3 ms·

This will trounce the Nintendo Switch as soon as Pokemon, Zelda, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros are released on Steam. Which is to say "never."

krylon 5y ago
If Valve goes through with this and sticks to the device, it could become a serious competitor, though.
- lawl 5y ago
  I think they're completely different audiences. Nintendo games aren't, and never were about cutting edge graphics or the latest tripple A games. They were always about family/kids oriented more casual games. Which is not to disparage them in any way. I like playing some nintendo games every now and then. But my mom bought a Wii back in the days. For herself. My mom doesn't usually play video games. And she is most certainly not at all interested in playing Doom or Hades (just because they're shown prominently on the webpage). But she liked Wii Fit and bought a Wii. I honstly think the subset of people who would buy a Steam Deck to avoid buying a switch is so small, it would not put a significant dent in nintendo's bottom line.
  - krylon 5y ago
    Good point, I hadn't thought of that. The last time I played anything on Nintendo hardware was Mario Kart on a Nintendo64 (which was awesome!), so I missed quite a bit of evolution there. Valve could try to create games that are more appealing to the typical Nintendo enthusiast, but I suspect the respective cultures are too different.
  - jms55 5y ago
    Agreed that they're different audiences. The deck is for people with existing steam libraries who don't feel like sitting down at a PC to play games. The switch is for everyone else - way cheaper, unique games you won't find on a PC, etc. Plus, co-op. I recently spent 6+ hours at my friends house playing Super Mario 3D World Deluxe. They got one joycon, I got the other. In my college dorm, we have a switch dock attached to a monitor in the dorm lounge. Split the joycons, and 4 people can play smash or mario kart. I don't see the deck supporting these use cases.
fonix 5y ago
i know what you're saying and this wouldnt be out of the box, but wait till someone gets emulators running on it, within a year i'd say
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  Emulators already run on it out of the box. > You can also install and use PC software, of course. Browse the web, watch streaming video, do your normal productivity stuff, install some other game stores, whatever. https://www.steamdeck.com/en/hardware https://www.steamdeck.com/en/hardware But you can run emulators on all sorts of things. Hell, I first played through BoTW on a WiiU emulator on my PC. I still ended up buying a Switch and one of the first things I did with it was play BoTW again.
- schmorptron 5y ago
  They'll run day 1, if it comes with the proper repos you just pacman install retroarch and you're emulating everything under the sun.

krylon 5y ago

If Valve goes through with this and sticks to the device, it could become a serious competitor, though.

lawl 5y ago
I think they're completely different audiences. Nintendo games aren't, and never were about cutting edge graphics or the latest tripple A games. They were always about family/kids oriented more casual games. Which is not to disparage them in any way. I like playing some nintendo games every now and then. But my mom bought a Wii back in the days. For herself. My mom doesn't usually play video games. And she is most certainly not at all interested in playing Doom or Hades (just because they're shown prominently on the webpage). But she liked Wii Fit and bought a Wii. I honstly think the subset of people who would buy a Steam Deck to avoid buying a switch is so small, it would not put a significant dent in nintendo's bottom line.
- krylon 5y ago
  Good point, I hadn't thought of that. The last time I played anything on Nintendo hardware was Mario Kart on a Nintendo64 (which was awesome!), so I missed quite a bit of evolution there. Valve could try to create games that are more appealing to the typical Nintendo enthusiast, but I suspect the respective cultures are too different.
- jms55 5y ago
  Agreed that they're different audiences. The deck is for people with existing steam libraries who don't feel like sitting down at a PC to play games. The switch is for everyone else - way cheaper, unique games you won't find on a PC, etc. Plus, co-op. I recently spent 6+ hours at my friends house playing Super Mario 3D World Deluxe. They got one joycon, I got the other. In my college dorm, we have a switch dock attached to a monitor in the dorm lounge. Split the joycons, and 4 people can play smash or mario kart. I don't see the deck supporting these use cases.

fonix 5y ago

i know what you're saying and this wouldnt be out of the box, but wait till someone gets emulators running on it, within a year i'd say

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Emulators already run on it out of the box. > You can also install and use PC software, of course. Browse the web, watch streaming video, do your normal productivity stuff, install some other game stores, whatever. https://www.steamdeck.com/en/hardware https://www.steamdeck.com/en/hardware But you can run emulators on all sorts of things. Hell, I first played through BoTW on a WiiU emulator on my PC. I still ended up buying a Switch and one of the first things I did with it was play BoTW again.
schmorptron 5y ago
They'll run day 1, if it comes with the proper repos you just pacman install retroarch and you're emulating everything under the sun.