The Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal May Have Affected Steam Deck Sales
The Steam Deck is normally within the top five of Steam's Top Sellers list, but something shifted the week that the Nintendo Switch 2 was announced.
The handheld PC gaming device, the Steam Deck, has been a mainstay on Steam’s Top Sellers list practically since its launch in early 2022. The device is regularly found within the top five spots, mingling with the best-selling video games at any given time. However, a recent announcement may have had an impact on that consistency. In the week following the announcement of handheld competitor, the Nintendo Switch 2, the Steam Deck fell from number 3 to number 47 on Steam’s Top Sellers list, originally reported by Twisted Voxel.
Steam Deck sales plummeted 44 spots on Steam sale charts following the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal
In the last few years, the Steam Deck has been a great option for PC gamers to take their Steam library on the go. The device is much more powerful than the current Switch, able to run modern PC games that couldn’t dream of running smoothly on the Nintendo console. Games like Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and Cyberpunk 2077 are just a few examples of huge games that are popular on the Deck but have yet to port to the Switch. There have been rumors of games like these launching on the second Nintendo Switch, but just the fact that these are still rumors speaks to the comparable power of the Nintendo consoles.
There is still a lot that we don’t know about the Nintendo Switch 2, but there’s no shortage of speculation. One theory even suggests that the new Joy-Cons could function as a mouse, which could allow the new Switch to more easily adapt to popular PC games. It’s no surprise that this long-awaited announcement stole everyone’s attention last week, but did it also take attention away from other popular handhelds?
There could be other reasons for this sudden drop, but the timing is hard to ignore. According to Twisted Voxel, during the week of January 14th to January 21st, Valve’s Steam Deck hit its lowest rank on the Steam Top Sellers list since its release. Keep in mind, that to drop to 47 on this list still means the Steam Deck is outselling multiple thousands of Steam games, but it is a noticeable drop.
Since then, the Steam Deck has returned to the top. In fact, at the time of writing, it sits at number one on Steam’s Top Sellers list. So, while the drop was noteworthy, it was only temporary, and likely won’t have a long-lasting impact on the success of Valve’s handheld device.
We will be keeping an eye on the Steam charts in the future surrounding any further news from Nintendo, and especially on April 2nd, when Nintendo plans to host a Nintendo Direct about its next console.
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