this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2025
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Yeah, I'm highlighting the expected price versus a Steam Deck.
Software has won. Every game is multiplatform by default, because platforms are an obstacle to consumers. There is no "different crowd" based on who published a game, and that's all that unites Nintendo games, or Sony games, or Microsoft games. (Admittedly all of Valve's several titles are shooters. Exclusives are not how they maintain relevance.)
Games are no longer organically for one system or other, so systems become commodified. The dominant factors for customers become value and price - and if this thing costs $400, it'd have to be more powerful than a Steam Deck, for some people to give a shit. That's not the case at $200. Half is always a big number. Being half as expensive excuses a lot. Like, the Switch Lite is definitely not as powerful as the Steam Deck, and it presumably outsold the Steam Deck ten-to-one last month.
This is deliciously ironic for Nintendo in particular. They're a toy company. They stumbled into, and then formalized, a "blue ocean" strategy, where they did weird shit to avoid direct competition. This included somehow being the only company to put buttons on a tablet. Even then: those buttons come off, and act as separate controllers, and will apparently add an optical mouse sensor that's honestly a great idea. Nintendo has enjoyed the twilight of the console war in a way that Sony has not, as Sony forces PSN onto PC ports, desperately keeping PSN relevant. So it's downright fuckin' bizarre to think Nintendo went from unifying their home and handheld console lines, to getting caught in a dick-measuring contest with PC hardware.