Switch 2 Has to Face a Problem the Original Didn’t: Handheld Gaming PCs

I recently got a Steam Deck after the Switch 2 reveal because Nintendo priced me out, but the vast, vast majority of people aren't like me. The Switch 2 will do fine, but not nearly as well as the Switch 1 due to prices being less accessible. I wonder just how many actual new exclusive games Nintendo is going to be releasing for it - their new releases were pretty sparse on the Switch due to so many ports, and they're already pumping out Switch 1 game upgrades for Switch 2 and marketing them like they're new releases, not to mention it's going to be PS4/PS5 dual releases all over again for a while.

Not in its domestic market in Japan. A handful of niche hobbiests may have things like a SteamDeck, but it's far from mainstream, nor is the market seemingly terribly interested in it.
- Agreed. Most Japanese gamers are still console sluts. I don't know why, but I think space limitations might be a factor. A console has a much smaller footprint compared to a desktop PC.

Don't get me wrong I love my Steam Deck... But with its mass-market appeal the Switch 2 is going to steamroll over the handheld gaming device market.
As streamlined as it is, the Steam Deck is sometimes finnicky due to it being a PC (which is an amazing thing for tinker-minded folks). Plus it cannot play some of the most popular PC games on the planet (Fortnite, LoL, Roblox, etc).
Windows handhelds are even more niche, because dealing with Windows on handhelds... Man that takes some serious dedication.
I would wager that Nintendo is going to sell at least 20x more units as the whole handheld gaming PCs lineup combined.
- If limited games were actually an issue then the Switch wouldn't sell. It can only play the games made for it. There are so many more PC exclusives than all console exclusives combined.
- Plus it cannot play some of the most popular PC games on the planet (Fortnite, LoL, Roblox, etc).
  Out of the loop. Why is this?
  
  Mostly due to lack of support from the developers, but that often reaches into willful obstruction. People are stubborn and clever, if it can run on windows it can likely run on Linux, but the devs will sometimes put willful roadblocks against things running on Linux. Allegedly to stop cheats, though since most anti cheat software does support Linux I think they just don't want to deal with the OS.
  
  League of Legends used to work until they brought their kernel level anti-cheat from Valorant into League as well.
  
  Most of the time it's because client-side anti-cheat is not being well or at all supported on Linux.
  For instance Roblox used to run on Linux through launchers such as Grapejuice or Vinegar. However the devs now explicitely block Roblox player on Linux due to a large quantity of cheaters coming from there according to their stats. Since their actual Linux userbase is minuscule compared to other platforms, they just chose go the easy (and probably financially sane) route.
  As for Fortnite, it's all about the ROI baby !
  Why is Fortnite still not playable on Steam Deck?
  If we only had a few more programmers. It’s the Linux problem. I love the Steam Deck hardware. Valve has done an amazing job there; I wish they would get to tens of millions of users, at which point it would actually make sense to support it.
  
  If you install windows it can, but natively it can't as those games don't support Linux. However, you loose a lot of the value of the steamdeck (SteamOS) by installing windows.
  Also windows sucks on a handheld. I dual booted for a while, but it's just not really worth it.
- The day I see a Steam Deck in Walmart in Mexico (my country) is the day I am gonna acknowledge these PC handheld devices as Switch competence (I mention the Deck because it is the only one that I am slightly interested in getting, probably other brands are already there).
- I think the Fortnite, LoL etc stuff will be fixed soon enough.
  If there are enough SteamDeck (or SteamOS) people around, they would have to fix it, or they would be missing out on those people.

No it doesn't. I love my steam deck, and have used it to emulate many Nintendo systems, but Nintendo will always defy people's expectations by having amazing first party titles. It's their software, not the hardware.

As a satisfied Steam Deck owner who will never buy a Switch: The Switch is in a league of its own and has absolutely nothing to fear from handheld PCs. The entire handheld PC market is just a tiny fraction compared to all Switch or future Switch 2 sales.

Love my Deck and think the handheld PC format is awesome… but Nintendo has nothing to worry about. Switch 2 is going to far outsell these devices. It’s much more appealing to mainstream audiences, it’ll be heavily marketed, and it has Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon.

