Valve's new handheld device will be released to the public on February 25th, but one fan who received theirs early has posted a comparison picture demonstrating how much larger the Steam Deck is than the Nintendo Switch OLED. The Nintendo Switch has dominated the handheld market since its anticipated release in 2017. While Nintendo is no stranger to creating successful handheld gaming devices, competition in the field has seen a few challengers. After Sony released two generations of PSP devices, there has not been any serious challenge to Nintendo's top spot in portable gaming. Nevertheless, one of PC gaming's biggest names is about to give it a try.
Last summer, Valve announced their portable gaming device. The Steam Deck will release three separate models, each boasting more impressive storage and performance than the last. With the new device, gamers will be able to access and buy games from Steam, one of PC gaming's largest libraries. While the new handheld device officially releases on February 25th, some fans are receiving their pre-ordered system early. One fan has taken on the task of showing off what the Steam Deck looks like next to other handhelds.
After much anticipation, Cary Golomb received a Steam Deck ahead of its release date and quickly posted pictures of the device on Twitter next to handheld gaming devices, both new and old. The thread began with a picture of the Valve Steam Deck laying next to a Sony PSVita, and the thread quickly grew. Golomb continued uploading several more photos comparing the new device to systems like the Game Boy Advance, Nokia's N-Gage, Sega's Game Gear, and the current king of the handheld market, the Nintendo Switch OLED. Although the picture below shows that the new Steam Deck is slightly larger than Nintendo's portable gaming device, Valve's new device has substantially more processing power.
After the comparison pictures gained some traction, Golomb reiterated that the new Steam Deck feels incredibly light and comfortable to use, even if the device is the largest handheld on the market. However, he is not the only person who has recently become impressed with the new device. Xbox head Phil Spencer was able to try one before it was announced, and he claims Halo felt great to play and that the Steam Deck plays Xbox's Cloud Gaming smoothly. While details on how players will access the large number of titles available through Xbox's Streaming services through the new device are currently unclear, many Steam Deck mysteries will be solved when the handheld is officially released on February 25th, 2022.
While the Nintendo Switch has managed to outsell both PlayStation and Xbox systems over the past few years, the Steam Deck could take away a chunk of the Switch's current and future audience. Valve's new portable gaming device will have a much more extensive catalog of video games to choose from. Thanks to the Steam Deck's impressive hardware, it will be able to play old and new games that are too powerful to be played on the five-year-old Nintendo Switch. Time will tell if Valve's Steam Deck will survive the battle against portable gaming's reigning champion.
Steam Deck is available for preorder through Steam and release on February 25, 2022.
Sources: Cary Golomb/Twitter