It's interesting timing because the Switch Oled edition was just announced with no bump in power. So if you want a capable handheld with access too all the indies which will play games much better than your switch... here you go.
And you can still keep your switch for nintendo exclusives because they've just made it clear that they're not upgrading the switch in a worthwhile way for at least a year.
I would say this is squarely aimed at the existing switch customer base.
> I would say this is squarely aimed at the existing switch customer base.
PC gamers and steam gamers are often very different markets. Nintendo, for decades now, was about fun, not power. I'm casual gamer, just for fun, and steam deck, while super cool, is certainly not going to replacement my switch.
It will replace my Switch. I mostly play indie games, but the Switch can only play those indie games that get released to the Nintendo store, and then, usually at almost double the price of what you can get them elsewhere. As for experimental games that never even get sold? Not likely to happen on the Switch, there's just not enough incentive to publish.
That's great, but "Nintendo not being about power" doesn't change the fact that many of my 40$+ Switch games barely run on the device and run at such low resolutions that it feel like looking through an oily glass.
Seems like something is very wrong with either Switch hardware performance or Nintendo quality control.
Steam does have one huge thing over Nintendo. The PC platform is so backwards compatible that I can play games from the 80s on a brand new computer today.
Nintendo charges you money for new copies of each game you want to play on their latest hardware. You can't just pull out your old copy of Super Mario Bros and install it on your Switch.
Hell, I've heard that there are Switch games that have been out since the very beginning of the console that are still full price.
Its still painfully low spec even for casual gaming. Sitting for 5 minutes waiting for Animal Crossing or Crash team racing to load is not fun for anyone.
The Switch power bump would've probably only made sense in 4K docked gaming anyways, and people are probably not going to buy one of these for docked gameplay.
The biggest disappointment in the new switch is the lack of native bluetooth audio headphone support and becoming less picky about its hdmi travel adapters and chargers
And you can still keep your switch for nintendo exclusives because they've just made it clear that they're not upgrading the switch in a worthwhile way for at least a year.
I would say this is squarely aimed at the existing switch customer base.