When Nintendo started the switch in 2017, it had no competition in the dedicated handheld gaming, a sector that he established with the game boy in 1989 and since then he ruled. The seagar had gone. After two determined efforts with Sony, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita, it was just lost.
When there is a launch near switch 2 in 2025, things look slightly different – but only a little. The great success of the switch has awakened the sleeping giants. Sony and Microsoft are now allegedly preparing dedicated PlayStation and Xbox Handhelds. Impossible, though, it was the PC gaming circle that took the first step. Valve took the route in 2022 with the steam deck, which rapidly developed the growing ecosystem of manufacturers’ PC -based handheld devices such as Lenovo and Asos. After a quiet decade, non -nintendo handheld gaming is one thing again. And that means that the switch 2 will not run for the supremacy of handheld gaming.
In a sense, Nintendo is suffering from its strategic period. With the switch, it was the first that the narrow difference in processing power between mobile and home equipment was united with handheld and domestic gaming experiences. Finally, the same game can work in both contexts. The switch proved this point loudly, and now everyone wants a piece.
But with the dedicated devices of Sony and Microsoft, at a distance of years, the competition should now be against Steam Deck and other PC handhelds. My fellow Chris plant convinced that these devices represent Nintendo’s “biggest threat to the present”. They defeat the switch on the species and close the space for modern AAA gaming at home unless it is almost unimaginable. In terms of software, they offer a compelling and amazing limit for everything on steam.
Photo: Nintendo
It is true that the price of switch 2 and the fossils put it directly with PC handhelds at a lower end. At 9 449, this base model is $ 50 more expensive than steam deck. Switch 2 is almost compared to power and storage, its screen is much better, and with its cost -controllers and with a TV dock, it is much more flexible to use. Asus’ ROG Elly Hand Held (9 499 or around) and the new Lenovo Lashkar -e -Go S (9 549) are also very close rivals in the case of sunglasses.
In terms of raw hardware, these are all similar tools. It is worth noting that Switch 2’s special access to the leading DLSS upscale technology in the NVIDIA market allows it to be slightly nesting from its weight class. But realisticly, there is nothing more between them.
But – and it’s a very big but – comparing Switch 2 with PC handhelds by running your finger under a particular sheet, or by noting that they can all play. Civilization 7 And Alden colorDon’t tell the whole story. Within a passionate bubble, PC handhelds is a big deal, but they are not present in the same universe like Nintendo Consoles. To put it in a two -way way, PC handhelds are still niche.
Steam has been a great success for the valve, but let’s keep it in the context. Valve has not discussed the number of sales, but market research is estimated that It has sold about 40 million steam decks. And Steam Deck sowed his competition. The same study shows that a total of 6 million PC handhelds have been sold in three years after the steam deck arrives in the market. The problem is that there are still no strong growth in sales.
Stack it, which sells 150 million units of the switch and the wild difference in the scale is clear. Of course, this is not a direct comparison of imitation. PC Hand Helds has been in just three years. It has been eight years, and Nintendo has been in the handheld business for more than 35 years. One like, Nintendo has predicted that he will sell 11 million units of an elderly switch in its current financial year – at this time PC Hand Helds’ predictions are more than five times more than five times. Meanwhile, analysts believe that Switch 2, on your own, will forward the size of the PC Handheld Market About Immediately immediately, the launch has 6 to 8 million units available, and in the first year selling up to 20 million.
Photo: valve
Valve is a huge player in the game industry, and is a very rich company. But it’s a newcomer to the consumer’s electronics retail world, and more needs to be done – if it is also interested in doing it. Steam is not available for shopping in stores. You can’t walk in Walmart and choose one. Valve is not buying ads on TV or on a bus stop. Companies like Lenovo and Asos have more traditional distribution channels, but they are smaller than Nintendo’s marketing, retail and distribution strength.
There are other factors that make PC handhelds niche products. The user experience of Windows -based handhelds like Rogue Eli and Lashkar Goo is notorious. The valve’s stamus is much better, but it is still far from the reliability and simplicity offered by Nintendo and other console platforms.
You can’t do a new steam deck inbox, can’t turn it on, and can’t play straight games. Tinkering is needed to take the best of this. Although the valve verification system for sports is a helpful leader, it does not guarantee that you will have a good, game experience in every game. The deck is too big and heavy. You will never buy a child’s One One, or never share anyone in a family – it’s not clearly designed to share. Realistic, this is a tough sale for everyone who is not gaming hobby.
The alleged, is an upcoming device that may be able to change the story a bit. Microsoft is said to be working with a PC Handheld Manufacturer on a system that will have a user interface based on the new version of the Xbox Branding and Xbox PC app. It has the ability to become a more user -friendly device that offers easy access to the PC Game Pass on the go, which will be compelled. But, although Microsoft has now been making an Xbox console for over 20 years, it has Permanent struggle Use, despite repeated efforts to make PC gaming more smooth, and this device does not look more than a stop gap unless Microsoft’s dedicated handheld console is developed.
Nintendo’s handhelds will not have a real competition unless his partner is included in the console. Microsoft is allegedly looking at 2027 to release its handheld Xbox. It is said that Sony’s portable PS5 is also at a distance of years, if it has ever been released. Things are definitely getting hot for Nintendo, and by the end of the switch 2 life (or even the middle), the handheld gaming market is definitely more busy. But for the next few years, the new console will be far away.
