Comment by joenot443
6 hours ago
The Switch 1 sold about 150m units, the Steam Deck’s sold 6m.
Internet nerds like us aren’t really Nintendo’s target market, I don’t think. Installing emulators or jailbreaking a system isn’t something most of their customer base would have the want or need to do, IMO.
Even some of us internet nerds are Nintendo fans who wouldn't go anywhere near emulating. Apart from any of the moral concerns, it's just such a worse experience: I want to use a touch screen, a portable device, a proper gamepad, etc. Nintendo has built up quite a considerable amount of goodwill since the 1980s, and the reward for that is a pretty loyal customer base.
So, emulation on a Steam Deck!
But still, you have to set it up, so I get your point.
> I want to use a touch screen, a portable device, a proper gamepad, etc.
For what it's worth: you can use your ordinary Switch controllers on any PC just fine.
I have a Mac and every time I've tried it, it's been fraught with problems. I think it worked once; maybe I'll go back and see if I have more luck now <shrug>
So true. It's dangerous to form world views based on "What HN thinks". This is the best community on the Internet IMHO but we're a very tiny slice of the population. "Real people" tend to not behave like us.
Same thing with GTA 6.
A tiny fraction of people might decide to go through hoops to pirate, but most will either play the normal way or do something else.
I had a thread disagreeing with me when i brought that up.
People will be playing it at release on PC, regardless if whether it's available or not
“People” return half eaten hamburgers to Costco to save a few bucks.
That’s still not what the typical person does
Has everyone forgotten the PSP already? When I was at school a lot of kids on my class(including myself) had one, and I don't recall anyone getting any actual games for it, I do remember the clerk at the store explaining to my parents that oh this console is very easy to hack and you can just download games online for it, which is exactly what everyone I knew did.
Which seems to be what everyone did everywhere, as the console sold very very well and the software for it sold poorly.
This is actually the Japanese experience too. Many Japanese ex-kids of PSP generation have the story of the guy from two classes over with a Pandora battery and the firmware stick usually in his school bag. But sound of UMD drives seeking was common too, and discs themselves aren't rare at all, so I think a lot of games did sell in the end?
Yeah I think the Switch is popular with parents because it’s locked down and mostly just works.
Like if you want to do zero technical things and provide access to Minecraft without providing access to TikTok.
all it takes is 1 TikTok trend