Valve: Steam Deck ISN'T competing with the Switch

IGN/Nintendo Life

The moment Valve announced the Steam Deck, comparisons to the Nintendo Switch became inevitable. After all, they're both hybrid handheld devices with similar user interfaces and ergonomics. We even did a specs comparisons between the two earlier this week.

Valve, however, is shying away from such comparisons. In an interview with IGN ahead of the Steam Deck's official reveal, Valve designer Greg Coomer called the Switch a "great device," but pointed out that Valve is squarely focused on high-end PC gaming — an audience that is necessarily different from the one Nintendo is seeking.

"We tried to make all the decisions really in Steam Deck that targeted that audience and that served the customers that were already having a good time interacting with the games that are on that platform, on our platform. That really was how we were making our decisions," Coomer said. "We've ended up with a device that cosmetically shares some traits with a Switch, but that just was... it's kind of an artifact of how we've proceeded down the design direction."

Despite Valve's assertions, comparisons between the two have been rampant throughout the internet, taking the form of memes, comics, and jokes about the Steam Deck being the true "Switch Pro." It's irresistible to compare the two simply because, on a basic level, they seem so similar. Comparisons also tap into a broader hunger for a more powerful Switch, which has remained largely unchanged since its launch in 2017.

In a separate interview, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell pointed out that there have been attempts to provide mobile gaming platforms "for a really long time," but that such devices have always had compromises. Newell said the difference between the Switch the Steam Deck can be seen in the design philosophy behind the device itself.

"So I think Nintendo does a great job targeting the audience they do with the content that they have. And that's going to be different. Like when you pick this up, it feels much more like the ergonomics for somebody who's used to playing with an expensive game controller, right? Because it's bigger and it's bulkier than a Switch. And if we're right, that's the right trade-off to be making for the audience that we're going after," Newell said.

Since 2007, Nintendo has prioritized casual audiences — what the late Satoru Iwata referred to as "the blue ocean." This approach continues to be evident in the success of Ring Fit and Animal Crossing, as well as more offbeat projects like Labo. Valve, for its part, remains heavily focused on technical innovation, its efforts defined by projects like the Index VR headset.

Newell was quick to point that Nintendo has had plenty of success doing things its own way. "[O]bviously, I mean, I think they've sold 85 million Switches."

In the end, whether someone prefers a Switch or a Steam Deck is down to trade-offs, Newell said, referring to the "supernatural feeling" of being able to play Resident Evil Village on Valve's device. Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais added that Valve is focused on providing the "best solution" for enhancing how players engage with Steam's library.

"Let me put it this way," Newell said. "If you're a gamer, and you pick up a Switch, and you pick up one of these, you're going to know which one is right for you, right? And you're going to know it within 10 seconds."

For more than a few gamers, the answer could very well be "both." We'll see for ourselves when the Steam Deck begins rolling out in December. In the meantime, check out our full Steam Deck hands-on preview as well as all the rest of IGN's exclusive coverage of Valve's new handheld.

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Well, well, look at that. What I've been saying since reveal, yet certain anti-Nintendo posters, and to be fair, even super devout fans (more than me) continue to press on...

Only fools believe it does. It might capture a niche market but won't even sniff Switch's numbers.

How dare you.... They loooook kinda the same, henceforth all hermits attack the sheep!

I can see it being selling well but not on switches level it will have a cult following with the emulation side of things.

Will only farm potential Switch owners and make the Switch look like an outdated ripoff created by Nintendo.

Well yeah, Valve was never trying to compete with Nintendo Switch in the first place, both Steam Deck & Switch are targeting different gamers/consumers. Switch is very likely to remain more user-friendly, and will likely still be the go-to for Nintendo's exclusive games. Steam Deck is going for those who want to join PC but not buying different components and wanna play on the go is what Steam Deck is targeting for.

I'm interested to see if the steam deck dock improves performance.

bu bu it's sales are going to clap the Switch 🤣

May go down as one of the dumbest statements in SW history

@robert_sparkes: it won't. It's just a port hub. They already said you can use a USBc port hub you have for other devices instead of the valve branded one

It won't outsell Switch but at least it'll have a real game library and not just games made for toddlers.

You keep repeating this, but i've stated in the official announcement thread that it won't outsell the Switch, but farm its future/potential owners. And while doing so, it also makes the Switch look real bad in comparison.

