It worked for Nintendo because of their style of games but for us enthusiasts is that really how we want to play our games? I am old fashioned but I want the full experience-- big screen OLED with the sound blasting on my Pioneer surround sound system. I understand the traveling part but to me it dulls the experience. Can all the graphical advances be appreciated on the small screen? Where is this demand coming from as they appear to be niche products outside of the Switch.
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Are we witnessing an overreaction with everyone wanting to make a handheld these days?
- Thread starter FMX
- Start date
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
It's the handled 'gaming pc' bubble. Feels like it's getting over-saturated pretty quick.
RetroGamingUK
Member
Yes, and no one outside of Nintendo appears to be doing well.
SteamDeck appears to be carving a nice little niche, the Windows ones all appear to be total flops.
www.theverge.com
In terms of market performance, I’m reminded of netbooks from 2009.
SteamDeck appears to be carving a nice little niche, the Windows ones all appear to be total flops.
Three years later, the Steam Deck has dominated handheld PC gaming
How big is the handheld PC gaming industry?
www.theverge.com
In terms of market performance, I’m reminded of netbooks from 2009.
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ChorizoPicozo
Member
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I'm not super aware of it, it feels like a bit of a niche still to me, I've only seen a Steamdeck being used in public once. I'm not sure I've seen any of the others.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I don't see a big problem with it. PC gaming is growing in popularity. Switch is popular. Younger gamers have fixated on either PC or mobile in many cases. Seems fairly sensible to try and sell something like that to me.
cireza
Member
How exactly did Xbox start this market already ? This is more like they desperately want to try to get a piece of it.
jmiller180
Member
I bet in five years some of the big players that were late to the party (MSI, Zotac, Acer) drop off. When I think of handhelds I think of Switch, Steam Deck, Rog Ally, and Legion Go and I'm guessing a lot of that is because of marketing and early adoption.
Magic Carpet
Gold Member
Nope, The Success of Switch and the Portal prove that people want small handhelds, with the option to connect to larger display.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Yes. These handheld PCs haven't even sold THAT well, it's just weird that people claim it's the new hot thing despite zero evidence.
Gojiira
Member
This. Literally this. Its only Xbox going crazy for it.
Comandr
Member
Boy do I have news for you.
Little Mac
Gold Member
The only portables I care to recognize are the Switch 2 and the Steam Deck 2. In that order.
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bender
What time is it?
Boy do I have news for you.
I have three Analogue Pockets. There are plenty of portable retro players. That's not what I'm describing.
dragonyeuw
Member
Outside of Nintendo ( because they keep their games heavily guarded behind their hardware walled garden), I don't have much reason to get Playstation or Xbox handhelds when I can access their libraries on a PC portable alongside Steam and the general benefits and flexibility of a PC. Eventually the less popular ones will naturally fall away and we'll be left with the ones that got in and made its mark early.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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Magic Carpet
Gold Member
So then I will NEVER see any of you 3 in a Switch or PS Portal thread ever?
PauloRoberto
Member
My problem is that is: why the F*** everyone thinks this the future... when the numbers for the biggests players in this marked summing the last 3 years are less than 6M units ?! For god's sake that's less than a Playstation 5 / Switch semester!
rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
No. More options = better.
Hari Seldon
Member
Definitely another one of those multi-hundred million dollar boondongles from MS. West coast product people are the biggest hive-mind never-leave-the-bubble crowd you will ever meet.
Gojiira
Member
Nope. Though its irrelevant given it doesnt change the fact that all the rumours etc about Handhelds centers around Xbox..
diffusionx
Gold Member
That's why I sold my Steam Deck and I don't even like taking the Switch around. They're just too big. The DS and PSP are the perfect size.
They probably aren't taking off because they aren't realistically portable.
Little Chicken
Member
I would rather play something like Suikoden on a handheld, rather than using a $$$$$ PC or console to play it.
Bond007
Member
I'm looking into a SteamDeck here.
But im not looking for a console experience on a handheld either, i have my console for that. I'm wanting access to Steam for PC games i'm interested in. So for me an Xbox handheld does nothing when "everything" is an Xbox right? I can play their games on PS5 and be straight. Additionally the ability to connect a Deck to a TV is a bonus in case i want to treat that experience like a console without splurging on building a PC.
An Xbox handheld sounds like a niche to a niche - hanging onto dear life. Will be skipping regardless - no purpose for me.
