Will Nintendo do everything it can to make the Switch 2 a Steam Deck competitor?

When the original Switch came out almost eight years ago, few people realized they wanted console-quality gaming on the go. Turns out we did it and the Switch became Nintendo’s best-selling console. Five years after the Switch’s release, Valve gave PC gamers the ability to play these games anywhere Steam Deck gaming handheld. With the Switch 2 Unveiled this week, it’s possible gamers could get everything in one package – if Nintendo allows it.

The Switch 2 could become the ultimate all-in-one device portable gaming device. There is the ability to play other console games and PC games while also being the only device that can play Nintendo games. The only obstacle is Nintendo’s insistence on keeping its ecosystem insular and unnecessarily complicated.

It’s true we don’t know much about the Switch 2 since it was only revealed on Thursday. However, there are some things we know for sure. First, it will be more powerful than the original Nintendo Switch. How much, we don’t know, but if it comes close to the performance of the Xbox Series S or the Steam Deck, it will be able to play virtually every game on the market and probably every new game for home console or PC in the next few years.

That would represent a big leap: the original Switch was on par with a PlayStation 3 when it came out in 2017, and therefore couldn’t handle many of the well-known, so-called “AAA” games found on the Xbox, PlayStation or PC.

But that’s not the end of it. Thanks to the further development of Cloud streamingThe Switch 2 was able to play a variety of games from day one without developers having to port their games. You have Xbox Game Pass This allows subscribers to play Xbox games on their phones, tablets and other portable gaming devices by streaming through a browser. So no app is required, just access to a browser and that should be enough to play Xbox games on a Switch 2.

This also applies to GeForce Now. It is a streaming service for playing PC games via the cloud, which also works with a browser.

That means a Switch 2 owner could potentially play hundreds of Xbox games with Game Pass and thousands of games with a GeForce Now subscription using just an easily accessible browser. In addition, there are all Switch games that are available via Backwards compatibility and all future games for the Switch 2.

A potential library like this could easily give the Switch 2 one of the largest libraries available for a console, and it would contain one thing that other consoles and portable gaming devices don’t have easy access to: Nintendo games.

However, this will only happen if Nintendo allows it, and the Mario maker has no track record of making it easier for third parties to participate in the company’s ecosystem. Nintendo simply doesn’t want to make things easier if it requires the use of more than the bare minimum technology – or jeopardizes its family-friendly reputation.

That’s why there are codes for switching friends instead of just sending invites to friends Online voice chat only available via an app. Nintendo is also a company that is very protective of its hardware, hence why constant litigation against developers of Switch emulators.

There’s an extraordinary amount of potential in the Switch 2 that could allow Nintendo to dominate the entire gaming industry, not just consoles. But maybe Nintendo just doesn’t want to give up control.