What people miss about Steam Deck's "loss" to Nintendo
What people miss about Steam Deck's "loss" to Nintendo
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.
Steam Deck is the winner, They don't even advertise.
What I like about the deck is I bought it and I instantly already owned >1000 games for it where a good majority of those are playable out of the box.
So ya, I ain't paying $120 CAD per game. Fuck that.
Also my controllers basically all work for it so I don't need to buy these overpriced joycons again for a new system.
Already have webcams if I cared for a silly camera that streams at 2FPS.
It's unfortunate that theres been a lot more attention for optimization from some developers for the switch 2 though, not much we can do about that. Some games I own the deck is screaming and barely handling it and apparently the switch 2 runs it no problem.
I've generally seen purchasing a Steam Deck as an informed decision. But most people are very nostalgic (can't blame them, SNES to Wii Zeldas and Metroids were amazing) and have uncontrollable FOMO, which Nintendo keeps on milking even when their software and hardware is noticeably much worse than it's competitors'. If anyone also wants to know how Nintendo currently uses the money they earn, here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n025Gxn5GEM No wonder they're less worried about wasting money on legal battles. No trace of the good old Nintendo.
- For Nintendo fans that may get triggered by this, don't. Just own it. Spending more on something worse doesn't mean you can't enjoy it.
No shame to anyone who bought a switch 2. My partner got one during pre-sales and is incredibly happy to have gotten one, and I feel so happy for him that he gets to have some joy in his life with it. I wish you the same joy.
But I just can't get into it. I didn't grow up with nintendo so the properties really don't mean much to me. And now, I just don't think I can swallow paying hundreds of dollars to start, then another hundred dollars to get games that seemingly play the same way as they did in the last release, plus a yearly subscription for online play. You may not see what you purchased the same way, and I'm glad that it's meaningful to you even if I can't find the same meaning in it -- it's good that there exists something for everyone's niche.
I don't see why this needs to be a competition. Are there really people out there who were about to get a steam deck but decided not to in favour of a switch 2? I feel like switch owners are well aware that it's a Nintendo machine and theyre not gonna be playing a lot of their favourite out-of-franchise games on it. That's what they expect and thats what they'll likely get.
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.
I loved my steam deck, but it was too chunky for me and certainly for my kid.
My compromise is Anbernic type devices. Long battery life, better form factor, lots of ported games too.
There is a reason why i call all these handheld gaming pcs as decks or gaming decks.
I stopped buying consoles and moved pretty much exclusively to Steam because it gives me many more options. Thankfully, I don't think that's changing anytime soon. Consoles are great for some people, but I need more flexibility. I sometimes wish I could (legally) play Nintendo first party games, but it's really not that big of a deal.
So no, Steam Deck didn’t outsell the Switch 2. It didn’t need to.
I don't disagree with the sentiment. I would still consider the Steam Deck a "failure" if it couldn't move enough units to justify its production cost, but it looks like they're still churning them out, so... eh, it's not great but its fine.
I would argue that merely comparing generic PC sales to Switch sales also misses the mark. At the very least, you'd focus on unique Steam installs or Active Steam Accounts if you're really interested in counting the success of Steam relative to Nintendo.
Even then, what you're really competing with isn't "SteamDeck sales v. Switch sales". I'd say its "SteamDeck sales per $1 advertising spent v. ..." Given that Nintendo spent around $730M in advertising last year and Valve spent under $100M, it seems that Nintendo has to spend roughly $50/unit to move a Switch relative to Valve coming in closer to $40/unit.
It's very difficult to compare popularity under two wildly divergent marketing strategies.
In 1999, the SEGA Dreamcast was the fastest selling video game console when it launched. In 24 hours, it sold a little over 225k units (which was massive for the tiny gamer population of 1999). This earned it the Guinness World Record for Most Revenue Generated in the Entertainment Industry in 24 Hours.
Console sales at launch literally don't matter.
Also, I wonder how many of those were sold to scalpers that plan on returning them if they cannot sell them?
EDIT: For reference, the PlayStation 1 sold 300k consoles in Japan only when it launched, but not in 24 hours, that 300k is for the entire launch month of December 1994, per Sony's own official business data.
I hadn't even thought about it until you brought it up. Kind of disappointed in people jumping on this like flies on shit but like... it's 2025, so bigger things to be upset about.
In any case, apples and oranges. And PSA, if you need a Switch 2, grab em on the rebound. There'll be used ones, likely hackable in 6 months and none of that goes to Nintendo. Don't forget what their legal department has done in the past few years.
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.
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
I love my Steam Decks (LCD & OLED), and as far as handhelds, won't buy any more until SD2. I'd much rather see the Deckard released before SD2 to be honest, though my Index headset might be fine, the controllers are kind of fubar. I'll support Linux hardware over anything Microsoft, or closed platforms.