I like how this article does not talk about the anti consumer practices engaged in by Nintendo, that might push some customers away from their consoles. /s Nintendo can disable your Switch 2 for piracy in the U.S., but not in Europe, as confirmed by its EULA. There is already a switch in my household, but the price along with the ability to remotely brick the device, is what made our household pass on the switch 2. We bought a second steam deck instead.
I’ve been having a fantastic time with mine. Kirby Air Riders is an excellent sequel to one of my favorite childhood games. Cyberpunk went on an accidental super sale and I was able to get the complete edition for $17 USD. Fortnite doesn’t run like dogshit anymore. The console feels more sturdy and premium compared to Switch 1. An extra charging port on the top makes extended tabletop play possible now.
However I’ll always welcome headlines like this because the more Nintendo struggles, the better they get. Wii Sports was incredible and everyone had it. Switch 2 Welcome Tour should have never been a paid game and none of my S2 friends own it.
LOVE this take. I’m with kinkles.
Hah, we got a second deck, too.
My son got 2 Pokémon games and a dlc. Seems like there’s plenty of life left in the Switch 1 for now, so no need to update.
When we got the switch 1, it actually sat unused for most of the first year. After a while we started to really enjoy it though. Maybe we’ll get a switch 2 in a year.
and people who are pokemon fans, likely keep thier old consoles with the pokmeon games so they can play it again, and transfer older pokemon to the newer consoles too.
I’m going to get one at some point, because my OG Switch’s battery swelled up so I got rid of it. It’s more about being able to play my existing games, than being in any way excited about spending £70 on new ones. 😔
Needs more games. Next mainline Zelda or Mario and I’m in. Was never a DK fan and Mario kart isn’t enough.
or tell gamefreak to get thier heads out of thier behinds and make a better pokemon game, and not try justify the slop as a 60$ game.
I like how this article does not talk about the anti consumer practices engaged in by Nintendo, that might push some customers away from their consoles.
The average consumer does not care about this. The biggest reasons for people to not buy a Switch 2 are 1) people don’t have money and 2) lack of major first-party games. I waited months until I found a MKW bundle for $450 at a black Friday sale.
Once we get the next 3D Mario or Zelda, you can bet they will sell a lot of consoles.
Also steamdeck is amazing, and a lot of people who want a handheld just chose that one
steamdeck and switch 2 don’t address the same audience at all imo
Since I’m one of the people who is on the fence about whether or not to pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 or to get myself an ROG Ally (I have $250 of gift cards for Target which don’t sell the Steam Deck) so that I can play steam games on a handheld. I heartily disagree.
And it’s Nintendo’s anti-consumer policies that is making me hesitate on the Switch 2.
I got a Switch because of handheld gaming and then I stopped using my Switch because I got a Deck, and my library became playable on it without having to rebuy them. And I can get cheaper games, bundles, and giveaways than on Nintendo to play on my Deck or PC. And if ARM support for steam frame makes its way to Android then I’ll be able to play those same Steam games on my phone too.
Not exactly, but overlap is significant. A bunch of people want Nintendo because they always did Nintendo and that’s all they know, a bunch of people know that switch is something that kids want and so they get one, sure. But a bunch of people want to play some games lying on a couch or riding a metro or sitting in a queue at a dentist, and those people will at least google what exists on the market. This is an overlapped audience, and for a lot of them steam deck will be the obviously better choice.
They can if you install Linux on it and run a switch emu.
It already comes with Linux installed, and an emulator can be setup with five button presses and thirty seconds of waiting.
The base system is setup as immutable, but /home isn’t, so aur isn’t available out of the box, but flatpacks are for exampleThat’s pretty rad. I don’t have one to know the nuance.
I heard it was possible to install bazzite on the SteamDecks
SteamOS is an Arch Linux, basically, with some stuff pre-installed. The only big difference is that it’s installed in immutable mode, but even that is not a big deal
Thanks for the clarification. I really want to pick one up. Might wait a bit for a SD2 I’m sure is a year or two out.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Steam Deck but it’s an extension of Desktop build not a direct Switch competitor.
It’s not a direct competitor, but they occupy the same niche while being a vastly superior product.
I don’t think that’s had much of an impact when Nintendo sold more Switch 2s at launch than Valve has manufactured Steam Decks over its entire lifespan. The Steam Deck is still an enthusiast product for a niche crowd, and will likely never be in direct competition with the big three.
