RatsTheDonkey wrote:The Steam Deck is a niche device that hasn't even achieved a fraction of the success of the original Switch (3.7-4 Million, as opposed to the 150,000,000+ the Switch 1 has sold), same with anything else coming out alongside it.
I would not describe a device that has sold (from my understanding) up to 6 million units as being "niche", that is orders of magnitude more than even some systems covered on this site. But that's not even the point I was trying to make. When the Nintendo Switch launched, it was a one-of-a-kind device that offered something the competition (including Nintendo's previous 3DS) could not match. Now, not only do you have the Steam Deck and other third-party tools like that that are rising in popularity more and more (and yes, this includes among casual gamers, not sure why you seem to think otherwise? a substantial portion of Deck games work completely out of the box despite your claims), but my reference to other devices there was in relation to reports that Sony and Microsoft themselves are exploring the possibility of launching their own Switch/Deck competitors in the future.
With Nintendo, we already saw how the Wii U did not shape up to be a massive success as the follow-up to their widely popular Wii, so I don't entirely discount the possibility that something like that could happen again given that we have a precedent. With that being said, do I think Nintendo has the momentum and potential to do a great launch this time (unlike with the case of the Wii U)? Yes, I do, but with Microsoft and Sony potentially entering the fray and other competitors waiting too, I don't think the Switch-like market is destined to be necessarily dominated by Nintendo for the next 10->30 years, that's all. Maybe the future of the Xbox brand lies in such a device, although I see that as being a totally uphill battle for both Microsoft and Sony if that is indeed what they end up doing.
