Steam Deck now has thousands more games than the Nintendo Switch

I have a Switch but have bought maybe 3 games for it tops. Where Steam has user reviews, a super simple refund policy, and frequent deep discounts, Nintendo's purchasing experience is clearly lacking in a customer-friendly approach.

Anyone asking for recommendations for their next gaming device, it's Steam Deck every time.

And Nintendo insists on never discounting certain games. It’s hard to swallow paying $60 for a 5 year old game that I’m only somewhat interested in. Meanwhile steam will let you buy a game like that for $15 bucks. Half the time you buy it and never play it, but just wanted to get it on sale just in case you do find time to give it a go.
- Plus most people will already a pretty stacked library day 1 when they get a steam deck. I wouldn’t have to buy another game for years or even a decade if I were to get a steam deck just based on what I still have on my backlog.
  And if I buy a game for the steam deck I can still play it on my pc whenever
- Super Mario Run on iOS is 4+ years old and still $9.99 to unlock all of the worlds.
  No thanks, Nintendo. Learn from Steam and have some sales.
- In my region, a full price switch game costs over $90 including taxes. A measly SIX games would cost more than a steam deck.
Steam Deck plays the games I bought in 2008. That's a 15 year old library.
Where all my old Xbox/ps games just sit there.
- it also plays Nintendo games too
Don't forget a more user friendly digital download SHARING system as well.. We tried "SHARING" a digital download switch game a few times.. Steam is far more forgiving. Switch wins on swapping carts however, if you stick to physical purchases for sharing.
Switch has Zelda. It's the only reason we own a switch and the only game we play on it
- Except you can play that same Zelda game on a Steam Deck 60fps with no frame drops, I never play my Switch anymore now that I have my Switch library on my Steam Deck
Yeah. Nintendo's lack of refund policies is why I made the switch to SteamDeck.

It's a computer, so yes. There are more computer games than switch games.

There are more playable/verified games on the Steam Deck than there are switch games.
Both are computers.
- One is PC game compatible Linux
- Yeah, so is my phone. You know what I mean

People buy a Nintendo console to play Nintendo games. As good as the steam deck is (and I really do want one, but GabeN has decided that Switzerland does not exist), you ain't going to be playing Splatoon on it.

Not everything has to be a contest. Let people like things that they like.

Maybe not Splatoon specifically, but switch-exclusive single-player games run comparably or better on switch emulators running on the deck
- Steam exclusive content of games isn’t a good thing. Moreover, it’s only a limitation of current technology until better hardware and software are developed. The Switch 2 can be better than Steam deck.
Right. Nintendo would've gone the way of Sega but they're so good at developing software they get people to buy their hardware.
you don't get it, this is Gabens quest to save all the whales. it's like a reverse Moby dick.
Uuuh... You could. Single player for the most part, but Splatoon can be played on the Deck.
- cough yuzu switch emulator cough
I bought my deck to play all games .. including Nintendo games.

The SD had the Switch's entire library the day it came out, no fucking shit it has thousands more games from the day it came out even ignoring that

How does a deck perform for Steam games though?
Edit - oh fuck me, I was sleepy - I meant Switch games.
- Really good! However, battery management is indeed a thing.
  Graphically demanding games, such as Phoenix Point, run well but drain battery fast.
  Other games that look good, but somehow aren't as demanding, last much longer.
  Battery lasts the longest, of course, with 2D games.
  Anyway, here's my experience with the Steam Deck (not OLED):
  Phoenix Point lasts just 2 hours.
  Civ 6 lasts about 3 hours, more on smaller maps with less NPCs.
  Emulated Breath of the Wild lasts for 4 to 5 hours.
  Hollow Knight nearly 7 hours.
- Ok if you’re realistic. Low-medium and you’ll have an hour. Drop performance down for 2D games.
  Source: I don’t have one yet.

Including cough switch games cough

Any x86 handheld console always has more games than the Switch including the Switch games

Especially given the fact that Switch emulation is running full speed on x86. So it is literally impossible for the Switch to ever have more games than Steam Deck.

The Switch has worse specs than most phones these days, literally a phone is better. And don't get me started on the eShop, it's so bad.

