to entirely different audiences while having drastically different libraries containing games you can’t find anywhere else. The Switch 2 is more expensive than the cheapest version of the Steam Deck, but everything we have seen from it so far also proves it is more powerful, not to mention it has exclusives that we know won’t be available on any other platform🍃. Like I mentioned previously, it also disregards that new users picking up a Steam♕ Deck will be starting their library from scratch when it clearly intends for you to already have at least a single toe in that complicated ecosystem.

But I suppose no matter what happens, there is always going to be unneeded tribalism in this medium when a new console is released, and 🌜there are justified criticisms to be addressed. Here, though, it just feels like Steam Deck users are salty that the Nintendo Switch 2 is capable when it comes to playing games that perform and look better than Valve’s handheld. It is a good thing the industry can currently support🦂 two drastically different machines, so please stop turning them into needless enemies.