And you've been on Sw for like a few weeks lol what do you even know about the dumbest SW statements.

Already backpedaling on your statements I see 🤣

Read the official thread, nab. You were/still are so furious about the Deck being a thing that you can't read fo shit.😖

Running away from the truth just like you run away from bets 🤣

Some Nintendo fanboys on this forum seem so desperate for their favourite system to get some attention its like they actually wanted to be in a competition. PC on the go isn't a new thing, but when the device running it resembles their toy, they flipped out like attention starved liberals. I was almost expecting them to start screaming at the sky.

Casey did, and on many different occasions.

Can't expect much more from manbabies shilling for a Fisher Price toy. Can you imagine the looks Casey gets when he walks into a store to buy happy meal toys for himself? Dude is a female repellent lol.

@casey-wegner: Its like you're building an imaginary world of yours or something. Nobody is running away from anything. I stated multiple times that the deck will expose the Switch, and its the PS5, if available for purchase, won't only outsell the Switch, but destroy it.

When the reviews for the Deck begin to come out, this is where your strength will be needed to damage control how poor the Switch looks in comparison. Its literally gonna be like the PS4 vs 2013 Xbone.

This isn't possible.

Switch has sold close to 100 million already.

Wii U sold 13 million (numbers Steamdeck will be lucky to achieve)

Obviously Nintendo is targeting a much larger audience with Switch than Wii U.

The wii u was a beta for the switch.

Regardless of what Valve thinks in regards to competition, the market will have the final say. Whether a hand held or a genuine home console or what ever, all tend to compete against each other for sales.

I plan on putting Nintendo software on it 😎

Only idiots think that Deck is going to compete against Steam or that was Valve's intention. If anything it's more of a competition to MS in terms of windows. It's another attempt by Valve to entice developers to adopt Linux.

Well if that is their goal, they are going to fail again.

May be, may be not. Depends on their actual goals. Pretty sure they are not hoping to dethrone the Windows right away but slowly and steadily condition both devs and users to use Linux. They have higher chances of success now since devs would already be using Linux for Stadia and Amazon's Luna.

I don’t see how this device is going to push for a transition away from Windows. I have been hearing claims X moving folks away from Windows to Linux for 2 decades.

Who said about transition away. Eventually yes but the goal is for more Linux adaptation not transition to it. They already have some level of success when Linux is more viable for gaming than Macs are today.

Not sure who wanted to migrate gamers to Linux from Windows 2 decades ago because that is quite a recent phenomenon started because MS tried to push UWP which they eventually gave up.

You are literally describing a transition away from Windows, then asking who is saying it, then confirming that you are talking about a transition away immediately after. 😕 Also, I have been hearing about the transitioning of gamers and the general public away from Windows to Linux for 2 decades, not 2 decades ago.

The steam deck will fail like all previous devices like it. It might have more power under the hood but the rest of it looks like crap. The button and stick placement is horrible, it looks huge for a "portable" device, and 2 hours of battery life. It might compete with the Nintendo Virtual Boy, but at least valve understands it's got zero chance of competing against the switch.

The Deck is gonna be my new Vita machine. I’m gonna put a bunch of Vita and PSP games on it. Deck is the tru Vita 2.

Exactly this. Anyone suggesting otherwise is just a troll trying to stir up dust.

Why do you think valve wants to sell 10 million decks on a loss? So they get a install base? its a PC it needs no install base.

I can't believe how many people are defensive over the existence of this device... It feels to me, from reading reactions that the Nintendo fans are the ones making the "we have sales!" argument and the folks jazzed for steam deck are saying, "Yay! I can play more games on the go!"

I don't read many folks claiming anything wild about dethroning a console that has been on the market and wildly popular for years... I see excitement for a device that takes the style gaming switch provides further into our hobby.

What seriously is there to be threatened by?

Its like being the builder of the first acoustic guitar and being pissed when someone comes along and develops an electric guitar.. No one has minimized your creation. It's still very relevant, but someone was inspired to take it to a different set of needs/customers.

@TheEroica: I think you're misinterpreting things, or just playing SW as usual. From what I've seen, Nintendo fans react to the steam trolls who are inferring all kinds of ridiculous comparisons, not the system itself.

Its a bunch of salty nintendo fans that can't coop with the fact that there new switch has a oled screen and nothing else while valve releases a handheld that plays every game under the sun for only 50 bucks more.

