this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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It’s silly to compare Switch 2 sales to Steam Deck sales.

The Switch 2 is a locked-down, vertically integrated platform. There are no ROG Switch 2s. No Lenovo Switch 2s. No Switch laptops or tower PCs with discrete GPUs. If you want to play Mario Kart World, your only option is to buy a Switch 2. Period.

Steam Deck, by contrast, isn’t a platform. It’s just one hardware option—one entry point into the sprawling, open ecosystem known as PC gaming.

Every year, around 245 million PCs are shipped globally. If even 20–25% of those are gaming-focused, that’s 49–61 million gaming PCs annually. Steam Deck is a sliver of that. So of course it won’t outsell a console that’s the only gateway to a major IP.

But that’s exactly the point.

PC gaming is too decentralized for any single device to dominate. The last “PC” that did was the Commodore 64, which sold 12.5–17 million units over 12 years because it was a self-contained platform, unlike modern Windows, Mac, or Linux machines.

That the Steam Deck has sold 4 million units despite competing with every other gaming PC in existence is remarkable. It didn’t just sell—it legitimized a category. Handheld PC gaming is now a thing. That’s why Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI have followed. Even Microsoft is getting in, optimizing Windows for handhelds—something they would never have done if the Steam Deck didn't hold their feet to the fire.

So no, Steam Deck didn’t outsell the Switch 2. It didn’t need to.

It won by changing the landscape.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Ok I'm with you on the whole store exclusivity thing but come on. More exclusive? Having to buy from a certain store and being able to run anywhere on hardware of your choice is hardly more exclusive than being forced to buy from one vendor and only run on one system.

That said, I do think this whole argument is somewhat moot because the steam deck and switch serve very different but overlapping audiences. I own an original switch and a steam deck, I don't think one can replace the other but I've opted not to buy the switch 2 because Nintendo's anti consumer practices really turn me off if they want to tell me what I can do with the games and hardware I bought from them.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

I’m passing on the Switch 2 for similar reasons.

I can either fund Nintendo to sue open source developers or I can fund Valve who are payrolling open source developers.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Having to buy from a certain store and being able to run anywhere on hardware of your choice is hardly more exclusive than being forced to buy from one vendor and only run on one system.

But you can’t…? It’s locked to OS, and it doesn’t run on ALL hardware. There’s minimum specs, and you can’t play modern games on windows 95.

Why do people ignore the glaring flaws while preaching the few okay ones? And the obvious lies too. The pros that people use, all fall flat when you follow them. You say all hardware, but it’s not, and never has been has it…?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You realize there’s been vast technical advancements since 1995, right?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

able to run anywhere on hardware of your choice i

So if this statement is true, an OS wouldn’t be a limitation.

Of course tech is better, that’s why you can’t play on it anymore with anything modern. Do you seriously need this pointed out?

And lots of old windows 95 programs don’t run on modern hardware, so if you bought something back then, you’re SOL with modern hardware. Limitations everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’m not the OP, but the original statement wasn’t that you can run on all hardware—but rather the hardware of your choice.

There are many, many different PC models available, with a variety of form factors, with vastly different components. And you can choose whatever gives you value.

Nobody is claiming that you should run Black Myth Wukong on an old IBM Aptiva except you.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Right, but it’s not freedom, when it doesn’t run on everything. You need to keep your system updated to play modern games.

With a switch, any game released, you know will play.

So yes it’s MORE exclusive in some situations.

Nobody is claiming that you should run Black Myth Wukong on an old IBM Aptiva except you.

Where? Don’t put words in peoples mouth if you want to have a civil discourse, but of course with this being your post, we know your bias already.

The thing you are arguing for, literally has a list of games it CANT run… and it includes a lot of modern games as well as older, so it can’t even run them… nice non-exclusion eh? It limits on BOTH sides.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's not a sock puppet, [email protected] just happens to agree wholeheartedly with SchmidtGenetics and downvote/upvote the same comments a couple minutes after they do. /s

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Funny how month long idle accounts come out as well on those same votes, what does any of it imply?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There are flaws and benefits to every platform, that's why they exist otherwise only one would stand the test of time. There's a reason why PC gaming continues to march on. It has its flaws, sure, I wouldn't necessarily say glaring though.

The argument here isn't that PC gaming is flawless or you can run on literally any hardware or os, that's silly. Just that it's more flexible and open to choice. I run my Steam library on my Windows PC, Linux PC and steam deck. Games I bought a decade ago can run perfectly fine on all these configurations. That's the argument I was making and why your claim of PC being more exclusive seemed so disconnected from the reality of my experiences at least.

Still, it's not an argument to say you should use one platform or the other. Just that they are different and have their pros/cons, flexibility being a huge pro of the PC platform that's important to some people and less so for others.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That’s literally what I’m trying to point out? They all have their own quirks. And yet people bicker it’s funny.

I point out there’s limitations on PC, and get insulted. The circlejerking against Nintendo and for Steam is just wild on this community.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Well, I don't know what to tell you then, mate. If that's all you're trying to say I don't think it's particularly controversial. Maybe it's the way you're saying it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I insulted sir Gaben, steam and gaben are sacred on Lemmy. I spoke ill and got brigaded, happens to any comments like that. Could do without the blatant insults, surprised the mods allow it, or maybe they just haven’t gotten to it yet.