According to a new report, the upcoming Steam Deck's battery life falls short of Nintendo Switch's offerings with around half the playable hours of Switch OLED per charge. Valve took gamers by surprise when it announced its answer to the Switch last summer, with the portable Steam Deck offering players a chance to take their PC collections with them on the go. Game developers who have spent time with Steam Deck's development kits have had plenty of praise for the new system so far, and even major industry figures like Xbox's Phil Spencer have praised Steam Deck's potential when combined with the Xbox Cloud game streaming service.
The pre-release buzz hasn't stopped players from expressing their concerns regarding the still-unproven Steam Deck, particularly surrounding which titles will be playable on the system, as Valve has confirmed not all PC games will be compatible. Another issue is the likely inevitable compromise in graphics that could come with downscaling games like The Witcher 3 for a smaller, more portable screen. Of course, the big issue that will ultimately make or break a handheld system like the Steam Deck is its battery lifespan, with previous reports indicating that a single charge will last about two to eight hours depending on what software is being run on it.
In a Q&A session with Boiling Steam (via WCCFTech), an anonymous developer with hands-on access to the Steam Deck recently clarified that the system's battery lasts somewhere between 2 to 5 hours on a single charge depending on the game being played. While this remains in line with previous reports of the Steam Deck's battery life, it is noticeably shorter than the battery lifespan of the Nintendo Switch’s various offerings. As reported on the official Nintendo website, the Nintendo Switch - OLED Model with a serial number that starts with “XT” and all Nintendo Switch consoles with a serial number that starts with “XK” last about 4.5 to 9 hours, Nintendo Switch consoles with a serial number that starts with “XA” last around 2.5 to 6.5 hours, and the Nintendo Switch Lite features a battery life of approximately 3 to 7 hours.
The developer interviewed also disclosed several other aspects of the Steam Deck, such as its load times being practically indistinguishable from other Solid State Drive units and Valve working on a way to allow players to resume a game from any point - not unlike the PlayStation 5’s Switcher feature. While Valve initially stated that the Steam Deck would launch at the end of 2021, ongoing component shortages have caused the Steam Deck to be delayed until sometime later this year.
Steam Deck's battery life will, of course, depend on the games being run. More demanding games and those that use online features are likely to consume power at a faster rate than smaller, more contained titles, which will make playtimes vary from person to person. Switch players have seen varying success with the console battery life, with some outlets reporting lower battery hours than those provided by Nintendo.
The Nintendo Switch will likely be the main competitor to the Steam Deck given their shared portable nature, and having a battery that doesn't live as long as the ones powering the Switch puts the Steam Deck at a disadvantage. Only time will tell if players will look past the Steam Deck’s shorter battery life in comparison to Nintendo’s massively successful Switch console.
Source: Boiling Steam (via WCCFTech), Nintendo