Every console generation, the internet likes to wage a console war. This generation’s fight seems to be Switch 2 vs. Steam Deck. And I think everyone arguing about it fundamentally misunderstands what the “war” even is. Let me explain. I was among the first people who bought the original Steam Deck. Mine showed up in 2022. And at no point did I think, “Ah yes. The Switch killer has arrived.” I actually liked what the Switch did. It was a low-cost handheld for my wife and kid to play what they liked. Which, at the time, was Nintendo games. My Steam Deck motivation was way simpler. I wanted to play PC games on the go. Until the Steam Deck, that basically wasn’t a real option unless you wanted to spend $2,000 to run Cyberpunk 2077 at 30 FPS on a “gaming laptop” that doubled as a space heater. There were PC games I owned for decades, like Septerra Core, that never had a console release. And suddenly I wasn’t tethered to a desk like it was 2004 and I was waiting for MSN Messenger to come back online. At the time, I didn’t even know the Steam Deck would run almost my entire library. I just figured: if it can play 10% of my games, it’s worth it. And it ended up being one of the best gaming investments I’ve ever made. Now fast forward to today. Despite my love for the Steam Deck, I would *love* to get a Switch 2 for my family. Problem is, neither my kid nor my wife wants it. My kid is busy playing Roblox on her iPad, as nature intended. My wife wanted something *more* comfortable than a Switch, still had Joy-Cons, and could play the Phoenix Wright Trilogy. So she didn’t get a Switch 2. She didn’t get a Steam Deck either. Not comfortable enough for her, and no detachable controls. She got a Lenovo Legion Go. Now if the Legion Go were a “console,” it would be a complete non-entity. If we’re being charitable, maybe it sold 400,000 units. That’s not even in the same solar system as Nintendo numbers. But the Legion Go is *not* a console. It’s a handheld PC. It literally ships with Windows. So comparing units sold isn’t apples-to-apples. It’s apples-to-a warehouse full of uncounted apples, because nobody even agrees on what counts as “a PC platform sale.” How many Dell Alienware desktops have been sold? How many HP laptops? Nobody knows. Nobody cares. We treat PCs as interchangeable objects that all run the same stuff, because functionally, they do. And that’s also true for handheld PCs. Valve sells a few models. Lenovo does. Asus does. MSI does. There are a dozen more from smaller OEMs, many based in China, and half of them sound like Amazon brand names generated by a dying CAPTCHA. It’s worth remembering that “handheld PC” is not a platform. It’s a form factor sitting on top of a platform, which is x86. At one point, Windows mattered. Now, because of Proton, Linux is basically as viable as Windows for gaming. It doesn’t matter if a game was made for Windows. It’ll probably run on Linux too, unless a developer decided to install kernel-level anti-cheat like they’re defending nuclear launch codes. In other words, this “platform” is wildly diverse. Handheld is one form factor. Desktop is another. So is a NUC. So is a laptop. And soon, thanks to FEX, it’ll include ARM devices too. So how does any of this affect Switch 2? Here’s the actual competition. Let’s take Monster Hunter Wilds, released February 2025. Capcom expected the bulk of sales to come from consoles. 10.7 million units sold. But 6.2 million of those were on PC. And when you buy Monster Hunter Wilds on PC, that *one* copy lets you play on a TV, a monitor, or a handheld. You can dock your handheld to your TV. You can stream your desktop to your phone. You can play it on a $4,000 rig or on a tiny handheld you bought because you told yourself it was “for travel.” *That* is what Nintendo is competing against. Not Steam Deck. The entire PC ecosystem. Now, am I saying PC is better than Switch 2? No. It’s genuinely nice that the Switch 2 has a cartridge slot. There’s something wonderful about physically owning a game. And Nintendo’s 1st party stuff is still magical. I don’t necessarily think it’s “better” than everything else, but it’s absolutely the Disney of video games. Sometimes you want Disney. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you want anime garbage with 14 systems stapled onto it and a UI designed by a committee of sleep-deprived interns. Sometimes you want Sword Art Online. And if you want Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, you’re probably playing it on PC, because it never got ported to Switch. Meanwhile, I got it on Steam at 90% off and I can play it on my Steam Deck… despite the game releasing 4 years before the Steam Deck even existed. So this Switch 2 vs. Steam Deck “console war” doesn’t really matter. If the Steam Deck didn’t exist, I’d still play Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet on a PC. And I still wouldn’t be playing it on a Switch.