It’s a comparatively new product, but it’s not like it’s something unsuccessful. It’s attached to Steam, that everyone who ever had a computer knows about, and everyone has a couple of games there, it’s being talked about very positively everywhere, and they’re repeatedly gained positive reputation over pro-consumer practices they regularly employ, and they somehow evading being put on blast for the child gambling industry they operate.
They’re known among gamers, which is indeed niche crowd, but also a crowd that is important here. They don’t have the cultural grasp on humanity as Nintendo, or other two, but all of them shitting the bed constantly and publicly, while Valve is catching wins all over the place.The real point here is that they don’t have the ability to manufacture at the scale of the big three. It literally can’t be in direct competition.
It’s not set in stone. They have money, they have demand. Scaling production is a bitch and a half, but it’s not impossible to do
i suspect it also pokemon being popular, but hasnt been producing anything but slop has something to do with it too.
I didn’t buy it because fuck Nintendo. They treat their customers with such disrespect and disdain, a company that’s only bring held together by nostalgia alone. They’ve gotten into a cycle of seeing just how much money they can get while putting in no effort.
especially with pokemon games, its unforgivable how expensive they are for such a sloppily made genre, since swsh.
been too busy emulating old roms of theirs, can’t be bothered with their whack churn of remakes and stale IPs on dated hardware
what does the switch 2 do that the first one doesn’t? other than have the ability to brick the device on you
Better performance and new exclusives.
I’m waiting until they get cheap on the second-hand markets before even considering buying one.
Are there any exclusives that are worth it? The new Mario Cart got a soso rating for becoming another empty open world and other than the new Donkey Kong I can’t think of anything worth buying a new console.
And mouse controls which seemed like a useless feature, but proved to be a really awesome one!
Better performance, mainly because the first one performed horribly.
I haven’t bought it because the games I would’ve wanted to play on the Switch - still would work fine on the Switch. I don’t feel the need or see the need to jump to Switch 2. I haven’t even gotten a Switch for myself yet but I want one someday for Super Mario RPG.
Nintendo is just, fucking backwards in how they do business these days.
The Steam Deck is the better product anyway. Got one recently and damn is it good.
It might be, but if you care about the newest games, you either stick with the Switch 2, wait for a SD 2 or look elsewhere… The SD is getting closer to the Switch 1 state where modern games start to look more blurry, and if you want a hybrid device… Well, it is gonna show more.
Also for some stupid reasons SD availability sucks in several countries, like Mexico.
Most of “the newest games” are well within the spec of the Steam Deck. Of the 4 non-exclusive games nominated for GOTY at the Keighleys, they’ll all run on it just fine. Some of the biggest games of the year end up being the likes of Peak, Schedule I, or Megabonk, and not only are those games only available on PC (at least for a while), but they’re not even pushing the spec of the Steam Deck to its limit. With RAM pricing issues going on right now, high end studios are likely going to target a lower spec. And the companies that can afford to make a game that hits that higher spec are few and far between anyway, compared to the AA and indie studios that made most of the best games of the past few years.
With RAM pricing issues going on right now, high end studios are likely going to target a lower spec.
That is quite a positive thought that I would truly want to become real, let’s just wait and see I guess, that doesn’t change the fact that SD 2 is imminent though (I know that is obvious).
What about hybrid gaming? I don’t think anyone can agree that SD is better than the Switch 2 or any other handheld device in 2025 regarding that… Perhaps only in certain cases as locked awful framerate (for the Switch 2).
All of new gaming hardware is decidedly less imminent now that this pricing nonsense is going on. Even if the tech exists, no one thinks they can sell at what they’d have to charge for it. It’s going to be a rough near term future for gaming hardware before it eventually levels out. Reports are that consoles planned for 2027 are now looking like they’ll be pushed back.
I’m not super used to calling that “hybrid gaming”, but my wife seems to have no problem playing cozy games on the Steam Deck, almost exclusively on the TV when I didn’t take it with me on the go. And we’re once again back to the best games and the best graphics not being all that correlated. The other part is that even if a random gamer has a Steam Deck, it’s unlikely to be their only gaming PC, and if they want the power to produce that larger image at better frame rates at home, they’ll play on that other PC, and that game will run its best there. On Switch 2, that one device is your only option no matter what. That means that if you want to play one of those beefier titles from the Switch 1, they’re not going to run at better settings ever unless the developer explicitly upgrades them; even then, there’s often the Switch tax compared to buying the same game on PC.
