Valve Not Rushing Out Steam Deck 2

[Nordic]

They might have had some early plans for a late 2024 successor, but then they saw the Switch 2's horrible specs (probably a 1.3TFLOPs Ampere docked and 8GB RAM on a 64bit bus) and decided the Deck could comfortably hold an extra year or more.

The Switch and Steam Deck compete like a Toyota and Porsche. They are both sell cars and do very similar things, but one is not like the other and doesn't appeal to the same consumer. Valve will never have 10% of Nintendo's total units sold.

 

[Kapone33]

Not really. The point of a Nintendo console is to play Nintendo games and use quirky Nintendo hardware. Nintendo is always off on their own little island doing their own things. Even in the console space Nintendo isn't really directly competing like Sony and Microsoft are. Nintendo is always about creating a platform and then unique first or direct partner games. If other stuff shows up on it that's nice but that's not the point. Which is why the moment Nintendo makes say a multi platform Zelda, Metroid, and Mario is the moment Nintendo goes under and those franchises die out never to be seen again. Hence all the "please port Zelda to PC" is actually saying "please kill off Zelda so we never see another one ever again because I hate Zelda and want to kill it off".

They just simply aren't in direct competition with really anyone and haven't been since the 16bit era war with SEGA. The DS wasn't actually competing with the PSP it did something completely different just as the 3DS wasn't competing with the PS Vita. The Wii controlers wasn't actually competing with the PS3 or the 360 it did something utterly different. The Switch isn't competing with Sony or Microsoft either.

It's a good thing as well. Nintendo comes up with some bonkers stuff but you can see the evolution from the Wii controlers to some of the VR controllers. The Steam Deck obvious took a lot of inspiration from the Switch. The N64 introduced analogue sticks. The DS brought out touch screen gaming. A lot of games on other platforms clearly got some of their ideas and other stuff from various Zelda, Mario, and Metroid games. Hell there are dozens of Smash Brothers clones on Steam right now, same with Animal Crossing. They don't compete really with others but they sure as shit come out with a lot of great ideas that other companies ape and at times do better and other times do worse at.

We're all better off with Nintendo being their crazy own selves and not really giving a damn about anyone else.

This is one of the things I miss about when TPU used to be all about context. Your text pretty much sums up Nintendo to a tee. I will say though that I believe the Steam Deck and other handhelds (there are so many) are revolutionary as Steam and PC Gaming are at a point where it is the Cat's Meow. CP2077 is what it is but the Ascent is just as Cyberpunky. I know if I was in College or travelled to work I would have one. I can't bring myself to pay over $600 for a decent Handheld. Where Nintendo is in trouble for their position is those Gray market drives on Amazon that have entire libraries of older consoles. I have been thoroughly enjoying Flashback on the 3DO.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

The Switch and Steam Deck compete like a Toyota and Porsche.

I disagree. There's a number of people holding off on buying a Steam Deck because they already own a Switch, and don't use handheld consoles enough to justify having two of those.
I personally know people in that situation.

Come the Switch 2, if the Deck is more powerful then they'll get the Deck.

 

[Nordic]

I disagree. There's a number of people holding off on buying a Steam Deck because they already own a Switch, and don't use handheld consoles enough to justify having two of those.
I personally know people in that situation.

Come the Switch 2, if the Deck is more powerful then they'll get the Deck.

I know people who have a switch and don't want two handhelds. I know people who have a switch and a deck. The Steam Deck has sold maybe 3 million? The Switch has sold well over 100 million. The number of people who know the Steam Deck exists is probably less than the number of Switchs sold.

The Steam Deck won't cause noticeable sales drop for the Switch. Nintendo won't care about something that sells so little. Meanwhile Valve was happy to sell a million units. They weren't sure they would get that far.

Just because a few thousand people might get one or the other doesn't make it competitive.

 

[Tartaros]

I think it would be nice if they tried to diversify into a smaller version for lighter 3D and 2D games since that's my target games and I don't really play anything more complex than the DMC collection or GGS, Elden Ring is awsome on Deck and all but I'm not into those kinds of games on a handheld. I love my Deck but it is so heavy I have to play with a cushion on my chest when I'm on the bed, I hope weight is a concern in the newer versions.

I really don't think releasing old Nintendo games on PC would kill Nintendo. I cannot imagine BotW on PC say in 2024 would do anything else than bring them a lot of money.

I don't think it would hurt them too and would be awesome to see their games on modern hardware, but there is also the "nintendo magic" they constructed for themselves over all these decades. It's just emotional, but I kinda like that corner they are in.

 

[dick_cheney]

I wouldn't mind another year or two Wait for steamdeck 2 as long as it has a better screen (which id happily pay extra for). I agree on Nintendo it's an entirely diffrent segment they stopped competing on raw hardware with the gamecube.