this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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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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[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Console wars stopped being cool years ago. Everyone has their preferences and favorites, no need to shit on someone's fun because you think yours is better.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Steamdeck also isn't a console anyway, it's a handheld PC.

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

it plays like a console and repairs like a pc.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How? Its a PC with a built in steam controller. You can play dwarf fortress over SSH using a keyboard, it plays like a PC.

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You turn it on and boom steam library ready to launch, click buy download play just like a console. Remember most peopl just want easy use and the steam deck does that.

Yes the average steam Deck user is above average in tech literacy.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So steam is set to autorun by default?

By that reasoning my old PC in like 2008 was a console because you boot and it starts up with a list of games to play that are all loaded from Linux DVD, just click to launch any of them immediately.

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah ease of use, no technical skill or knowledge needed.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Its unfair to call it a "console war" when one is a classic locked down console and another is a general handheld computer. This also means there are bigger societal stakes in this argument than just "which corporate flavor you like more" because one empowers people and the other does the exact opposite.

So no, "console wars" here are very much cool.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Competition is good. If the Switch didn't exist then I don't think we would've gotten the Steam Deck.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

If the Switch didn't exist then I don't think we would've gotten the Steam Deck.

or we would have earlier and more of it? I'm not sure how are you basing your hipothesis is but to assume that handheld market with this crazy demand would just be there unfulfilled is kinda silly. Switch didn't event some magic technology that was not available before - it just took the market.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're contradicting yourself. If you believe the Steam Deck exists purely independently from the Switch and that we would've had the Steam Deck before the Switch if the Switch never existed, but we didn't, it came after.

And no, I don't think it invented some sort of magic technology, obviously I don't think that. I'm saying the Steam Deck was good competition for the Switch in the portable/docked market (whatever we wanna call those).

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Correlation vs causation much? Not sure what to tell you.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

You're saying if we didn't have the Switch we would've had the Steam Deck earlier but you're also saying the Steam Deck is something totally independent of the Switch. But if it was totally independent, why do you think it would've come earlier if the Switch didn't exist? That's why I'm saying you're contradicting yourself.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I said it might have come earlier. You fundamentally don't understand correlation vs causation and getting angry with me dude. Seriously go read a book or something this is silly.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 51 minutes ago

You did not say might you said it would.

[–] atomicpoet@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's no hate for Nintendo here, just explaining why Steam Deck is different.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorry, should've clarified that this isn't directed towards you, OP! Just at a lot of the other comments in here who are acting like someone else's decision to buy an expensive gadget is a personal insult to them.

[–] SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

That is unfortunately very common, especially in the gaming world.

[–] GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

PC G*mers aren't known for being with the times.