With Bloomberg having spent years reporting on the existence of an upgraded Nintendo Switch unit, and for all those rumors to culminate in the Nintendo Switch OLED model, some fans have been disappointed with all Nintendo has to offer. Beyond that, others believe that the fabled "Switch Pro" still exists, but has been delayed due to a shortage of materials, with some outlets still speculating that the information leak of "4K output" for a new Switch variant means there will be an inevitable Switch Pro somewhere down the line. Nintendo themselves have stepped in to right the rumors and say, definitively, that they have "no plans for launching any other model [of the Nintendo Switch] at this time".

We also want to clarify that we just announced that Nintendo Switch(OLED Model) will launch in October, 2021, and have no plans for launching any other model at this time. (2/2)

— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) July 19, 2021

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[Xzi]

but yeah i dont see this even selling 1/4 of the switch numbers tbh.

I wouldn't be so sure. Imagine the OLED Switch has a display at Best Buy right next to a display for Steam Deck. For $50 more, you get more than 3x the power and a WAY bigger game library with all the newest AAA games, and you don't have to wait for half-assed ports. Switch is still gonna be attractive to the younger crowd, but most grown adults would reach for the Steam Deck without question.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

I mean, there could be a Switch Pro in the future, but I'd rather wait and see rather than hope for something that may or may not happen due to vague leaks.

 

[Bladexdsl]

all Bloomberg threads are hereby banned from now on

 

[Kubas_inko]

Everyone was hyped for Switch Pro and we got an OLED model. Pretty sure that most of the hype now transferred to Steam Deck instead...

 

[pedro702]

I wouldn't be so sure. Imagine the OLED Switch has a display at Best Buy right next to a display for Steam Deck. For $50 more, you get more than 3x the power and a WAY bigger game library with all the newest AAA games, and you don't have to wait for half-assed ports. Switch is still gonna be attractive to the younger crowd, but most grown adults would reach for the Steam Deck without question.

steam deck wont ever be on display at retailers.

this isnt something that the average joe will even know how to use, i doubt there will ever be anything besides online sales.

also branding is a thing if i go to the street and ask someone if they know nintendo im preety sure 99% of the people will be able to say they know the brand, and if i go and say steam im preety sure most people never heard of it besides pc gamers.

The better product rarely wins at the end, its the one with better marketing and brand awareness that comes out on top.

Also you wouldnt see steam deck alongside a switch or even in the same zone, retailers put consoles on one zone and pcs on another so steam deck would be on the pc zone not surrounded by games since it doesnt play any console game, so anyone looking at the game section on retailers would look at consoles and not steam deck, since atleast from where im from there arent pc games on the shelfs for like 10 years on any retailer.

This is for people that go looking for it, this isnt something the regular console consumer would buy because they had no idea how to use it.

 

[Xzi]

steam deck wont ever be on display at retailers.

Based on what? I don't think anyone can say that with any amount of confidence.

this isnt something that the average joe will even know how to use

The base UX is extremely simplistic, it looks just like any other console. The average Joe isn't brain dead.

also branding is a thing if i go to the street and ask someone if they know nintendo im preety sure 99% of the people will be able to say they know the brand, and if i go and say steam im preety sure most people never heard of it besides pc gamers.

At least 95% of gamers are familiar with both Nintendo and Valve, neither is far more obscure than the other. And Steam has a higher daily active user count than any of the big three.

Also you wouldnt see steam deck alongside a switch or even in the same zone, retailers put consoles on one zone and pcs on another so steam deck would be on the pc zone not surrounded by games since it doesnt play any console game, so anyone looking at the game section on retailers would look at consoles and not steam deck, since atleast from where im from there arent pc games on the shelfs for like 10 years on any retailer.

Your average retailer like Wal-Mart or Target has all the gaming and electronics stuff in the same place. And there are undoubtedly a ton of parallels/similarities you can draw between Switch and Steam Deck. It makes all the sense in the world to set up demo kiosks for the two products right next to each other. That potentially drives up sales for both products.

