Are PC handhelds like Steam Deck really competitors for Switch 2?
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It largely depends on what you want out of a game system. Currently, no not really. Nintendo is a closed environment with no alternative platforms for the games, and their games are very family friendly and widely popular. Steam Deck is just a portable option for PC games, and therefore has to share its customer base with PC gamers.
I mean with emulation you can play a lot of Switch games on the steam deck so that does let you get around the closed ecosystem.
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I mean with emulation you can play a lot of Switch games on the steam deck so that does let you get around the closed ecosystem.
Switch 1 emulation on the Steam Deck already has much worse performance than a Switch, given the overhead of emulation. There is no possible way it can run Switch 2 games.
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Switch 1 emulation on the Steam Deck already has much worse performance than a Switch, given the overhead of emulation. There is no possible way it can run Switch 2 games.
I wouldn't say much worse performance, really depends on the game you're trying to run. Based on what I've seen online ToTK is maybe slightly worse depending on the place you're at while a lot of other games match or even exceed switch 1 performance. Combine that with all the dumb shit Nintendo is doing around upgrade packs and making you pay to get better performance and I'd rather go with the free option, since it's gonna keep being worked on and get better and better. As for Switch 2 games that definitely might be a bit more rough at first but all we can really do with those is speculate until the console is out. Might take a bit for emulation to become available readily for those games but again with all the dumb things Nintendo is doing right now I'd rather wait then reward them for it. Plus by then there might be a new Steam Deck Gen or more PC handhelds from other companies that can compete with the Switch 2.
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A lot of people are saying they're not really competition judging off sale numbers but I'd say they are, just PC handhelds aren't that big of competition. They still are taking away sales as I doubt people with a steam deck are also gonna own a switch or switch 2 unless they already had one before the steam deck came out or are well enough off to afford both and don't want to deal with emulating. I definitely get Lemmy and myself are a biased audience but I think arguing they're not competition at all is wrong, they're just not very big competition compared to Nintendo.
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It didn't have the form factor of the Switch
So it's not a similar device. Comparing to phones is rather misleading, given that phones do not have active cooling and wouldn't actually be able to run the kinds of games the Switch hardware could without catching on fire in the process. They aren't gaming hardware.
It's a portable gaming device. It is in the same market.
You can play complex strategy games that require strong CPUs like Project Highrise, The Final Earth 2, Mega Mall Story 2 on mobile.
You won't be able to run The Final Earth 2 even with the standard mobile population limit on a Switch because it uses an ancient CPU and it's a quad core.
Don't limit yourself by Nintendo PR and marketing. The gaming world (portable or otherwise) is not limited to Nintendo.
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I'd much rather buy a Steam Deck and run Switch emulation on it, knowing I can buy games a whole lot cheaper on Steam sales.
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Imagine if you could go on the Nintendo store and buy a game you couldn’t even run, or had to check a third party website to see if it ran acceptably and let you use all the buttons.
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Imagine if you could go on the Nintendo store and buy a game you couldn’t even run, or had to check a third party website to see if it ran acceptably and let you use all the buttons.
How is that different from any other computer buying from steam, ever? In the history of all computer games? A steam deck is a hand held computer with a community large enough, and system specs stable enough to have a rating on potentially any PC, and most Nintendo games in existence. Compared to south nintendo walled garden. Your comparing append to oranges.
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How is that different from any other computer buying from steam, ever? In the history of all computer games? A steam deck is a hand held computer with a community large enough, and system specs stable enough to have a rating on potentially any PC, and most Nintendo games in existence. Compared to south nintendo walled garden. Your comparing append to oranges.
It's not different. Nintendo's target group just don't want to bother with it.
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Think about what the parent is going to buy their kids a easy to use Nintendo console or the Steam deck that doesn't run every game you can buy on it because it's really a pc
If you try to buy a game on the deck that isn't verified to run there you get a warning. Meanwhile you have a limited selection on the switch of over priced games.
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Think about what the parent is going to buy their kids a easy to use Nintendo console or the Steam deck that doesn't run every game you can buy on it because it's really a pc
Deck runs every game that you can easily buy on deck, and then some that you can't
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Imagine if you could go on the Nintendo store and buy a game you couldn’t even run, or had to check a third party website to see if it ran acceptably and let you use all the buttons.
If you try to buy a game on Deck that you couldn't run on Deck, there will be very clear warning about it, one you can't miss. At least it was last time I checked. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure the number of games like that is now almost exclusively consists of competitive shooters, and you wouldn't even thinking of buying it on Deck anyway.
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Honestly I prefer console to PC so much, even as a fediverse user, linux user, someone who has a degoogled phone and uses a home server instead of a cloud, because I just hate having to worry if games are compatible with my hardware, or if controllers are compatible with my game, or if graphical oddities in my game represent supernatural parts of the story or that I didn't install the right NVidia driver. When it comes to games, which are leisure, I find I just can't relax with PC games like I can with console games. As for emulation, I can't enjoy my games like that at all becuse the worry that settings are wrong or emulation is wrong is just too much like work. So I love my switch and I'll probably love my switch 2 one day.
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Do people actually think its a competitor? This is just news sites trying to make something up for clicks surly.
You can go on random comment section on internet, and people are starting new "console war" for Steam Deck vs Nintendo Switch.
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Easily. Aside from the first party titles, there's literally no reason to get a Switch 2. Everything else is objectively better on a PC handheld (especially the Deck).
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Saved you a click: "nO thEyre DiffErANT dEmoGraphiCS"
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Think about what the parent is going to buy their kids a easy to use Nintendo console or the Steam deck that doesn't run every game you can buy on it because it's really a pc
This is what cracks me up about this topic literally every time it comes up.
Everyone on highly tech savvy and linux loving lemmy not being able to wrap their heads around the idea that busy parents dont want to have to tech support their kids game console. They want to be able to tell Grandma "He has a switch 2 and wants the new pokemon game for his birthday", they want to walk into stores and buy accessories that WILL fit and they dont want microtransaction laden shit. One of the FEW things I still respect about Nintendo is that their AAA in house releases are FULL games (for the price, they would fucking want to be).
The 6 to 12yo market alone is probably enough to make the switch worthwhile from a business perspective. The "just tech savvy enough to work facebook" crowd adds in the profit margins.
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How is that different from any other computer buying from steam, ever? In the history of all computer games? A steam deck is a hand held computer with a community large enough, and system specs stable enough to have a rating on potentially any PC, and most Nintendo games in existence. Compared to south nintendo walled garden. Your comparing append to oranges.
How is that different from any other computer buying from steam
To begin with, Nintendo Switch isn't "any other computer" where you can "buy from Steam", so this question seems irrelevant to this discussion.