I bought a switch just to play with some simple games with my nephew. The last time i had anything to do with nintendo was the gamecube, and that was more of a joke purchase, but i still liked the quirkyness of it a lot.
It has some cool features, like the controllers are fun (fun, not good) but holy hell, the e-shop... Also i was kinda shocked that they want full price for mario kart, a game from 2014! And the dlc is absolutely predetory. I asked in a Nintendo sub about that and if that is normal for nintendo games, because i genuinely didn't know. And i caught so much shit for that. People told me that the game is just worth that much becase all the maps and stuff. And the dlc is cheap enough and yada yada. I even felt bad because they all called me a troll who only wants to stirr some shit up.
The other day i was listening to the jimqisition podcast and she talked about marvel's midnight suns and she absolutely loved the game, except that they put dlc costumes right next to your normal costumes to kinda trick you into buying pixel clothing, and that it's so gross that she wouldn't even recommend the game. Nintendo does exactly that, but in a game for children, but still they are somehow the wholesome vidio game company, with one of the most toxic fanboys i have ever seen. The console has trouble running disco Elysium for fucks sake. I absolutely regret giving them money, and that was right before other waaaaay better handheld consoles hit the market.
- Nintendo (adult) fanboys are so bad. It reminds me of Xbox/PS fanboys a decade ago, only that seems to have thankfully shrunk in prominence because I assume most have grown up. Whereas Nintendo's has only seemed to grow.
  Criticism of any Nintendo game is met with some serious wrath in Nintendo communities. Especially if it's Zelda.
Never understood why so many people supported the closing of eShop for 3DS, I get the feeling all Nintendo consoles are on a timer at this point. Never had the same feeling with the Deck, which can be easily modified to not be chained to the Steam storefront regardless. You'd have to jailbreak Nintendo consoles to gain any semblance of independent functionality, possibly bricking the darn thing in the process.
Owned both 3DS and Switch to play Pokemon, but I sure as hell ain't getting whatever's next.

It always did. 🔫

In a bad way because some are scams and others are so inappropriate that I could get banned in this group for talking about it.
- This statement is whack, you're claiming that the deck, which functions as a glorified handheld laptop, only has more games than a Nintendo handheld because of... scams and inappropriate methods??? Couldn't be that PC games have existed since 1970s, right?
  The 'steam deck verified' list the article quotes barely scratches the surface of the amount of games which work, games outside of the steam store function flawlessly 75% of the time with another 15% after 10 minutes of tweaks.
- Lol this dude is in almost every comment thread shitting on Steam. Who hurt you? They make android tablets that have better specs than the switch

Whoa Switch games + non-Switch games = more games than Switch??

steam deck can play switch games?
- https://yuzu-emu.org/
  https://dolphin-emu.org/
  https://overkill.wtf/how-to-setup-yuzu-for-steam-deck/

And non of the games on Steam are Nintendo games. Sure you’d could use an emulator but the average mainstream casual gamer can’t be bothered to learn how to do that. And Nintendo is a much better known brand than Steam with the casual crowd. Nintendo is not really competing with Steam. Smart phones, which most people already have and the games are free, are a much bigger threat to Nintendo than the Steam Deck.

It clearly underpins your opinion that Nintendo has been trying to enter the mobile market.
- What do you mean 'enter'? Nintendo created one of the first handheld gaming devices that ever existed, and they've been known for handheld devices all the way through their history.
At this point, anyone with the tech knowledge to have purchased a steam deck can install and run emudeck in like 15 minutes. You just go over to desktop, download and install the single package, put roms in the correct folders, then run the program and everything is already sorted into collections with you can find in the game mode library.
- anyone with the tech knowledge
  That rules out most of the people.
- I install it for my friends and no, "most people" cannot do this because booting into desktop mode and using dolphin sounds easy but its not for folks who just want it to work easy like a switch. Desktop mode is for power users and most console/pc owners are not power users.
- Ok but hypothetically, where would someone go for switch roms?

I've have a switch but steam deck is one of the best purchases I have ever made. It's such a beautiful device. Not to mention you can change the internal storage and add expandable storage. The biggest advantage steam deck has is its community.

Storage expansion is great. I got a 2tb SSD form AliExpress for ~160CAD and put in a 1tb SD card. I can just install whatever I want and never worry about shaders or games using to much space.

Nintendo has always had competition with superior hardware in the handheld department. The Sega Nomad, WonderSwan, and Playstation Vita were all good examples of that. Nintendo products being much cheaper are always what keeps them ahead with handheld consoles.