 

[DuoForce]

this isnt something that the average joe will even know how to use

That's exactly what the Steam Deck is aiming for. How stupid do you think the "average joe" is? You're sounding so ignorant here lmao

 

[pedro702]

Based on what? I don't think anyone can say that with any amount of confidence.


The base UX is extremely simplistic, it looks just like any other console. The average Joe isn't brain dead.


At least 95% of gamers are familiar with both Nintendo and Valve, neither is far more obscure than the other. And Steam has a higher daily active user count than any of the big three.


Your average retailer like Wal-Mart or Target has all the gaming and electronics stuff in the same place. And there are undoubtedly a ton of parallels/similarities you can draw between Switch and Steam Deck. It makes all the sense in the world to set up demo kiosks for the two products right next to each other. That potentially drives up sales for both products.

maybe in your country they have stuff next to each other, here pc are on one zone and consoles on another closer to tv section.

95% of the gamers? that is where you fail, if consoles were only sold to the gamer they wouldnt sell anything at all.

you cant sell 100+ million units by selling only to the gamer, most people game on their phones nowadays and most of them dont know steam, arent they gamers? i doubt that 95% of the people that play games know steam at all, specially when the large numbers would be kids and they either play on the consoles or their phones and not on steam.

Steam is a online store so if they dont buy games on pc they never heard of it. Where i work only i have a switch, but 4 more people have ps5 consoles, and none of them are pc gamers, they dont know about steam because they buy the ps5 they see on tv, to play fifa and fortnite and all that stuff, they are the majority of sales of consoles which are casual gamers, they dont see conferences or watch announcements of company's on social media, they just see tv adds, or friends talk about which games are hot and they try them.

Based on what? I don't think anyone can say that with any amount of confidence.

They are already selling pre orders of q2 of 2022 so how the hell would they even have stock to put on retailers? maybe if this fails and around 2023 you can get some units on retail if they are trying to dismiss all the stock?

Its been 9 months and sony and microsoft cant put consoles on retailers besides the pre orders because of the lack of stock and they are hardware manufacturers with years of experience. and you think steam would do magic and can produce enough to spread around the world until the end of the year?

Also you forgot one thing you said this only costed 50$ than the switch but you are wrong becuase this has no dock included and i have no idea what steam will even charge for the dock, so this is portable only so it would be the equivalent of the switch lite which goes around 199$ so even the cheapest steamdeck cost twice more than the switch, and i bet with dock it will cost much more than the switch.

 

[Xzi]

95% of the gamers? that is where you fail, if consoles were only sold to the gamer they wouldnt sell anything at all.

Err...what? Consoles DO only sell to gamers. If you aren't a gamer before you buy a console, you certainly are after you buy one.

most people game on their phones nowadays

We don't talk about these people. If they're happy with gaming on their phones (barf), they aren't gonna buy either Switch or Steam Deck.

i doubt that 95% of the people that play games know steam at all, specially when the large numbers would be kids and they either play on the consoles or their phones and not on steam.

This is entirely a regional thing. Steam Deck will gain the most traction in the US and Europe, where we like our devices big and powerful.

They are already selling pre orders of q2 of 2022 so how the hell would they even have stock to put on retailers? maybe if this fails and around 2023 you can get some units on retail if they are trying to dismiss all the stock?

Its been 9 months and sony and microsoft cant put consoles on retailers besides the pre orders because of the lack of stock and they are hardware manufacturers with years of experience. and you think steam would do magic and can produce enough to spread around the world until the end of the year?

Yes it's entirely possible to send demo units out to retailers while reservation orders are still being filled. And there's no rush anyway, as Nintendo isn't gonna release a "Switch Pro" any time soon. Which means even Q3 2022 is a good time for Steam Deck to hit retailers in larger quantities.

 

[pedro702]

That's exactly what the Steam Deck is aiming for. How stupid do you think the "average joe" is? You're sounding so ignorant here lmao

the average person doesn't even know what a steam is, let alone want it.

