About

Steam Deck vs. Nintendo Switch is a console war between fans of the Steam Deck portable PC platform and the Nintendo Switch handheld console. The debate started on social media websites immediately following the announcement of Steam Deck in July 2021, largely due to the similar design and features of the two products.

Origin

On July 15th, 2021, Valve^[1] announced Steam Deck, a portable PC designed as a handheld console supporting PC video games available through the Steam distribution platform. With similar design and functionality, the console is presumed to compete within the same market niche with Nintendo Switch, a handheld console sold by Nintendo since 2017.

In the following days, a number of articles comparing the consoles were posted online, including articles by PC Gamer^[2] and Mashable.^[3] Some online outlets argued that the consoles will not be competing due to a difference in target audiences.^[4]

Spread

Following the announcement, the possible competition between the devices became a viral subject of debates online. On that day, Twitter^[5] user @M0nkena posted one of the earliest viral memes comparing the consoles, with their post gaining over 5,000 retweets and 38,600 likes in four days (shown below).

In the following days, multiple memes and viral tweets which argued in favor of either of the devices, often ironically, were posted on social media. For example, on July 16th, Twitter^[6] user @DaftPina posted a tweet that gained over 700 retweets and 8,800 likes (shown below, left). On July 18th, Redditor^[7] Migz616 made a tweet that received over 134,000 upvotes in one day (shown below, right).

Additionally, the debate found reflection in fan art. For example, a July 16th tweet^[8] by @OatMegaPlus received over 1,900 retweets and 9,100 likes in three days.

Related Memes

This Is Going to Be the Game Boy Killer

This Is Going to Be the Game Boy Killer refers to a Console War image macro in which four predictions, three of them already failed, are made about portable consoles taking a market share from Nintendo consoles. In late July 2021, the macro was parodies in memes, with the part comparing Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck replaced with non-sequitur punchlines.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References