But im not looking for a console experience on a handheld either, i have my console for that. I'm wanting access to Steam for PC games i'm interested in. So for me an Xbox handheld does nothing when "everything" is an Xbox right? I can play their games on PS5 and be straight. Additionally the ability to connect a Deck to a TV is a bonus in case i want to treat that experience like a console without splurging on building a PC.
An Xbox handheld sounds like a niche to a niche - hanging onto dear life. Will be skipping regardless - no purpose for me.
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IntentionalPun
Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Eh the MS rumor is just having a 3rd party brand a PC handheld as Xbox.
It barely deserves any mention in relation to Switch.
It barely deserves any mention in relation to Switch.
lifa-cobex
Member
Normally I get bored with my handhelds.
PSP
Vita
Steam Deck has really caught my attention. In fact I've been playing it more than console or PC recently.
Calling the handheld market as niche is a bit of a misnomer.
Steam deck I would maybe class as niche as it's somewhat of a techie device. But I defiantly see it growing.
But never underestimate the market for handhelds.
The DS was an absolute monster in sales. It's about advertising, brand recognition, ease of entry, etc etc
Valve won't get up to those numbers but it is defiantly a solid portable console. It's flexibility and emulating potential is fantastic.
PSP
Vita
Steam Deck has really caught my attention. In fact I've been playing it more than console or PC recently.
Calling the handheld market as niche is a bit of a misnomer.
Steam deck I would maybe class as niche as it's somewhat of a techie device. But I defiantly see it growing.
But never underestimate the market for handhelds.
The DS was an absolute monster in sales. It's about advertising, brand recognition, ease of entry, etc etc
Valve won't get up to those numbers but it is defiantly a solid portable console. It's flexibility and emulating potential is fantastic.
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Magic Carpet
Gold Member
I already picture a Lenovo Legion Go on the factory line with some guy sitting on a chair with a roll of little round xbox logo's sticking them on the front. And another guy on the other side sliping a 15 day Gamepass code into the box.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
The best selling console this gen was a handheld... also we are starting to see APUs that are small/efficient enough for a handheld form factor, so something impossible until very recently became quite affordable.
Would be silly not to invest in it really, especially when graphics are really stagnating for a few years now.
Someone with a young kid would understand the convenience of handheld gaming as well
Would be silly not to invest in it really, especially when graphics are really stagnating for a few years now.
Someone with a young kid would understand the convenience of handheld gaming as well
Fbh
Member
This is sort of true.
Online you see people talking as if the Steam deck was this massive hit, but the majority of the handheld PC market including Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, Asus ROG Ally (multiple models), and MSI Claw (multiple models) have been estimated to have sold a combined 6 million units since 2022
That's like what Switch sells in a 1.5 quarters.... 7 years after having launched
Killer8
Member
Try the Switch Lite. Only a bit bigger than a Vita:
With the official flip case it is ridiculously portable:
XXL
Member
They'll find out quickly that Nintendo runs this space.
Imo, the Switch is a handheld.
You guys need to pick one. Lol.
Imo, the Switch is a handheld.
Zacfoldor
Member
Handheld gaming is pretty great if you have a use case for it. I use my portal for grinding. I don't think many will see crazy success outside of Nintendo and maybe Valve though. You need a gaming company to make a good gaming machine. Someone that will offer future software support for actual games. Anything else is a tech demo. The portal is a really cool little streaming machine but I wouldn't expect it to sell very well, it's limited. Nintendo can dedicate their entire company to the device which gives them a giant advantage outside of their already ubiquitous reputation in the space.
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Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
I’m team steam deck, portal and possibly switch 2. I don’t think these windows based ones are where it’s at. I like SD being closer to a console experience with a suspend button.
digital_ghost
Gold Member
They exist in the clouds. Dat power of teh cloudz. Will change games forever. Wait until next e3.
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N1tr0sOx1d3
Given another chance
For me, there’s just something so convenient and compelling about a good portable device. I mean what’s not to love!? Whilst your wife is in labour and going through powerful contractions in a hospital bed, you can be by her side, lost, in another universe, hopefully with an OLED screen to further amplify the experience.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Setsuna Mudou
Member
Magic Carpet
Gold Member
How much to get one of those over in the States?
The chinese android handheld market is even more insane. We have a new one every 2 months.
Everyone and their mother is selling handhelds. Do you think there's no demand? You crazy
Though cellphones games don't count. 2 hours of heat before a dead battery doesn't make for good portable fun.
