It’s silly to compare Switch 2 sales to Steam Deck sales.
The Switch 2 is a locked-down, vertically integrated platform. There are no ROG Switch 2s. No Lenovo Switch 2s. No Switch laptops or tower PCs with discrete GPUs. If you want to play Mario Kart World, your only option is to buy a Switch 2. Period.
Steam Deck, by contrast, isn’t a platform. It’s just one hardware option—one entry point into the sprawling, open ecosystem known as PC gaming.
Every year, around 245 million PCs are shipped globally. If even 20–25% of those are gaming-focused, that’s 49–61 million gaming PCs annually. Steam Deck is a sliver of that. So of course it won’t outsell a console that’s the only gateway to a major IP.
But that’s exactly the point.
PC gaming is too decentralized for any single device to dominate. The last “PC” that did was the Commodore 64, which sold 12.5–17 million units over 12 years because it was a self-contained platform, unlike modern Windows, Mac, or Linux machines.
That the Steam Deck has sold 4 million units despite competing with every other gaming PC in existence is remarkable. It didn’t just sell—it legitimized a category. Handheld PC gaming is now a thing. That’s why Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI have followed. Even Microsoft is getting in, optimizing Windows for handhelds—something they would never have done if the Steam Deck didn’t hold their feet to the fire.
So no, Steam Deck didn’t outsell the Switch 2. It didn’t need to.
Oh, wow, I knew the most expensive one sold out a week or so ago, but didn’t know the middle tier one did, too. It can’t possibly be a coincidence that this happened when the Switch 2 launched when they’ve all been in stock for a long time now. I know I got my LCD Steam Deck right after seeing the Switch 2 reveal. The continued enshittification of the walled gardens in the gaming industry has finally made me start the transition to PC gaming as a main rather than secondary way to play games.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you’re submitting before posting to see if it’s already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don’t share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don’t want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Also, for what its worth, the OLED Decks literally sold out today, as in, Valve doesn’t currently have any more to sell in the US.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/06/supply-chain-issues-are-making-the-steam-deck-oled-go-out-of-stock/
Also also… I realize this is a silly comparison, but the Switch 2 has not outsold all variants of the Deck, yet.
Its at about 3.5 million, Steam Deck is at about 4.5 million since 2022.
Also x3, the Switch 2 is apparently already sold out as well, as in no more units available at US retailers.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/nintendo-switch-console-record-sales.html
Wild the Switch 2 has nearly caught up to the Deck in less than a week.
Not surprising. The Deck has always been niche and is just one way to play PC games out of many, many other options.
Oh, wow, I knew the most expensive one sold out a week or so ago, but didn’t know the middle tier one did, too. It can’t possibly be a coincidence that this happened when the Switch 2 launched when they’ve all been in stock for a long time now. I know I got my LCD Steam Deck right after seeing the Switch 2 reveal. The continued enshittification of the walled gardens in the gaming industry has finally made me start the transition to PC gaming as a main rather than secondary way to play games.