Lol much cheaper? A nintendo game from 25 years ago will be resold for $70 today. You can buy Doom on the switch for about $60 and it might catch 30fps you can buy the same game for playstation or xbox for like $15. Have you ever priced their used games for switch? They are laughably expensive. Just checked Doom on nintendos official website is $40 playstation has a sale on it right now for $4 regularly full price for $20. HALF of what Nintendo charges and the game runs probably twice as fast on any system that isnt the switch. Even a USED switch version of doom on gamestop is $33 lmao a USED VERSION. Nintendo sucks
- I think she's talking about the consoles themselves.
- They were cheaper options at the time of their release. Nintendo games from the past have only increased in price because of the popularity of the brand that attracts collectors. You are correct about the long-term expenses being cheaper overall but the average person only looks at the price for the console itself and that is about as far as their long-term thinking goes. Fps does not matter as much to the more casual gamer that Nintendo attracts.
  The perceived cheapness is what gives Nintendo the advantage.
It doesn't hurt that they also have a plethora of decent fist party franchises to put on their system. Other companies just get generic third party games that you can also play on PC
Nintendo products always being much cheaper
Ehhhh define “much”
The biggest difference between then and now is that the switch was the first handheld that could reasonably play (some) full scale open world console games. Any handheld trying to compete before that effectively needed games specifically developed for it with limited scope. There wasn't really the vibrant PC indie scene for easy ports to low spec hardware either, and the Switch was also the first to really court those.
These handheld PCs are pretty much the first time there's competition with a big library to be a real alternative. Before now, it would have also taken partnering with studios to convince them to port games to your device.
- This is a valid point I hadnt considered with the timeframe (although vita was a pretty badass system but your point about having to be specially ported to that device stands) but still with the current state of gaming as it exists right now Nintendo should not be selling a copy of a game that came out 8 years ago that runs at exactly half the fps of other systems for exactly double what everyone else has it listed for. They are like the Apple of video gaming.

but which platform has more shovelware to sift through? Using the Nintendo store feels like swimming through a literal shit hole that someone dumped a tiny bag of gemstones into.

I only have a Switch and want a Steam Deck, I'm not gonna lie, emulation is one of the biggest selling points to me ¯(ツ)/¯

If you only want to emulate older consoles on-the-go, you can get a hackable switch on eBay for $150, or an Anbernic handheld for less.
- I've got an anbernic RG351 and it runs everything from early N64 an older flawlessly, good battery life, decent screen and fairly good buttons, really good if you're out and about because it's nice and compact. I've also got a Steam Deck that does everything else and as a home console.
- Even better just get a cheap smartphone and one of those controllers that snap on the back like the kishi or whatever. My very mid range phone runs anything up to 3DS smoothly.

Still only 24 hours in a day

My steam library is massive and I've got tons of games I'll never play.

plus way more nintendo, super nintendo, genesis, and n64 games then you can get on switch online

Apples and oranges comparison. The Steam Deck is PC-adjacent hardware that can access a back catalogue of thousands of games going back twenty years, well before the Steam Deck was even an idea.

The Switch is a game console with its own ecosystem, and it has existed for six years. Games have to be developed specifically for it. The only thing both have in common is that they're handhelds.

Hasn't this been true since it launched?

I barely touch my switch. Only one or two games that were actually worth playing that actually felt smooth. Completely different story with my steam deck.

Will probably sell the switch

High quality thousand of games…

Yes it’s true, and it hits harder when you compare with the online Nintendo store
- 😂

It always did. But maybe not verified.

I can play Spotify, Doom, and Runescape at the same time on my Steam Deck. I don't think any other console can do that

The Steam Deck also costs significantly more

That significantly gets quickly set back by the price of online services and games. An old game on Switch is $60 (I have been wanting to buy a few games for my wife and they never went into any significant discount), meanwhile an old game on Steam is $3, so you can build a much larger library on Steam even if you were starting from scratch.
Long story short:
Switch + 1 game = Steam Deck
Switch + 2 games = Steam Deck + 10 games
- That's a good point I hadn't considered
- That's a really burnt me. I bought one big switch title game and it was pokémon shield. It was 60 bucks and I was so disappointed and there was no return. I got some small indie games, Hades on the switch was really fun. But after getting my steamed deck it just opened up all of the games that are already owned on my computer. Just quickly out classed me switch.
  I do wish that I could take the controllers off the side of the steam deck and play it. Kind of like the switch. I know I can just use a wireless controller, but it was just kind of a nice form factor thing.
My switch was $350. My deck was $400. And the games on deck are way cheaper than switch. Aside from Zelda, I haven’t touched the switch since I got my deck.
- Same. After I got my steam deck I donated my switch to the library.
$300 vs $400 is a stretch for “significantly more” but even accepting that, the steamdeck outclasses the switch’s hardware specs.
Plus when you buy a switch, you have no games. Anybody buying a steamdeck presumably already has a library of games to play on it.
- it's more like $200 for the switch, since the deck without addons is more comparable to the switch lite
  50% is already "significantly more"
  100% definitely is
Does it though? The steam deck is still a new console and just got a price drop. The switch has been out for years so it should be cheaper. Also I'm pretty sure the switch costs the same amount when it was a new system
A used version of Doom for switch at gamestop is $33. Buying it new from nintendo is $40. Its on sale for playstation right now for $3. Three dollars. Regular price is $20 (also $20 on steam). Also the switch runs it at 720p at 30fps or less and literally any other system it was released on is capable of running it at 1080p at 60fps. Twice the performance, half the cost on other systems than switch. Thats Nintendo for you.