I’m not trying to talk you down from a Switch 2 if that’s your preference, but if someone’s asking me for a recommendation for a gaming handheld, the Steam Deck is going to be what I tell them until I rule it out due to some other need. I definitely wouldn’t start with a Switch 2. The Deck just hits a compelling price with a good software experience and, perhaps most importantly, a library that dwarfs what Nintendo could ever hope to match by following the traditional console model.
From what I’ve heard, Expedition 33 runs like hot garbage. Even if you use something like Lossless Frames to use AI generated frames to fill in gaps and run at super low settings.
I played it all on desktop, but it looks like it got an update a month ago and is now Deck verified. Friends of mine played it on Deck before that and didn’t mention any complaints, but I wasn’t fishing for them either.
I got emulators setup so I can even play switch games on it as well.
Which switch emulator is working well for you? I still have yuzu and ryujinx on mine but games are crashing when I try to load them and stuff
There are several yuzu and ryujinx forks floating around. For yuzu there’s citron, and eden-emu; for ryujinx there’s ryubing. Game compatibility varies so I suggest trying them all and see if any works.
I find the Steam Deck far too heavy and bulky unfortunately. I’d love a Switch sized handheld PC.
I love mine but I also agree that it’s a chunky boy. I’d absolutely get a Steam Deck Lite if Valve were ever to come out with one, even if it had weaker performance than the original.
Idk I picked it up and personally I felt the complete opposite. Everyone says its so massive and huge, I expected this massive bulky handheld but sadly its the opposite. Its big yeah but not really controller sized, my hands are too big for it so I’ll just stick to the steam controller (until the new one releases)
Same. I was able to get like 10 long-wishlisted games for ~$100 with the Steam Winter Sale, too. Nintendo would never.
Well I saw Pokemon Legends ZA for 48% off recently. Not that it‘s worth that much or that I would ever buy a Switch 2. I actually stumbled upon that sale randomly. But the fact it‘s on sale already speaks volumes. Nintendo is likely in panic mode.
i wonder if it has do with pokemon being slop for the past generation and this one too. the lack of quality of the pokemon games doesnt justify its high cost. also because game freak said this the future of all pokemon games.
Bro that’s my patient gaming technique! $10 games FTW!
What you got?
- Just Crow Things
- PowerWash Simulator
- Wanderstop
- Thank Goodness You’re Here!
- Night in the Woods
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Cinnabunny
- Unbox the Room
- April Grove
and I guess no. 10 was a copy of Coral Island I was gifted, oops lol
At some point I still want LAN Party Adventures, and The Lonesome Guild but those will wait until the next sale. In the meantime I have plenty to sink my teeth (thumbs?) into!
Ain’t got those amazing Nintendo games though. Glhf finding a Mario Cart replacement that is actually as good.
IMO, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is better than Mario Kart. I find it much more fun.
The Sonic Racing series is great but still isnt the same. Maybe nostalgia :)
Ain’t got those amazing Nintendo games though. Glhf finding a Mario Cart replacement that is actually as good.
This is not entirely true. Depending on the stance of the person regarding piracy. You can definitely play Mario Kart on the Steam Deck. Emulations for PS1 PS2, Switch 1 exist (there are more but these I know on the top of my head).
The Steam Deck can play nearly all Switch 1 titles through emulation. Yes, developers were taken down but the emulators do still work perfectly fine (I’m saying this as Steam Deck owner and using Emulators myself).
EDIT; noticed we are in the same instance. Now I’m curious whether you were serious or it was sarcasm…
Its so much fun! And my library of steam games already works on it.
I like my regular Switch (because it’s jailbroken and I haven’t ever paid Nintendo for any game on it) but I see no reason to ever get a Switch 2 when the Steam Deck exists.
The same is true of PlayStation and Xbox too (and has been for a decade or more). At least in US, don’t know about Europe. This is not to defend Nintendo, just saying that if that was the issue, it would effect all the consoles, and would have been effecting them for last many years. Average people don’t even know about these, and many probably don’t even care.
There might be more to this, but with the current economy, and consoles getting more expensive instead of cheaper as time goes on could be some of the reasons, IMO. And there weren’t much holiday sales this year.
