I really wonder if a Switch 2 will do as well as the first Switch.
More and more handheld gaming PCs are released by the time the Switch 2 comes around. Yes, a Switch 2 does have the advantage of access to Nintendo games (if we ignore Emulators) and I would imagine lower price, but I haven’t touched my Switch since I got the Steamdeck. I even sold an extra Switch Lite I had.
I rarely, basically never used the Switch plugged into a TV. I only played it in handheld mode with a skin that made it more comfortable to hold than a flat brick. Nintendo games rarely drop in price and sales don’t reduce prices by much VS PC games that often go on sale and older games drop to very low prices on sale.
I’m certain there’s a market for a Switch 2, I’m just wondering if it will do as well as the first Switch in the current market with more options.
Most people who play Nintendo Switch do not even know what a steam deck is. The vast vast majority.
It’s revealing to keep in mind that the Switch sold 125 million units, and the most optimistic estimates put the number of Steam Deck sales around 3 million. Keep in mind that the Steam Deck never aimed to sell as much as major consoles, but that still shows how niche it is in comparison.
Do you have numbers to back that up or are you just speculating. Personally I’d find it weird that someone who games especially on a mobile platform with somehow have not heard of the steam deck. Between social media and targeted news feeds I don’t know how they not hear about it.
This is your notice that you are very much in a bubble. Most gamers have no idea what a steam deck is.
For 99+% of the Switch’s target demographic, there aren’t options.
They have never heard of the Deck, the Ally, or any of the other handheld PCs. They know three things about gaming: Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox. Those last two don’t let them play Mario, Zelda, or Smash Bros., and they certainly don’t let them play on the go, so they essentially only have one option.
I love my Deck and I hope to see the handheld PC market continue to grow and evolve, but it’s just delusional to think that it will ever get to a point where it will have even the slightest impact on the third-best-selling console of all time (or, more to the point, its successor).
I mainly got a steamdeck as the switches are occupied by the kids. For portability it is way worse than the switch - and the removable controllers on the switch are great, especially for some mukltiplayer games. I feel most of the games making proper use of those didn’t make the jump from the wii, though - for movement games in front of the TV the wii is still regularly used. Switch mostly is used as handheld.
I’d buy a Switch 2 if it played first party Switch games at 2K/60fps. Specifically Pokemon, Zelda, and Xenoblade.
