When the Switch launched in 2017, it was in a league of its own. Literally.
Shrinking a no-compromise, home console experience into a portable device that could also double as a dedicated home console was an entirely new concept. Overnight, Nintendo had created another of those blue oceans that they so much love to swim in, and they had the beach all to themselves. Life was peachy, baby!
Eight years, 150 million console sales, and one Chris-Rock-getting-slapped-round-the-face-on-live-television later, and the Switch has cemented its place as one of the most successful consoles of all time. Choosing to deviate from such a solid-gold formula for their next-generation Switch 2 would have been madness, but this time around, The Big N will have to share the deck chairs and parasols with some noisy neighbours.
Full Steam ahead
Amongst those lining up for Nintendo’s portable console crown are Half-Life creators and digital distribution giants Valve. Being the owners of Steam — the undisputed king of PC storefronts — positioned them quite favourably to make a modest-but-noticeable impact on the market.
In 2022, they launched the Steam Deck - a portable powerhouse that was capable of running AAA experiences that Nintendo’s ageing Switch could only dream of. It chewed through demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 at a surprising level of fidelity, and thanks to its eponymous Steam storefront, users had immediate access to over 17,000 games, all of which could be bought once and played s(t)eamlessly across Deck and PC.
It was an impressive first foray into the handheld realm from a company whose only other flirtation with the 'console' market was the largely forgotten Steam Machine project. And while its four million units sold are unlikely to have given Nintendo any sleepless nights, it’s undeniable that the Steam Deck has garnered some serious street cred amongst the ‘hardcore’.
So much so that it seems to be seriously misinforming people’s perceptions.
Get Decked, scrub
As someone who's about as well-versed in PC gaming as the Moo Moo Meadows cow should be at operating a motor vehicle, even I’ve found the Steam Deck hype hard to avoid. And when the topic of Switch 2’s weighty £395.99 price tag rears its head, there’s a question that’s always waiting just around the corner: “At that price, why not just get a Steam Deck?”
This suggestion always seems to be offered up alongside some sort of universal understanding that the Steam Deck is 1) cheaper, and 2) more powerful than the Switch 2.
In reality, it’s neither of those things.
Docking wages
Right now, on Steam’s official store, the cheapest Steam Deck money can buy is £349.99. What these commenters fail to mention, however, is that the Steam Deck’s dock (isn’t that fun to say?!) is sold separately at a not-insignificant £69, giving you a princely total of £418.99.
Those with the oddly-specific ability to remember the last 111 words they just read will recall that that’s actually a couple of Ayrton Sennas over the Switch 2’s asking price. And once we start looking at what that money actually gets you, the value proposition of the Deck starts to go downhill quite rapidly.
For starters — and this is another point that seems to be getting glossed over — the Steam Deck’s dock provides zero boost to performance; it’s a way of charging the device, connecting peripherals, and, yes, getting your games onto the big screen, but — spoilers! — don’t expect them to look too hot when they get there.
Meanwhile, the Switch 2 dock’s active cooling allows the system to double its raw compute power to something approaching an Xbox Series S. Latest estimates put it at around 3.2 TFLOPS — double the Steam Deck’s 1.6 — making it a much more viable candidate for big screen gaming.
Direct comparisons in games like Hogwarts Legacy are already showing that the Switch 2 can produce results that would make the Steam Deck blush, even without much evidence of NVIDIA’s much-lauded DLSS upscaling feature being deployed yet - a party piece, let’s not forget, that the Deck can’t replicate.
In docked mode — a play style which 55% of NL readers say they use 'mostly' — the Switch 2 simply runs rings around Valve’s machine.
A display of power
But what about the handheld experience? For a lot of people, that’s arguably the main draw here.
Well, in portable mode, both machines are a close match on paper at around 1.6 TFLOPS, meaning they should perform similarly. But Switch 2’s closed platform and presumably lighter OS should ensure it benefits from more tightly optimised games. And that’s before it calls for backup from the DLSS cavalry.
Now, let’s talk screens. The base Deck features a 1280 x 800 7” LCD panel with a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. Not too shabby, but Switch 2’s 1080p display is bigger, sharper, and features a gamut of extra features that the Deck can’t match, including HDR 10 support, and, perhaps most surprisingly, a Variable Refresh Rate of up to 120Hz. There’s simply no contest here.
The Steam Deck can be specced with an OLED screen (at a premium of £130, mind you), but even that can’t compete with the Switch 2 in terms of refresh rate or resolution, clocking in respectively at 90Hz and the same meagre 800p as the base model. And at that point — inclusive of dock — you’re looking at an eye-watering £548. You’re in ASUS ROG Ally territory now.
All of that tech mumbo-jumbo to say: games will just look better on Switch 2, no matter how you play.
But wait, there’s more!
In truth, it feels very un-Nintendo-like for us to be hammering on about teraflops and variable refresh rates. So what about the age-old Nintendo measure of quality? What about the gameplay? What about the user experience?
Once again, the Switch 2 can do things here that the Steam Deck simply can’t; prop up the Switch 2’s kickstand, crack off the detachable Joy-Con, and you’ve got comfy solo gaming or instant multiplayer wherever you go.
Those same Joy-Con can also be used for super-accurate, independent motion control, opening up far more possibilities than the Deck’s simple gyro. And in games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Civilization VII, plonking them down on a surface (or thigh!) turns each of them into a fully-functioning computer mouse, far less awkward and clunky than the Deck’s integrated touchpad.
The versatility, modularity, and ease-of-use of the Joy-Con is something that we’ve come to take for granted, but it’s really hard to beat. When they're not drifting.
Nintendo’s machine will also offer GameShare — a throwback to the DS’ excellent Download Play feature — whereby Switch 2 owners can enjoy local multiplayer across multiple consoles with only one copy of a supported game.
Tinker, tailor, Metroid Prime
Let’s also not downplay the appeal of console gaming’s more seamless nature; many Steam Deck games will run just fine out of the box, but at some point, a bit of graphics menu tinkering will inevitably become necessary, particularly as games become more and more demanding.
No such tribulations on the Switch 2; while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond recently gave us our first-ever look at selectable graphics/performance modes in a first-party Nintendo game, the complexity is unlikely to ever surpass a simple this-or-that affair.
But perhaps most crucially of all, the Steam Deck — while controversially famed for its Switch-emulating capabilities — won’t be able to play the next five+ years of first-party Nintendo games, like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. For some, that fact alone is a dealbreaker.
Different strokes
Look, this has felt a bit like an assassination attempt on the Steam Deck, but that wasn’t my intent; it’s a fantastic bit of kit. Hell, if you’re already really invested in the Steam ecosystem (and its admittedly much more affordable library of games), then it might even be the better purchase for you.
But to suggest it offers better overall value as a piece of hardware is simply untrue. Once you’ve factored in the cost of that dock, you’re paying more money for something that’s bigger, bulkier, less powerful, has a smaller, lower-res screen with no support for HDR, VRR, or 120Hz, no detachable controllers with independent motion control, no proper mouse control, and no official Nintendo titles.
Scoff all you like. Call me a Nintendo fanboy if you must! But this is simply a consideration of the facts. The Steam Deck was an incredibly impressive machine three years ago, but as any ageing millennial (me) will attest, time marches on.
Of course, this could all be moot if Valve announces a competitively-priced, next-gen Steam Deck 2 anytime soon - and with controversy about Nintendo’s pricing raging on, might I suggest, Valve, that now would be as good a time as any. Nintendo are taking quite a bit of flak for their next-gen software pricing, and perhaps rightfully so.
But with the hardware, they’ve got it bang on.
