Comment by torginus
2 months ago
I feel like this is more like the console/PC debate in the 90s. Consoles like the SNES had dedicated fixed function graphics hardware with weaker general specs, but with the special HW they could perform as well as a much more expensive PC - but as devs made more and more varied and clever games, that fixed function hardware couldn't support it and the PC became the superior choice.
I guess that's why Nintendo stopped making game consoles and Sony's PlayStation never went anywhere.
Consoles still exist, but they have evolved to use PC hardware.
Switch is more like smartphone hardware, though with differentiation and innovation in the form factor, hybrid docking design, and joy-con controllers; and it's clearly still a game console, running a custom OS and software and supporting game cartridges.
The influence goes both ways however - both the Steam Deck and Steam Machine are attempts to build a PC that resembles a game console (the former being Switch-like and the latter as something of a "GabeCube.") Steam Deck's Game Mode UI and Steam's Big Picture mode try to provide a console-like experience as well.