That's just pure clickbait

Meh, Steam Deck library is enormous and has most of the games I want to play. Switch will have maybe 1-3 games I would actually play at this stage, mostly being Zelda. But, the rest will be available on Steam Deck. As much as I like Nintendo, their formula of releasing a new console and then releasing a new refresh title to each one of their IPs is a little stale. Mario Kart is Mario Kart. I guess the point is they hook a new generation of kids with each console release, but if you've been around too long, the shine wears off. So, I'm left needing to decide whether I want to buy a console to play just a few games. The answer is increasingly no or, at best, maybe in a few years when I can pick it up cheap. I feel the same way about PS5. There isn't a single title on there that I want and can't play on PC. GTA 6 will be the only maybe. I might be too impatient to wait til the PC release.
- That, and the bloom has certainly been off the rose with most big name Nintendo properties over the last couple of cycles. Tears of the Kingdom was just a retread of Breath of the Wild but without the benefit of the formula being fresh and arguably worse in quite a few respects. Pokémon has been an archaic frustrating insult to the player's time and intelligence since the 3DS era, arguably before. Echoes of Wisdom should have been a $15 eShop title. Super Mario Wonder managed to simultaneously be underwhelming, rather grating, possess zero replay value, and pales in comparison to Odyssey. Etc, etc.
  It seems Nintendo is getting paranoid and conservative. Creativity is dead over there, and mostly the only moves they're making are safe and samey cash-grabs, which is a strategy that I don't think has much long term potential. This is really the first time ever I have no interest in a new Nintendo console nor any of its games, and Nintendo's continued fan- and customer-hostile behavior that's really ramped up over the last several years also pitches in to make this an easy no sell for me.
- Or you pick up a steam deck 2 and emulate the switch 2 🤣. Recently I started working through a few switch games on my deck that I don't own on my switch.
- They do reuse their franchises but I feel the games (at least in some instances) are very different, for instance BotW is not same as Oot, they are same franchise, so share some lore, but practically speaking they are their own games.
  As for Mario Kart, racing and fighting games work like that, unless a franchise flops or something, we keep getting more games every generation or so.
  They did release couple of new IPs, like Astral Chain and Arms (and Ring fit and Labo, if we count those), but I do agree that there should be some new IPs.

While I look forward to seeing the market grow, right now handheld gaming PCs are still a small niche compared to the number of Switch 2 units that will ship. Valve can't manufacture at the same scale as Nintendo, and every other product on the market is a niche within a niche.

Nintendo has a measure of competition again, but I'm sure they'll be fine. If nothing else they can always find somebody to sue for piracy.

Can’t hear this over the sound preorders going nuts.

Until handheld PCs can be as compact and light as the Switch, it's not a problem at all. I can fit a Switch Lite into my pocket, I can't say the same for a Deck.
- The soluton to this is to bring back JNCOs.
- You can't really say the same about a non-lite switch 1 either.

Current ones are too heavy and the only one that can make a price competitive device is Valve and the question will be can they do so in volume that can sell in Wal-Mart. Maybe a Steam Deck mini that still manages to improve performance at ~10w compared to what it can do at 15w and designed to size with that peak chip TDP in mind. Nothing is ever going to beat the breadth of library that is on Steam. All the games from the 90s to present that are solid to great games which at this point are probably thousands of games, but the main kicker will be how it performs with multiplatform games that target the Switch 2
A Steam Deck won't be a AAA exclusive game platform. At this point the Xbox and PlayStation haven't been those this gen. But PC does get all the surprise indie hits that go viral on twitch/etc that may take years if ever to show up on consoles

The crossover is a very small sub group. Switch 2 is gonna do numbers. These people just make up new bullshit to have another article to push.
- Yep!
  Every person I knew who was into the Switch 2 complained about the price and then pre-ordered.
  In over here chilling with my Steam Deck playing a TOTALLY LEGAL VERSION OF A RED MAN IN A JUMP SUIT.
  
  Exactly these things ability to sell will only be limited by Nintendo ability to produce them lol. I'm glad my kids aren't old enough to know what any of this is yet. I'm counting my days.

The size of the switch 2 will be its downfall.
- It's smaller than a Steam Deck and that sells just fine, A long with the rest of handhelds being of the similar size.

I think with the expanded third party support we saw on the Switch (and will likely follow with Switch 2), handheld PCs will still remain a mostly distinct market from the Switch. They are more of an alternative option - more choice from the massive PC backlog + emulators, but none of the heavy hitter Switch 2 exclusives. They will keep the pressure on Nintendo, however, to keep indie developers happy enough to go through the extra work to make Switch ports of their games, as the PC development experience is far more flexible. For PC gamers, the Switch serves as what I like to call a "gap filler" - anything that doesn't get released on PC almost certainly gets released on Switch, so the platforms complement each other quite well.

Probably more impactful: switch 1

Not untill the switch 2 emulator comes out.
- Even then it will have a negligible impact. People online really seem to live in a bubble thinking Nintendo customers a) are even aware of the existence of emulators or b) actually have the time, knowledge and interest to use them. Most Nintendo players just buy their games for their stock Nintendo console and are happy to do so.
  
  Yet Nintendo goes after emulation with the fury of a thousand angry suns. It makes me want to pirate their stuff more out of spite.

Don't think so. Those who actually are interested are just a vocal minority, compared to Switch userbase. I'm personally conflicted on this one.
On one hand, I kinda want to get a Switch 2 because I know how convenient it is to just pick up a Switch and play a game without fiddling with settings.
On the other, I have so many games on Steam/Heroic it just makes sense to get a Steam Deck or a competitor.
For now I'm waiting for the reviews of Lenovo Legion Go S with Z1 Extreme and Steam OS, then I'll probably make a decision on what to get

RIP Smach Z, would have been a handheld gaming PC set to compete with the Switch 1
- Lol