Does the Steam Deck hold the key to the Nintendo Switch's future?

It's been about five years since the Nintendo Switch was first released. The hybrid console was initially met with wariness from both consumers and developers. But so far, it's seen nothing but roaring success thanks to a combination of factors.

First, it's home to universally acclaimed exclusives such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Super Mario Odyssey - two of the highest-rated games of all time. And that's what it's all about: Console quality games on the go, including third-party AAA titles such as Skyrim, DOOM and Witcher 3.

The portable-to-dock feature lends itself to a laid back experience. And the platform's focus on bringing (local) co-op action to the forefront only adds to its versatility.

Most of this isn't too surprising, as innovation and software quality are two things Nintendo is renowned for. But with the arrival of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, the Japanese gaming giant needs to fortify one area where the Nintendo Switch lacks - the tech itself.

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Nintendo Switch can learn a thing or two from the Steam Deck

Nvidia's Tegra X1 first debuted in 2015 (Image via Nvidia)

The Nvidia Tegra X1 purring at the heart of the Nintendo Switch was first introduced in 2015. Nvidia's own Shield TV home console was the first system to use that chip in a commercial product, and it was one of the best ARM chipsets of its era. However, given the rapid advances in mobile phone technology, it was made obsolete in a couple years by the newer Snapdragons.

Despite that, the Switch still punches way above its weight with ports such as DOOM Eternal and Dying Light. But the hardware won't be able to sustain that streak in the long run.

Developers know that too, which is why we're seeing an influx of more "cloud-based" games on Switch, such as Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy. The Nintendo Switch's biggest hardware flaws are its low-memory bandwidth and the weak Cortex-A57 CPUs.

With that in mind, Nintendo could go down a few different routes to address this. They could employ a custom variant of some of the latest Tegra models - and rumors have certainly been doubling down on that.

Or they could go the Steam Deck route: using AMD's Ryzen APUs. Those chipsets have so far been the best at striking a balance between power and efficiency - ideal for Nintendo's vision.

The Steam Deck SOC boasts a 4c/8t Zen 2 CPU (up to 3.4 GHz), 16 GB LPDDR5 and RDNA 2 GPU (with 8 CUs up to 1.6 GHz). If they use the same tech for a hypothetical Nintendo Switch Pro, it would be a massive jump over the current tech.

This would also make it easier to port titles from other platforms since they use the same x86 PC architecture. However, it still poses some problems: thermals, power draw, battery life and pricing.

The existing Nintendo Switch runs surprisingly cool, with an average temperature of around 50°C when docked (as per Digital Foundry's tests). Meanwhile, other handheld PCs such as the AYA NEO often hover hit the 70-80°C range with ease. That’s no surprise, however, as higher settings and more frames per second (FPS) cause these APUs to draw up to 30W. By comparison, the Steam Deck caps out at 15W while the Nintendo Switch draws a scant 5W in handheld mode.

On the battery side, the Nintendo Switch V2 models boast up to nine hours of gameplay with certain titles. It’s definitely not something the handheld PCs are likely to keep up with unless players are content with limitations on visuals and performance.

Then there's the topic of pricing - these devices are expensive. Valve certainly made the correct decision by pricing the lowest Deck variant at a friendly $400 tag. But overall, they're still pricier than the Nintendo Switch, whose cheapest variant (the Lite) costs just $200 (which is really not bad if you're looking for a cheap indie machine).

Take your library with you using the Steam Deck (Image via Valve)

Looking at the big picture, mimicking the competition is certainly the way to go. The aging Nintendo Switch can only pull tricks for so long - especially when the Switch's Achilles' heel manifests itself with poor performance in games such as Apex Legends.

If Nintendo utilizes AMD's tech and reaches a middle ground with regards to the aforementioned factors, they would certainly be catering to everyone. Studios would not need to compromise on their projects as much. Meanwhile, unappealing missteps like cloud versions can just be avoided altogether, making consumers happy.

But this is the Big N we're talking about. They've always got surprises up their sleeves - for better or worse. So far they've mostly made the right choices, from marketing to developer support. The company has played their cards safely with the Nvidia partnership - understandably so after the Wii U's failure. But now is the time for them to be bold and throw caution to the wind.