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Why the Steam Deck still obliterates the Switch 2 (a response to Nintendo Life)

www.nintendolife.com

Opinion: Steam Deck Fans Are Seriously Underestimating The Switch 2

Such a weird article from Nintendo Life trying to defend the Switch 2 over the Steam Deck. And it's so cringe.

First let's talk about the contention that the Switch 2 has better value because it's comes with a dock.

Look, I can hook my Steam Deck up to my TV using a USB-C to HDMI adapter and use the Steam Deck itself as a controller. As for a dock itself, sure the official Steam Deck Docking Station costs C$109. However, I can buy a 3rd party docking station off Amazon for C$40. So that's not much of an argument.

The Switch 2 has a bigger screen that runs at 1080P. That great. But the Steam Deck has an OLED panel which the Switch 2 does not.

In terms of performance, the Switch 2 probably has a better GPU. However, it lacks the Steam Deck's CPU power. And it only has 12GB of RAM compared to the Steam Deck's 16GB of RAM. Will games look better on Switch 2? Only if CPU and RAM don't serve as bottlenecks.

The next thing: Switch 2 is supposedly better because a joy-con can act as a mouse. But they're really grasping at straws here because I can use an actual Bluetooth mouse with the Steam Deck—one which is more ergonomic too. Oh, and unlike the Switch 2, I can also use a Bluetooth keyboard too with a Steam Deck.

Apparently, the Steam Deck's touchpad so "too awkward" compared to the Switch 2's mouse. But you don't use a mouse in handheld mode—no one does. Touchpads, on the other hand, do work in handheld mode. And I find them much more suitable for FPS and RTS games than an analog joystick.

Now for the article's final point: the Steam Deck can't play Switch 2 games. This is actually the most legitimate point. However, it cuts both ways too. Switch 2 can't play decades of PC games, all which are accessible on Steam Deck. And I should know because I'm able to run literally thousands of games on my Steam Deck—many which don't even run on Windows anymore without lots of modding.

Can Switch 2 play F.E.A.R. without needing to jailbreak and emulate it? Nope—so in terms of game library, Steam Deck has the win.

But ultimately, this is a silly comparison because the Steam Deck is already three years old at the moment. Of course the Switch 2 will be able to do some things better than Steam Deck. It should—it's the newer piece of hardware.

However, when the Steam Deck 2 comes out—probably next year—how will the Switch 2 compare? I don't know, but it will likely have all the advantages that the Steam Deck still has but with giant generational leap in terms of performance.

Right now, if I wanted to, I could get a Lenovo Legion Go S. And it would be leagues better than a Switch 2. It has a AMD Ryzen Z2 Go APU, 32GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage—which absolutely wrecks the Switch 2 in terms of raw performance.

But the reason I'm holding off is because I think the Steam Deck 2 will be even better.

This doesn't even touch about many points that makes the Steam Deck just plain better. The games are cheaper. You don't have to pay for online multiplayer. You have access to multiple storefronts like GOG or itch.io. You can use it as a PC in desktop mode. I can go on.

Now do I think the Switch 2 is totally lacking in value? No. If I had a young child, I'd probably get them a Switch 2 simply because it's more kid friendly.

However, I'm a full grown man. As for my kid? She's turning 12-years-old in a few weeks so I think she'll do just fine with a Steam Deck.

https://www.nintendolife.com/features/opinion-steam-deck-fans-are-seriously-underestimating-the-switch-2

126 comments

  • You very politely missed the #1 point... I can already play every single nintendo game I've ever bought on my steamdeck. Right now. With no subscription, just simply uploading from my GBA/DS/3DS/Switch to my Steamdeck... Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that. Like, wth are they even doing over there to not have solved that issue day 1 on the switch.

    • Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that.

      Because consoles are a net loss in terms of R&D, production, shipping, warranty claims for when they almost always fucked something on the first or second version, etc etc etc. Locking people into the platform means you make all your money on game sales, even 3rd party, indie, and asset flip shovelware makes Nintendo money. It's the "Walled Garden" method, Apple is shit hot at this. They make an everloving fuck tonne of money from their app store. Even free apps have to pay to have the app hosted on the store servers, and in app purchases are subject to a percentage cut for Apple.