First year sales are also generally limited by supply, not demand, so it will be interesting to see how Switch 2 does in its second and third years, specially if we do get next PS and Xbox next year.
General availability seems to imply that supply was not a constraint by the time we got to the holiday shopping season.
Oh yeah, that last lines were about Switch 2 doing record sales in first year, not about the holidays sales, should have made it clear.
I agree with all your points about holiday sales, but I am not sure if it means that it’s momentum has slowed down or it just went down because of other expenses and stuff people wanted to buy over this period. Will be interesting if the sales go back up or if they keep going down.
Didnt playstation do amazingly well?
Not sure, I got the impression that all consoles sold worse than usual, but I didn’t actually dig deep into it.
Behind the ps4 in outright numbers given the same period of sales time.
Surprised they’ve done that well though. It’s good but the ps4 still holds its own IMO.
It was the best selling console in the US this holiday season, but not sure how it’s sales compared to previous years. It also was on a big discount which definitely helped.
A “big discount” which placed it around the price it launched at.
(Ex) Nintendo fan here. I’ve owned every Nintendo console and handheld since the NES (even the Virtual Boy!) Right after the Switch 2 announcement in April I got a Steam Deck and never looked back, and I love the thing. The list of cons for the Switch 2 is immense - the price of the hardware, the price of the software, Nintendo’s extreme anti-consumer practices…in the past, Nintendo at least had cheap hardware going for it. No longer. The list of Switch 2 exclusive games, both released and announced, I’d even want to play is also minuscule. Mario Kart World (which doesn’t look even remotely worth $80) and Donkey Kong Bananza are it so far. I thought it would be difficult to not be able to play new Nintendo games, but they’ve made it extremely easy so far. I’m good with either never playing them or playing them emulated many years from now. It’s very clear that Nintendo has become just another soulless corporate game company.
I had every console. PS5, X-Box, Steam Deck, and Switch OLED. . . Guess which one I got rid of?
All but the steamdeck, because there’s no console exclusives any more and the switch can be emulated?
Personally, I like my PS5 because I don’t really gaf what any games do with my PS5’s kernel. It’s my way to play games that I’d never touch on my PC (even before switching to Linux, kernel anti-cheat/DRM was a dealbreaker).
Actually kinda ironic because Sony is the company that made me not trust shit companies install on PCs for security purposes after their rootkit (also stopped using autoplay because of that). But between the three console options, Sony is the least shitty today.
That said, I’m not sure I’ll be ever getting another console because I still do most of my gaming on my PC while those games collect dust.
The Switch 2 is not expensive.
The people that think this are getting screwed by their jobs but they don’t want to think about their wage stagnating while their boss buys extra boats and houses.
I mean, it is kinda expensive, but that would be more tollerable for everyone if wages weren’t stagnating to fund yachts.
It’s not that expensive. It’s similar in price to PS5 before it got a price increase, and trades raw performance for portability.
The real expensive part is new price point for first party games and prices of SD Express cards.
It’s not any more expensive than any other electronics.
It’s a brand new tablet with okay battery life, pretty good performance and some low quality Bluetooth controllers included. Nothing else on the market is comparable. It’s basically a portable PS4 for $500 which is nice.
I recently built a PC. I bought RAM for $190. A week later it was $300. Now it’s over $400. Somehow, a Switch 2 is crazy overpriced at $500. People upset at the Switch 2 price are mouth breathers.
Seriously though it costs the same as the last one did unless you’re in a country that voted in a TV presenter who promised to do a trade war.
Notice how I’m just getting down votes but zero comments with evidence. It’s just a bunch of emotional children upset that I don’t automatically join their “Nintendo bad” narrative.
its actually more expensive if you include all the fees with online play, subscription that is required, even moreso with things like pokemon, also DLCs.
Isn’t everything more expensive if you include the costs of buying more stuff needed to enjoy it? PC, Console, Car, House, Burger, etcetera.
Online play on the Switch is $20 a year. The fact that they charge for online play and save backups is bullshit but not anywhere as bad as people pretend.
Isn’t Pokémon like a regular game you only need to buy once?
Switch 2 - $500 Pokemon - $70 Pokémon DLC - $30 Online - $20
$620 to play Pokemon
I don’t play Pokémon but games with crazy fandoms (Diablo, CoD, Final Fantasy) always seem to get milked for every penny.
