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Comment by tejohnso | Hacker News Reader

Wonder if you could indicate why you're waiting for a Switch 2 vs say a Steam Deck? Or do you also have a deck? I ask because I'm planning to gift one or the other. The recipient already has a Switch 1, so I thought it would be pretty lame to give a Switch 2 rather than "upgrading" to a deck. In my mind, being able to play any steam game, on a device with highly praised controls, is the better upgrade, not the Switch 2.

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I bought a switch 2 over a steam deck. I have over a thousand steam games. A few reasons:

Nintendo makes fun games that I want to play. I want to play the new Metroid, the new Pokémon games, Kirby DLC, etc. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I grew up with the original Metroid, and that series sticks with me.

The switch 1 gets a ton of use in my house. Switch 1 games perform so much better on the 2.

The pro controller for the switch 2 is incredible.

Switch 2 is cheaper, significantly cheaper if you play docked. Our family uses it to play docked a lot.

The switch 2 library is large enough that you can play a lot of the same titles you can on the deck. Or at least enough games you'll never run out of fun options. You don't need to have the biggest library to be fun.

I have a powerful PC in my house for when I want to play shooters and 4x games. The switch 2 library gets way more exercise.

All good points, thanks for the input.

If someone has a switch, gifting a steam deck isn't an upgrade necessarily. You're giving them a platform that can't play most of the games they probably love. Not because of specs of course. A switch 2 is actually an upgrade. Almost all of their current games will run better and they'll be able to play more demanding switch 2 only games as they continue to trickle out.

I should have mentioned current game play is skewed more toward steam on pc than switch. I'm definitely not getting the impression that the switch games are loved.

I have a Switch 1 and would love to get a Steam Deck in the near future. If there is ever a new mainline Mario 3D game I might consider getting the Switch 2 but for now there is no reason for me to get it. I rather want to play my Indie games Steam collection but on the couch.

I have both, and if they already have a good steam library I’d definitely go with the steam deck for them. They’ll immediately have a bunch of games to play on it (and synced game progress).

Switch is my favorite cuz we like to play party games with friends like Mario kart. We have thought a lot about the Steam Deck though cuz we have steam games. I would prefer a steam deck over switch 2 if I had to pick one right now cuz the switch is great still.

Nintendo games are only on the switch. If that's what you want to play, then the Steam deck is a non-starter.

(But if you like the games on Steam, then the Steam deck makes a lot of sense.)

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