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The Switch 2 is coming at the worst time for me. That's because, after years of deliberation, I finally bit the Steam Deck-shaped bullet last month and purchased my own. I traveled over 6,000 miles to save money on the 1TB OLED model, netting a £200 discount thanks to Hong Kong's 0% VAT and some sweet American Express points. Proud as I am, I still haven't been able to use the thing yet. I'll get to why later.
My rationale in making the purchase was simple: my five-year-old gaming laptop is fast becoming obsolete (thanks for nothing Alan Wake 2) and even though the Steam Deck's own specs will start looking shakier by the year, I needed something newer, shinier, and even more portable to replace it. But following last week's Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, I'm wondering if I should have held fire for a cheaper option after all – though the jury's still out on whether this is the first Nintendo console I'll be buying at launch, but the Switch 2 vs Steam Deck debate isn't going anywhere fast.
Console wars
Check out our Switch 2 AMA to see what our Brand Director thinks of Nintendo's latest
This isn't to say that both machines do the exact same thing. One is a Nintendo flagship console with all the kitschy bells and whistles you'd expect, including a plethora of exclusive upcoming Switch 2 games to bolster its claim on your wallet. The other grants access to Steam games I've owned since 2015, playable at no extra cost on a swanky new system.
Cost and specs are big factors for anyone weighing the Switch 2 and Steam Deck against each other. For me personally, I've never been much of a Nintendo person. True enough, the best Switch games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have managed to draw me to my much ignored Switch's not-so tender embrace on occasion. Are JoyCons comfortable for anyone to hold, really? But since most Nintendo-exclusive IPs are of no interest to me, the main thing I wanted was a portable gaming console that could play a variety of third party games I already love, as well as promising compatibility with incoming new games to play when parted from my beloved Xbox Series S.
To that end, and to my great surprise, both the Switch 2 and Steam Deck meet the mark. I'll hold my hands up and say it: I gravely underestimated the Switch 2's power. Even with rumors putting its engine in line with that of a PS4 or PS4 Pro, I still had my reservations a couple of months ago. With the PS5 Pro now widely available, the brand new Switch would still be a whole generation behind its competitors. But having read up on how the Switch 2 is perfectly capable of running the most demanding and best RPGs, as detailed in our US Managing Editor's Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition preview, I might stand corrected.
At a higher refresh rate than the Steam Deck, the Switch 2's specs are nothing to sneer at. It boasts 4K output when docked to a compatible TV or monitor and a maximum framerate of 120fps, and our Switch 2 preview makes it sound pretty damn good from a user experience perspective. That means that if I hadn't just purchased a Steam Deck, my selection here would no longer be a case of one out-speccing the other. Instead, I'm zeroing in on price.
Cashing in
Anyone looking to purchase one or the other will predominantly want to think about investment over novelty...
The Switch 2's standard RRP has been revealed at $450 USD per unit, compared to $649 for an OLED 1TB Steam Deck. That makes it expensive for a Nintendo console, but way cheaper than a lot of handheld competitors.
Granted, the Switch 2's LCD display might be one factor in that compared to the high-contrast OLED. A fairer price comparison might be against the cheapest Steam Deck model on the market – a 256gb LCD unit, offering the same storage size as the Switch 2. Here, the Switch 2 is more expensive by about $50. If money saving were the ultimate goal, I'd have gone with the LCD version of the Steam Deck. For me, even without knowing the incumbent Switch 2's precise system specs, longevity and quality were more important. I wanted an heir to my HP Pavilion's PC gaming throne, and it also helps that even with spending slightly more on an OLED model, I won't have to pay any more to play my PC games on my Steam Deck – once my mother brings it across the world for me in May, of course, since it arrived at her house the day after I left the country. Whoops.
Conversely, all Switch owners looking to trade up for the console's next generation might have to pay for a digital upgrade if they want to get the benefit of playing enhanced editions of owned games on the brand new device. It'd be all well and good to simply stick with the original versions after importing them using System Transfer, but much like getting any new console, it always feels a shame to not make use of a more high-powered machine where possible.
I know I'll be in for a dose of FOMO when the Switch 2 launches on June 5, purely because I still own the original LCD Switch – but again, I hardly use it. Anyone looking to purchase one or the other will predominantly want to think about investment over novelty factor. Since, again, I'm not exactly a massive Switch user and would ultimately need to re-purchase my whole Steam library on a new platform, I know that a Switch 2 would have made less sense for me than purchasing a Steam Deck. I'll just need to keep reminding myself of that.
Here's the Steam Deck vs Switch 2 face-off you've been waiting for
