Has either company "lost" anything? They both seems to be raking in money quite healthily.
True no one needs to fight for either company.
A very good point. :)
I'll emulate Nintendo games till the day I die because fuck Nintendo and their greed.
I won't even pirate their games
They make great games and they're a super anti-consumer company. Perfect combination for going out of your way to pirate their games.
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.
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.
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.
Its unfair to call it a "console war" when one is a classic locked down console and another is a general handheld computer. This also means there are bigger societal stakes in this argument than just "which corporate flavor you like more" because one empowers people and the other does the exact opposite.
So no, "console wars" here are very much cool.
Competition is good. If the Switch didn't exist then I don't think we would've gotten the Steam Deck.
Steam Deck is the winner, They don't even advertise.
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.
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.
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.
There are millions upon millions of Mario, Link, and Pokemon fans.
There are not millions and millions of... what's the killer Steam Deck game again? Oh, right, there isn't one.
If Valve came out with Half Life 3, made it Steam exclusive and a pack in with the Deck, then it would start putting up Nintendo numbers.
You're right, the best part of PC gaming is that it's always inclusive, never exclusive. Thanks for the reminder
Pc, where games are locked to launchers…? And OS…?
They have their own flaws, so that’s not even a good counterpoint. They are FAR from inclusive, and far more exclusive in a lot of cases. HL3 would likely be a Steam exclusive, to think otherwise is just ignoring reality.
Ok I'm with you on the whole store exclusivity thing but come on. More exclusive? Having to buy from a certain store and being able to run anywhere on hardware of your choice is hardly more exclusive than being forced to buy from one vendor and only run on one system.
That said, I do think this whole argument is somewhat moot because the steam deck and switch serve very different but overlapping audiences. I own an original switch and a steam deck, I don't think one can replace the other but I've opted not to buy the switch 2 because Nintendo's anti consumer practices really turn me off if they want to tell me what I can do with the games and hardware I bought from them.
I’m passing on the Switch 2 for similar reasons.
I can either fund Nintendo to sue open source developers or I can fund Valve who are payrolling open source developers.
that anyone would even have the thought of "killer steam deck game" amazes me. It's just a pc. You can run literally every game in existence that doesn't require a top of the line nvidia card as a minimum, have rootkit anti cheat, or is still exclusive to yet un-emulated console.
Exclusives are a bad thing. The fact that you're asking to be fed the same regurgitated ip slop gives them the idea that maybe, $80 games are underpriced. Maybe they can bump that up to a base $90, $100 for physical. Nintendo keeps exclusives out of greed, worse than even Sony. There shouldn't be exclusives. Ridiculous.
There are actually thousands of games that run on Steam Deck with no additional configuration that aren't even available on Switch, and conservatively, hundreds of those are extremely popular. Plus a lot of Switch's library is on Steam Deck, where it tends to be a better version of the game for one reason or another, not the least of which is free online play.
Pretty great that they sold 4m of this device without any exclusive tbh. It's not even their main income.
The funniest thing is that Nintendo buyers are not even part of this conversation LMAO 🤣
In a sense, this is also the point. They are different devices targeting different markets.
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.
The fact that the Nintendos are locked down, family friendly and with a reputation of good production quality (similar to Disney), are also important points for non-nerdy parents and casual gamers who don't want to navigate the ocean of PC gaming and its risks.
good production quality... *looks at workbench with 12 cubbies of drifting joycons queued for unofficial repair
As you can see, I said "reputation". I hate how little they innovate while still selling at premium, but similar to Disney, it is enough for the casual mass.
I stopped buying consoles and moved pretty much exclusively to Steam because it gives me many more options. Thankfully, I don't think that's changing anytime soon. Consoles are great for some people, but I need more flexibility. I sometimes wish I could (legally) play Nintendo first party games, but it's really not that big of a deal.
There is no value in defending a billion dollar company from another billion dollar company. Just accept Nintendo is more popular and live your life ❤️
Lol what comical copium.
They are both handheld gaming devices. To claim otherwise is nothing more than an ideological feature that only matters to 2% of thr market.
Not really copium. OP makes a great point. It's like comparing Xbox sales to the sales of a specific pre-built PC. The pre-built PC could never compete, but all PC sales over a given period likely outnumber Xbox sales significantly.
I don't own either, and probably never will, but IMO, you are the one who is coping.
In 1999, the SEGA Dreamcast was the fastest selling video game console when it launched. In 24 hours, it sold a little over 225k units (which was massive for the tiny gamer population of 1999). This earned it the Guinness World Record for Most Revenue Generated in the Entertainment Industry in 24 Hours.
Console sales at launch literally don't matter.
Also, I wonder how many of those were sold to scalpers that plan on returning them if they cannot sell them?
EDIT: For reference, the PlayStation 1 sold 300k consoles in Japan only when it launched, but not in 24 hours, that 300k is for the entire launch month of December 1994, per Sony's own official business data.
I hadn't even thought about it until you brought it up. Kind of disappointed in people jumping on this like flies on shit but like... it's 2025, so bigger things to be upset about.
In any case, apples and oranges. And PSA, if you need a Switch 2, grab em on the rebound. There'll be used ones, likely hackable in 6 months and none of that goes to Nintendo. Don't forget what their legal department has done in the past few years.
I loved my steam deck, but it was too chunky for me and certainly for my kid.
My compromise is Anbernic type devices. Long battery life, better form factor, lots of ported games too.
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