When Nintendo launched the Switch in 2017, it had no competition in dedicated handheld gaming, a sector it had established with the Game Boy in 1989 and ruled ever since. Sega had come and gone; Sony, after two determined attempts with the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita, had just about given up.
As Switch 2 nears launch in 2025, things look a little different — but only a little. The colossal success of the Switch has awoken the slumbering giants. Sony and Microsoft are now reportedly preparing dedicated PlayStation and Xbox handhelds. Improbably, though, it was the PC gaming sphere that made the first move. Valve led the way with the Steam Deck in 2022, which swiftly seeded a growing ecosystem of similar, PC-based handheld devices from manufacturers like Lenovo and Asus. After a quiet decade, non-Nintendo handheld gaming is a thing again. And that means the Switch 2 will not run unopposed for handheld gaming supremacy.
In a sense, Nintendo is the victim of its own strategic foresight. With the Switch, it was the first to spot that the narrowing gap in processing power between mobile and at-home devices had enabled a unification of handheld and home gaming experiences. Finally, the same games could work in both contexts. The Switch proved this point emphatically, and now everyone wants a piece.
But with dedicated devices from Sony and Microsoft still years away, for now that competition must come from Steam Deck and the other PC handhelds. My colleague Chris Plante persuasively argued that these devices represent Nintendo’s “biggest threat in the present.” They trounce the Switch on specs and have closed the gap to contemporary AAA gaming in the home until it’s almost imperceptible. Software-wise, they offer the compelling value and staggering range of just about everything on Steam — and much of PC gaming beyond it, if you’re prepared to fiddle about a bit.
Photo: Nintendo
It’s true that the Switch 2’s price and specs put it into direct competition with the lower-end PC handhelds. At $449, it’s $50 more expensive than the base model Steam Deck. The Switch 2 is roughly comparable in power and storage, has a much better screen, and with detachable controllers and a TV dock included in the price, it’s much more flexible to use. The base model of Asus’ ROG Ally handheld ($499 or thereabouts) and the new Lenovo Legion Go S ($549) are also pretty close competitors in terms of specs.
In raw hardware terms, these are all very similar devices. It’s worth noting that the Switch 2’s exclusive access to Nvidia’s market-leading DLSS upscaling technology should allow it to punch a bit above its weight class. But realistically, there’s not much between them.
But — and it’s a very, very big but — comparing the Switch 2 to the PC handhelds by running your finger down a spec sheet, or by noting that they can all play Civilization 7 and Elden Ring, does not tell the whole story. Within an enthusiast bubble, PC handhelds are a big deal, but they do not exist in the same universe as Nintendo consoles. To put it bluntly, PC handhelds are still niche.
The Steam Deck has been a big success for Valve, but let’s put it in perspective. Valve has not discussed sales numbers, but market research estimates that it has sold around 4 million Steam Decks. And Steam Deck dwarfs its competition; the same research suggests that, in total, around 6 million PC handhelds have been sold in the three years since the Steam Deck went on the market. Worryingly, there aren’t yet signs of strong growth in sales.
Stack that up against the Switch’s 150 million units sold and the wild difference in scale becomes evident. Of course, it isn’t a directly analogous comparison. PC handhelds have only existed for three years; the Switch has been around for eight years, and Nintendo has been in the handhelds business for more than 35 years. All the same, Nintendo predicts it will sell 11 million units of the aging Switch in its current fiscal year — more than five times the predicted sales of PC handhelds in that time. Meanwhile, analysts reckon that the Switch 2 will, on its own, outstrip the size of the PC handheld market almost immediately, with 6 to 8 million units available at launch, and up to 20 million sales in its first year.
Photo: Valve
Valve is a big player in the game industry, and a very rich company. But it is a newcomer to the world of consumer electronics retail, and it has a lot of catching up to do — if it’s even interested in doing it. Steam Deck isn’t available to purchase in stores; you can’t walk into Walmart and pick one up. Valve is not buying ads for it on TV or at bus stops. Companies like Lenovo and Asus have more traditional distribution channels, but they’re tiny minnows compared to the marketing, retail, and distribution might of Nintendo.
There are other factors that make the PC handhelds niche products. The user experience of Windows-based handhelds like the ROG Ally and Legion Go is notoriously bad. Valve’s SteamOS is much better, but it is still quite far removed from the reliability and simplicity offered by Nintendo and the other console platforms.
You cannot unbox a new Steam Deck, turn it on, and play a game straight away. It requires tinkering to get the best out of. Although Valve’s verification system for games is a helpful guide, it’s not guaranteed you’ll get a good, playable experience on every game. The Deck is also bulky and heavy. You would never buy one for a child, or share one within a family — it’s clearly not designed to be shared. Realistically, it remains a tough sell for anyone who isn’t a gaming hobbyist.
There is, reportedly, one upcoming device that may be able to change this narrative a little. Microsoft is said to be working with a PC handheld manufacturer on a system that will have Xbox branding and a user interface based on a new version of the Xbox PC app. This has the potential to be a more user-friendly device that offers easy access to PC Game Pass on the go, which would be quite compelling. But, although Microsoft has now been making Xbox consoles for over 20 years, it has consistently struggled to use that experience to make PC gaming more seamless, despite repeated attempts — and the device doesn’t sound like much more than a stopgap until Microsoft’s own dedicated handheld console is ready.
Nintendo will not have true competition in handhelds until its peers in the console space get involved. Microsoft is reportedly eyeing 2027 for the release of its handheld Xbox. Sony’s portable PS5 is also said to be years away, if it’s ever released. Things are definitely heating up for Nintendo, and by the end (or even the middle) of the Switch 2’s life, the handheld gaming market is sure to be much busier than it is now. But for the next few years, competition for the new console will remain distant — at best.
