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submitted 4 weeks ago by atomicpoet@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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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[-] Wooki@lemmy.world -1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Lol what comical copium.

They are both handheld gaming devices. To claim otherwise is nothing more than an ideological feature that only matters to 2% of thr market.

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[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Also, for what its worth, the OLED Decks literally sold out today, as in, Valve doesn't currently have any more to sell in the US.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/06/supply-chain-issues-are-making-the-steam-deck-oled-go-out-of-stock/

Also also... I realize this is a silly comparison, but the Switch 2 has not outsold all variants of the Deck, yet.

Its at about 3.5 million, Steam Deck is at about 4.5 million since 2022.

Also x3, the Switch 2 is apparently already sold out as well, as in no more units available at US retailers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/nintendo-switch-console-record-sales.html

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world -5 points 4 weeks ago

There are millions upon millions of Mario, Link, and Pokemon fans.

There are not millions and millions of... what's the killer Steam Deck game again? Oh, right, there isn't one.

If Valve came out with Half Life 3, made it Steam exclusive and a pack in with the Deck, then it would start putting up Nintendo numbers.

[-] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 0 points 4 weeks ago

There are actually thousands of games that run on Steam Deck with no additional configuration that aren't even available on Switch, and conservatively, hundreds of those are extremely popular. Plus a lot of Switch's library is on Steam Deck, where it tends to be a better version of the game for one reason or another, not the least of which is free online play.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world -1 points 4 weeks ago

That's exactly the problem... there are thousands of games but nothing stands out the way Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon do on a Nintendo platform.

I still look from time to time on my Deck. I picked up Borderlands 2 the other day because it was free.

But what I usually see browsing are a bunch of games I can already play on other systems, plus porn games, anime games, and anime porn games.

There really isn't one game that stands out on the Deck.

Vampire Survivors?
macOS, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

En Garde? PC Exclusive, decent game, but limited and a little boring if I'm being honest.

https://youtu.be/MfUmgmMp964

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[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Pretty great that they sold 4m of this device without any exclusive tbh. It's not even their main income.

[-] Thatuserguy@lemmy.world -1 points 4 weeks ago

Very doubtful tbh. You can look at HL: Alyx as an example. It sold well I'm sure, but not Nintendo level. As much as people like to belly ache about VR being too hard to get into, it's truly no more expensive than a Steam Deck if you actually bother to take more than 2 seconds to legitimately look into it.

I played Alyx on a mobile 1060 and a $300 headset and while it wasn't top of the line, it was still perfectly playable. I imagine most gamers these days have at least that, but Alyx absolutely did not sell like hot cakes. And I doubt the Steam Deck would either, even for HL3.

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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
147 points (94.5% liked)

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