“Will Steam Deck Doom the Nintendo Switch? Ask General Audiences!”

Yesterday, Valve revealed the new Steam Deck, a powerful, portable gaming device that occupies the niche filled by the Nintendo Switch. It will allow players to game through their Steam library on the go and it will also connect to external monitors like your living room TV whilst you sit in your favorite chair. It’s easy to see why comparisons (and contrasts) between the Deck and the Switch were quickly being made with some suggesting that the Steam Deck spelled disaster for the Switch’s sales.

Gamer Prophets quickly prognosticated that Steam’s immense library and the potential to emulate and mod the heck out of the Deck would put a sizable dent in the Switch’s steamrolling success. So let’s phrase this in terms of the pros going for the Deck.

PROS

1. Accesses a massive shop of Steam games which frequently go on sale.
2. Provides a flexible handheld experience instead of being stuck at a computer.
3. Not bad, just check out those specs.
4. Emulating potential off the charts.

But what the Steam Deck will need to do in order to match, surpass, or demolish the Switch’s approximately 85 million units sold is appealing to a wider audience, a general audience, and broader demographics than just the PC gamer or console gamer looking for a comfortable doorway into Steam. The Switch remained a best-selling product for years and has only recently been matched in June (2021) by the Xbox Series in dollar sales (though Switch leads in unit sales) not because it appealed to gamers along the lines of hardware specs. Far from it.

In fact, the Switch is seen by some gamers as a toy, a console for children, with no small disdain. And there’s no way around it. Its abilities are insignificant next to the power of the PlayStation, the Xbox, and the PC. But you can clearly see how that puts an overreliance upon power and specs as deciding factors in how consumers choose which platform to purchase.

How many times has the most powerful console of a generation been the most successful?

Or perhaps a more appropriate question: how many times has a more powerful handheld device seen the most success in terms of sales? Think back upon handheld gaming history. From the Game Boy to the DS, from Neo Geo to Atari to Sony to Sega, Nintendo has been a powerhouse in the handheld scene.

The Game Boy couldn’t hope to match the Game Gear’s colors and Sega drummed up their handhelds technical superiority to the Game Boy. And they weren’t wrong, of course. But the Game Gear launched at ¥19,800 in Japan, $149.99 in North America, and £99.99 in Europe. Sega developed the Game Gear in direct competition to the Game Boy but guess which one people bought? The one that cost price JP¥12,500, US$89.99, and £67.40, resulting in a difference in sales of 118 million (Game Boy and Game Boy Color) to 10.6 million (Game Gear).

Now someone will say “but sales aren’t everything!” And of course, they’re not. I don’t want to oversimplify competitive handheld sales. Sales don’t dictate what you should like or how much you should like it. We don’t even benefit from sales directly as consumers. Switch sales aren’t lining our pockets. Other way around, actually!

But if we’re talking in terms of financial success and the Deck digging into the Switch’s lead, then we’re absolutely talking sales.

While the Deck will have its tremendous library access, potential for emulating and modding, and power to boot, let’s consider some cons.

CONS

1. Its price tag.
2. No exclusives(?), at least that we know of yet.
3. “Normies” or “filthy casuals”, whatever you want to call them, won’t know offhand what Steam is or who Valve is, but decades of marketing guarantees they can recognize Mario as a brand.
4. Nintendo itself is a more recognizable brand for the average consumer and the Switch has its gimmick in its title. What will Steam Deck mean to a non-gamer?
5. It seems as if you won’t be able to walk into a retail store and buy a Steam Deck on impulse or for a late Christmas gift.
6. Certain PC-oriented games may be either uncomfortable or unwieldy to play on a small handheld screen, or may require exterior equipment to play outside of the Deck’s controls, minimizing its flexibility as a carry-on handheld.
7. Emulation takes time and effort which the average consumer may not necessarily have in spades.
8. Steam Machine and Steam Link potentially set a bad precedent for Valve breaking into gaming that more closely resembles consoles.

You can already play this on a more affordable option.

Why has the Switch been successful? It occupies a handheld gaming niche (and is also a console) that is priced affordably compared to its predecessors, does not rely upon the best hardware specs to appeal specifically to those to whom that sort of thing appeals, it is apparently easier to manufacture and distribute for that reason (see: next-gen consoles), it is stacked with exclusives that appeal to a wide range of age groups and demographics, and remember the lesson of the Game Boy vs the Game Gear: both had game libraries but one was more affordable than the other.

Can you envision a grandma buying a Switch for her grandkids to play Mario Kart?

Ok, what about a grandma buying a Steam Deck for her grandkids to mod in order to play Mario Kart for a steeper price? I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying it’s unlikely. A statistics game.

I admit it can be difficult for us, people who have gaming-themed online personas, who run gaming-themed websites, who write and read about games, who talk about games with strangers online on a daily basis, to understand the perspectives of other demographics who do not have the same hobbies, pastimes, interests, or impulses, but the fact remains that those differences exist. People to whom the Steam Deck appeals are either already Steam users or people interested in Steam.

Does not drift! Add that to PROS.

How do you demonstrate to an average consumer that Deck isn’t just a knockoff of a product that’s already been available for half the price? There are many consumers who can’t tell the different between a PlayStation and an Xbox, or tell you which company Mario or Sonic belongs to, nevermind navigating Steam, hacking the Deck wide open, etc. etc. There’s a reason why grandma gave little Johnny a Switch for his birthday and not a Raspberry Pi, despite the fact, as we’re often reminded, that you can just upload every game you ever wanted to a Raspberry Pi.

Further, the Switch occupies a complimentary gaming slot. With its 1st party exclusives, you can play almost everything there is to play with it plus another big platform. That’ll still be true with the Deck. Someone may bring up emulation again but that still flies in the face of Average Consumer Person. Normally, perhaps ethically (?), average consumers will not be playing Breath of the Wild on Steam Deck.

Comparisons with the Nintendo Switch are impossible to avoid but is the Steam Deck a Switch killer?

Well, maybe it will do better than the Steam Machine or the Steam Link, but it remains to be seen if it can really switch up the handheld/hybrid game. It may sell well, in its context, but it’s not for the same audience as the Switch. It’s easy to see why the Switch appeals to non-gamers but not so easy to see why the Steam Deck would.

Also, missed opportunity to call it the Gabe Boy.

If you disagree, that’s ok. Disagreement is interesting! Let’s just do it without getting too riled up.

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.