      The fact that having digital backups of games/music/media you have purchased is perfectly legal in more than a couple countries, as is emulating, is a thorn in these sociopathic cancers of megacorpic greed's paw. That's why Ubisoft is pushing for widespread legal acknowledgement of "game purchases are actually just paying to be granted a revokable for any reason or no reason at all licence." That's (partly) why Nintendo is so very aggressive in their litigation of anyone who attempts to make a highly functioning emulator for one of their systems, often with games running better with higher resolution and more options for QoL things. Because instead of trying to sell to as many different systems as possible, they want literally all the money, and they refuse the idea that the little money sacks who buy their shit might actually be legally allowed to run back up copies of their purchases on hardware that wasn't sold by them. Refuse the idea that the money sacks have rights or deserve to pay for something and actually own it.

      You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

      • You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

        I can imagine a dystopian future, where only few hardcopies/offline copies of literature survive. All art/media is only available on the cloud, which is constantly changed as per the agenda of the day. All communication has to go through the cloud for authenticated. The police state is constantly scanning people if they have any sort of external storage device. USB ports are banned from being manufactured. Radio is banned. Few people, the rebels, hoard the last bit of art and music in the form of LPs/cassettes,/canvas but it's shared among people like contraband.

        This can be an awesome movie :P

    • With no subscription, just simply uploading from my GBA/DS/3DS/Switch to my Steamdeck… Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that. Like, wth are they even doing over there to not have solved that issue day 1 on the switch.

      Are you honestly asking why Nintendo doesn't allow you to simply bypass purchasing their console? Really? Why do you think?

      • Ofc not, I'm asking why they didn't just release a collection like Sega did, or like Nintendo has done in the past.
        Releasing a "classics" collection in the first few months of the switch would have been such an easy move.

        Though, contextually (and more importantly), pointing out that the switch 2 doesn't just have to compete against a similar device with a mammoth array of games... but one with all of nintendo's games, too.

  • Both systems have pros and cons. This article isn't bashing on the Steam Deck at all, just making the case for what the Switch 2 has going for it.

    They say up front that this article is a response to the frankly obnoxious amount of "my gaming platform can beat up your gaming platform" circlejerking that has been going around - which you're kinda perpetuating.

    The Deck does not "obliterate" the Switch 2, and a headline like that makes you part of the problem.

  • The main draw of Switch 2 is Nintendo software. That’s about the end of the discussion for me that makes me need one. Nintendo has always made my favorite games since I started playing in 1988. They still make many of my favorite games today.

    I was mad at the pricing at first but then I put it in perspective. I really only buy 3-4 retail games per year on the Switch, and at $10-20 more each, that’s $30-80 more per year at most. Not a happy thing but it is what it is. That’s literally one night out with friends having drinks and food.

    Still going to love my Steam Deck and still going to play plenty of games on it too… likely more than Switch 2 because of Steam deals and the fact that I trust Valve more with my digital library than Nintendo honestly. They’ve never let me down whereas Nintendo has.

    • But it's impossible for a human on the internet to like more than 1 thing at a time!

    • The high price for first Party Nintendo exclude games doest matter that much even. I buy the physical versions and the have good resale value.

  • Their words:

    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.

    You:

    The next thing: Switch 2 is supposedly better because a joy-con can act as a mouse.

    If that was your whole takeaway from that paragraph, I don't think you'll ever see the appeal. Different strokes and all that.

  • I agree, it really seems like the author doesn't know what they're talking about. However:

    The Switch 2 has a bigger screen that runs at 1080P. That great.

    It's actually not, in my opinion. 800p is high enough density on a 7.4" display. Higher resolution will impact battery life. I would, however, prefer 16:9, as almost no games I play support 16:10. And I don't feel like it needs to be any bigger, I think it's a good size. The argument that bigger = better is absurd.

    But the Steam Deck has an OLED panel which the Switch 2 does not.