Literally the steam box were for the average joe, it was a pc to put next to the tv to play pc games and take over the console market, look how well that went.

the Steam controller valve buried was to turn pc gamers used to using a controller over the mouse and keyboard and revolutionize the controller market and that went the same way.

So yeah i dont think steam knows alot about selling hardware, there is a large diference from selling downloadable stuff on a digital storefront to actual hardware sales.

 

[Viri]

The Steam Deck isn't even out yet dude

I'm well aware. I'm talking about the pre-order sales.

 

[subcon959]

@pedro702 did you know Steam has over 60 million active users DAILY? Regular retailers can't even dream about that kind of traffic or exposure.

 

[Xzi]

Literally the steam box were for the average joe, it was a pc to put next to the tv to play pc games and take over the console market, look how well that went.

That's dead wrong, Steam boxes were manufactured by third parties and they were never advertised as giving a console-like experience. They were just full desktop PCs with Linux.

the Steam controller valve buried was to turn pc gamers used to using a controller over the mouse and keyboard and revolutionize the controller market and that went the same way.

Steam controller was never meant to replace other controllers, it was only meant to give people a way to play KB+M games from the couch. And in that respect it was successful.

So yeah i dont think steam knows alot about selling hardware, there is a large diference from selling downloadable stuff on a digital storefront to actual hardware sales.

I don't think you realize just how much money Steam rakes in. Deck is the first product that Valve actually cares about commercial success for. Everything else was just a vanity/side project that they built simply because they could. Proof-of-concept type stuff. Well, except for Index, which has been quite successful in its own right.

They're also taking a loss on each Steam Deck sold. Which shows that profit isn't the number one priority here, it's expanding the reach and scope of PC gaming.

 

[subcon959]

I think it's the same approach as Microsoft. The hardware is just a means to get people subscribed to the service, which is the part they really care about.

 

[Xzi]

I think it's the same approach as Microsoft. The hardware is just a means to get people subscribed to the service, which is the part they really care about.

I mean there is no real "service" to buy here. I'm sure they anticipate that a lot of people will buy X number of games from Steam to play on their Deck, but they're also aware a lot of people have massive backlogs which will keep them busy for a long time, and that's just fine too. This isn't meant to simply lock you into their ecosystem, as you could just as easily install Windows and uninstall Steam altogether.

Basically, it's a loss-leader for the entire PC gaming industry, which is already experiencing some pretty massive growth anyway.

 

[Delerious]

Nintendo is probably just gonna wait until their next generation device to release anything substantial, given how the silicon shortage has already fucked up the supply of new components. Switches will still continue to sell until then, and you know people will fall for the OLED model.

 

[diggeloid]

I personally don't believe the Switch Pro will be a thing but....

If it is a thing, they sure as hell wouldn't admit it "at this time". Doing so would kill sales of the new OLED model.

 

[raging_chaos]

Nintendo can say they aren't going to produce a new model all they want, their previous console release histories say otherwise.

3DS = Switch
2DS = Switch Lite
3DSXL = Switch OLED
New 3DS = Switch "Pro"
New 3DS XL = ????

Can also look at GC > Wii > Wii Mini > Wii U.

 

[Xzi]

Nintendo is probably just gonna wait until their next generation device to release anything substantial, given how the silicon shortage has already fucked up the supply of new components. Switches will still continue to sell until then, and you know people will fall for the OLED model.

Yeah unfortunately there will still be plenty of takers for the exact same hardware with a different screen. Which is why Nintendo won't feel the need to sell substantially-improved hardware at a loss, even if Steam Deck also sells well. C'est la vie, that's exclusively to the detriment of anyone who goes Nintendo-only from here on out.

It is worth noting that Nintendo is in a bit of a bind here. They're the only one of the big three still using Nvidia hardware, and now Steam Deck is joining the other two in going with AMD. I don't think Nvidia has any stronger chipset that would fit within that form factor. Best they might do is match Shield TV's clock speeds instead of continuing to underclock.

 

[HideoKojima]

I'm sure that by EOL they will make something out of the spare parts.