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It’s important to recognize that while the Steam deck is awesome, it’s sold 1 million compared to the 100 million of the Switch. Nintendo has massive name recog

It’s important to recognize that while the Steam deck is awesome, it’s sold 1 million compared to the 100 million of the Switch. Nintendo has massive name recognition and exclusives of course, but also price. The cheapest Steam Deck is 400 dollars, whereas the Switch is 300. For people who don’t already have big steam libraries and don’t care about open hardware, the Switch is where they’re going to go for a mobile console. Then Sony and Xbox compete on exclusives but ultimately I think there’s room for everyone in the space regardless. Gaming is probably the most lucrative entertainment sector at this point, and mobile gaming hasn’t eaten console gaming yet. A generation or two more from the next one…harder to say.

hbn 4y ago
> The cheapest Steam Deck is 400 dollars, whereas the Switch is 300. The Switch's entry price is actually $200 for the Switch Lite. I think it's even had small discounts on occasion too.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  The Lite is the portable-only version that's mainly for solo play. Doesn't come with a cradle, can't slot into a cradle and TV output is disabled, so no TV out, integrated controls (no detachable joycons, so you can't do that thing where you take your switch somewhere then pop the joycons off and play 2-player games) Not countering what you wrote, just clarifying what that device is. (personally, if they didn't deliberately cripple its ability to do TV out at all, I'd buy a lite instead of the regular Switch—I hate using joycons so we have like three pro controllers anyway, and the joycon dock points have proven a highly-breakable weak spot on my Switches so far, under actual use by kids)
Steltek 4y ago
Hasn't console gaming always outperformed PC gaming marketshare? I'm not sure people even really compare costs for videogames. If they did, they'd notice that everytime you buy a new Nintendo system, you have to re-purchase all of your old games if you want to run them on the new platform. You don't have the same problem with PC games. I'm finding that even 10+ year old PC games are still enjoyable today. Maybe more so than originally because my own hardware has advanced and I can pump up the graphics quite a bit. My back catalog of games in Steam isn't something you get from traditional console makers.
- NineStarPoint 4y ago
  Historically it’s believed PC underperformed Consoles, but at this point it’s estimated that PC revenue is equivalent to the entire console market combined (for what it’s worth, both combined pull in less money than mobile gaming world wide). As for the price thing, I suspect it’s the big vs small purchase mentality. Same reason it’s easier to get someone to buy a 10 dollar monthly subscription than a 100 dollar flat out purchase. Most people compare instant costs and ongoing ones in different ways. Personally though, agreed on the value of having a massive backlog of games to play on PC. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of why PC revenue has caught up to consoles.
Guillaume86 4y ago
The price argument is completely reversed if you factor in that you need to buy games to play. Nintendo games prices are horrendous even for very patient gamers while Steam has big discounts on the regular. The same game on Switch vs Deck will routinely be 4-5x more expensive.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  Not really. Nintendo first party titles hold their value well but you're not playing those on Steam either. 3rd party titles will often be the same price or close enough with the exception of super recent ports of old PC games. Definitely NOT 4-5x more expensive unless you're only comparing to full price not on sale eShop titles to best possible discount on Steam.
  - Guillaume86 4y ago
    Yeah that's the point, why would I not take the best price on Steam? eShop sales are like 20% off max, with a base price already often higher than the pc version. With a wishlist on steam you will build your collection at 4-5x lower cost than Steam if you are a bit patient (or go to key resellers if you're not).
  - COGlory 4y ago
    If you want to play Nintendo 1st party, you have no choice but Switch. But if you want to play any of the many AAA games that release every year, you can do that on Deck. If we ignore that each is exclusive to the other's platform (i.e. Switch 1st party don't go to Deck, many huge games Deck can play Switch never gets), and just compare the average cost with sales of those "exclusive" games, you high quality games on Switch (Nintendo 1st party) cost way more than you high quality games on Deck (most AAA games Switch doesn't get).
    - goosedragons 4y ago
      That may be true but they did say that the same game will be 4-5x more expensive on Switch which is just rubbish.

hbn 4y ago

> The cheapest Steam Deck is 400 dollars, whereas the Switch is 300. The Switch's entry price is actually $200 for the Switch Lite. I think it's even had small discounts on occasion too.

yamtaddle 4y ago
The Lite is the portable-only version that's mainly for solo play. Doesn't come with a cradle, can't slot into a cradle and TV output is disabled, so no TV out, integrated controls (no detachable joycons, so you can't do that thing where you take your switch somewhere then pop the joycons off and play 2-player games) Not countering what you wrote, just clarifying what that device is. (personally, if they didn't deliberately cripple its ability to do TV out at all, I'd buy a lite instead of the regular Switch—I hate using joycons so we have like three pro controllers anyway, and the joycon dock points have proven a highly-breakable weak spot on my Switches so far, under actual use by kids)

Steltek 4y ago

Hasn't console gaming always outperformed PC gaming marketshare? I'm not sure people even really compare costs for videogames. If they did, they'd notice that everytime you buy a new Nintendo system, you have to re-purchase all of your old games if you want to run them on the new platform. You don't have the same problem with PC games. I'm finding that even 10+ year old PC games are still enjoyable today. Maybe more so than originally because my own hardware has advanced and I can pump up the graphics quite a bit. My back catalog of games in Steam isn't something you get from traditional console makers.

NineStarPoint 4y ago
Historically it’s believed PC underperformed Consoles, but at this point it’s estimated that PC revenue is equivalent to the entire console market combined (for what it’s worth, both combined pull in less money than mobile gaming world wide). As for the price thing, I suspect it’s the big vs small purchase mentality. Same reason it’s easier to get someone to buy a 10 dollar monthly subscription than a 100 dollar flat out purchase. Most people compare instant costs and ongoing ones in different ways. Personally though, agreed on the value of having a massive backlog of games to play on PC. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of why PC revenue has caught up to consoles.

Guillaume86 4y ago

The price argument is completely reversed if you factor in that you need to buy games to play. Nintendo games prices are horrendous even for very patient gamers while Steam has big discounts on the regular. The same game on Switch vs Deck will routinely be 4-5x more expensive.

goosedragons 4y ago
Not really. Nintendo first party titles hold their value well but you're not playing those on Steam either. 3rd party titles will often be the same price or close enough with the exception of super recent ports of old PC games. Definitely NOT 4-5x more expensive unless you're only comparing to full price not on sale eShop titles to best possible discount on Steam.
- Guillaume86 4y ago
  Yeah that's the point, why would I not take the best price on Steam? eShop sales are like 20% off max, with a base price already often higher than the pc version. With a wishlist on steam you will build your collection at 4-5x lower cost than Steam if you are a bit patient (or go to key resellers if you're not).
- COGlory 4y ago
  If you want to play Nintendo 1st party, you have no choice but Switch. But if you want to play any of the many AAA games that release every year, you can do that on Deck. If we ignore that each is exclusive to the other's platform (i.e. Switch 1st party don't go to Deck, many huge games Deck can play Switch never gets), and just compare the average cost with sales of those "exclusive" games, you high quality games on Switch (Nintendo 1st party) cost way more than you high quality games on Deck (most AAA games Switch doesn't get).
  - goosedragons 4y ago
    That may be true but they did say that the same game will be 4-5x more expensive on Switch which is just rubbish.