    Pros and cons. The Switch has a 120Hz VRR display. SD unfortunately is only 90Hz/no VRR. I've not seen any VRR OLED displays in this size.

    As for a dock itself, sure the official Steam Deck Docking Station costs C$109. However, I can buy a 3rd party docking station off Amazon for C$40. So that's not much of an argument.

    Not sure why the SD dock is so expensive but having a first-party devices guarantees everything works the way it should, which its very much not with 3rd party docks.

    Will games look better on Switch 2?

    They sure seem confident that it will...

  • I'm just going to point out some things.

    1. The comparison comes from price point and the fact that both systems are handheld play anywhere systems with docking capability for couch play.
    2. There are already arguably better spec's handhelds in this category that would outperform both these systems, but the cost of them is largely a deciding factor and it comes with some tradeoffs that include OS (since these are windows only handhelds with the exception of the Legion Go S, meaning that if you don't want windows you have to go to the added trouble of installing something like Bazzite).
    3. We know that just about every handheld on the market has some tradeoffs. The Legion Go has a beautiful screen and joycon-like detachable controllers. But it's also heavier than the switch, and the steam deck and arguably less comfortable to hold for some. We know the the original ROG Ally had a bunch of problems including the fact that it would destroy its own SF card slot and potentially any SD card installed in it. It's newest iteration is great (lots of fixes, better GPU/CPU, larger SDD, better battery life, better ergonomics, fixed SD card slot etc), however it's also close to $1000. The Legion Go S had a different storage capacities depending on which OS you chose at launch. Even now there's different variants that give different performance at different price points (Z1 extreme vs Z2 Go). The Switch OG lacks emulation for a lot of newer games (Wii and DS games specifically). Those games are coming probably but they are available on other handhelds with just a little bit of extra work.
    4. Ease of play and ease of emulation are things people who aren't buying these devices to tinker want. So the Switch 2 wins there. Just buy the subscription and you can emulate quite a lot of their gaming library with more to come.
    5. Expecting a publication largely catering to the fans of Nintendo to offer up its competition as the better bargain for the money is just... Silly. It doesn't make sense.

    The switch 2 doesn't add enough things to the table to make me want to spend $450+ to buy it. It's launch titles are not particularly compelling for me, and when you add their anti-emulation litigation to the pile and DCMA abuse, I just don't feel like it's something I'm currently willing to buy. On top of that there's lots of accessibility improvements I would love to see including joycon styles for 2D platformers that I clude a real D pad, GameCube style Joycons, or even just Joycons that would allow those with partial impairment or disability. There's a lot of unexplored territory for the design and execution of this product that doesn't include better graphics or being able to play cyberpunk 2077 and I think people forget that. Can you get such things on a steam deck? Yeah. Probably. But not natively docked to the system in handheld mode.

  • Honestly, with the Presentation of Switch 2, i guess they will again have a unsuccessful Generation (Like Wii U, N64 etc) of console ahead of them. That is why i Sold some of my Nintendo Stocks now while the hypetrain is still going. From my Point of View, the Controller-Mouse is a Gimmick at best - i want to Play a Handheld while on the move, Not by sitting at a desk. Not including a Touchpad is a failure. The price Point of both the Games and the console are the other Thing - Sure for the young Generation the usability of a Switch 2 IS good - but all other successful consoles of Nintendo were compelling to other chunks of dthe democraphic too, thats what made them successful - Nintendo DS was popular among students, Wii with families and elderly, NES with everyone below 30. And those demographics certainly care about price,and the Steam BigPicture UI is as good as the the Switch one.

    If on the other Hand valve will Take some of the Features of Switch/Switch 2 to Heart with their next SteamDeck Generation i think, it will be widely successful (at least as Long as Gabe will stay with US and No enshittification Happens). Like the detachable Controllers on a SteamDeck2 with integrated Mouse functionality would Work really Well - because, and that is the deciding usability Factor Here - SteamDeck can also bei used as a Workstation. The Switch 2 can't, so the utility of a Mouse is much larger for a SteamDeck.

126 comments