this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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I promise you that a handheld PC isn't a consideration at all for the majority of the customer base we're discussing. Steam deck is "not that bad" compared to how awful Windows is, but it's not anywhere in the neighborhood of a console for ease of use. The gap may be shrinking, but it's still massive. You have to choose between Windows, which is complete and utter dogshit for every use case, but awful even compared to anything else for handheld gaming, or Linux, where you don't have to worry about that subscription for online play because every game those people want to play will block you.
The steam deck is not capturing console gamers. It's a niche device for tinkerers. It is not and will not be competition in any meaningful sense. It could be so powerful it plays games the PS7 won't be able to and still have no impact whatsoever on a handheld PS4's sales.
Non-AAA games aren't "kid's games" and joycons are the least durable piece of hardware ever manufactured. Kids aren't why the switch is a success.
And I promise you that more and more people consider a PC instead of a console in general every time there's an additional caveat. Respectfully, I disagree on just about every point. The gap is not massive anymore when PlayStation is asking for $700 for the hardware and a $60 subscription per year just to play a game online that you've already owned and played for 10 years. You don't worry about a subscription for online play because those costs are absorbed by the sale price of the games people buy, and the consoles still happy to charge you because they know you have no other options on their walled garden. The Steam Deck is a particular slice of the market: people who want to play PC games and also want to play handheld (and also bought Valve's solution rather than Asus/GPD/Aya Neo/Lenovo/etc). That distinction doesn't exist for Switch, because it's only available in a handheld that for some models can be docked.
The distinction I made about Switch wasn't that games that cost less to produce are for children, but the hardware costs less to purchase, and the likes of Pokemon and Mario Kart are for children (you can enjoy them as an adult too, but they're built for children). If you've got three kids to keep happy while you're at the laundromat, it's a much easier sell to buy three Switch Lites that come bundled with Mario Kart than it is to pay twice as much per unit for whatever x64 hardware can play PS4/PS5 games without any ad hoc multiplayer. That has a multiplicative effect on units sold for Switch.
They're not. Windows is not functional for a handheld, period, and not paying for a subscription when no games let you use Linux isn't relevant.
Kids are an afterthought at absolute best to the Switch's sales volume. It is a success because of adults, and PS4 would be a success because of adults. It doesn't need to sell to a single kid for it to be completely outside the realm of possibility for it to not be an immediate, runaway success.
That's a lot of exaggeration. Windows sucks handheld, but once you get into a game, it's invisible which OS you're on. Looking at the top 10 games on Steam Deck right now, Path of Exile 2, Marvel Rivals, and Elden Ring are all extremely popular multiplayer games that you can play on Linux without a subscription, and Stardew Valley is in there too (though primarily played single player, I'm sure) and #11 is Helldivers 2. Luigi's Mansion 3 sold 14 million copies, which is more than the vast majority of games released, and yet you never hear people talk about it in circles like ours. That's from children. Nintendo has that market on lock.
You feel confident about a handheld PS4; I disagree. It's a bit moot though because Sony's working on a handheld PS5.
I'm not exaggerating even a little. I'd rather never play a game again than deal with handheld Windows.
Using Elden Ring as an example of a multiplayer games is a joke, right?
Luigi's Mansion, just like everything else Nintendo makes, made their money from adults. It's not a sign that somehow Sony's bigger, better library can't support a handheld. 5 years from now, a handheld PS4 would still be a better option at launch than the switch was when it did.
Elden Ring, the game continuing a long-standing legacy of player messaging, "jolly cooperation", invasions, and duels, is a multiplayer game that people play primarily online. I'd rather never use Windows again in any use case, but it's an exaggeration to say that it's not functional as a handheld, when it quite provably functions on several handhelds available today.
if you claimed 1% of the total gameplay hours are multiplayer, you'd be lying, because there's no way anyone actually believes that. It's a single player open world with a tiny bit of online flavor. Exactly zero of your three games require a subscription on PlayStation, because the free to play nonsense doesn't either.
The fact that people sell trash that doesn't work isn't evidence that it works.