@shadyacshuns: Are they? Where? By this point anyone paying attention to games knows Nintendo has a market... And they are as established as it gets with customers.

Steam deck is something to celebrate. For people like me who didn't buy the switch for Nintendo games specifically, I'm just trying to see down the road to a gaming landscape that offers more power and more games in a portable device.

Steam deck customers shouting from the roof that there is a device that can play thousands MORE games than switch is not an indictment of switch. It's a celebration of the portable device getting a ton of love.

@Gatygun: I’m shocked Steam didn’t have an Oled. My Vita had an Oled. That’s a real bummer they decided to go with such dated tech.

Blame Valve for tactically announcing it right after the OLED was just announced and as someone who has a Switch and gaming PC, I am not interested in the Steam Deck...yet. I get that some think the Steam Deck is "Switch Killer" but the thing is, gamers need to understand that these devices go after more than one market. They simply overlap a bit, but that doesn't eliminate one or the other, they still have different markers they go after. Steam Deck is not trying to replace the Switch, but they will definitely be compared by the particular segments they overlap, such as handheld only users etc. Depending on the person, it means they want both. Others will want either, or none at all.

If anything, it's just going to move some people who have the Switch+PC combo to a more portable combo via Switch+Steam Deck, because whenever we see what recent platforms everyone has, Switch is typically the most common among the combinations. Switch+PS4/PS5, Switch+XB1/Series, Switch+PC. All in all, I'm just glad that handheld market isn't truly dead just yet, and truth be told, I still yarned for PS Vita 2 cause Sony shouldn't abandon handheld market. (But sadly, it's too late for Sony to try another handheld)

Probably because there is no competition.

Swaying people from a cult would be a waste of their time.

Couldn't care less about oled, i want gsync / freesync on that screen.

Also not sure if oled will even work, vita had tons of issue's and switch will share it. Probably best to avoid oleds in handhelds entirely.

This is all I need in my life

@Gatygun: Once you go Oled you can’t go back. I have Oled Vita, Oled tv, Oled Monitor, Oled IPhone, Oled MacBook Pro, and soon to be Oled Switch. Not looking forward to gaming on old tech. But I need it to play Vita and PSP games.

No, what happened was that people wanted to hide behind the Steam Deck to attack Nintendo. Though once y'all realized that it wasn't even going to get 10% of the Switch's lifetime sales, y'all started to play the victim. "Well we didn't think it would outsell the Switch or thought of it as competition, we were just excited or the system :)"

??? The Switch sold because of exclusives on the platform. Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Mario Odyssey, etc. It also had the great Wii U games that people didn't experience. It's not only a Wii U 2, but it's the sequel to both the 3DS and Wii U combined. But keep the passive aggressive act up. We all know the Steam Deck won't outsell this thing at all, and we all know it'll sell more than the PS4 and PS5.

Except, the Steam Deck was initially used to attack Nintendo for the OLED announcement. A bunch of anti-Nintendo fans hopped on the bandwagon, and we're here now. They're trying to jump off when they realize that the Steam Deck won't see much success.

Kind of what me and anyone with a little bit of sense have been saying since day one.

Plenty of room for both systems, and not really going for the same market in either case.

Yeah, no shit.

The discourse surrounding the Steam Deck has been so mind numbingly stupid from every conceivable angle.

And dorks still in here like

Used to attack Nintendo by who? Anti-Nintendo zealots?

Look if someone is going to read Catcher in the Rye and shoot John Lennon, we can't really blame JD Salinger for that. And if people are going to call the Steam Deck a "Switch Killer", we can't really blame Valve for that. Valve is just making a portable gaming device, that's it. Not a competitor to Switch at all.

Get over it, rise above it, and deal with your insecurities over something you really shouldn't be insecure about.

@luxuryheart: Attack? Or point out differences... Steam deck does in fact have advantages over switch, and likewise switch over SD. I've been following the "switch pro" rumors for months waiting for them to announce it so I could jump on the bandwagon! I want a more powerful switch too!!

This device being announced during the window of time that Nintendo DIDN'T reveal an upgraded console is definitely an ironic piece of this... "Gabe Boy" or "Gabe Gear" etc... Its all just an acknowledgment of taking that Nintendo design to the next level of performance and with a massive library as well!