Ironically, the Steam Deck is also the Switch 2’s biggest threat. While Nintendo’s new console may have Valve’s beat on screen resolution, refresh rate, and a custom Nvidia processor capable of DLSS and ray tracing, Steam trumps it in value, particularly with game prices.

Nintendo fans bombarded a Switch 2 livestream on Thursday to shout at the company to drop the price of the upcoming console.

Nintendo has announced a June 5 launch date and $449.99 price tag for its latest gaming console, the Switch 2, which will introduce interactive chat and screenshare functions to connect gamers.

We played hours of Nintendo Switch 2 games the same day President Trump announced new global tariffs. Despite the hefty price tag, it's a solid evolution of one of the world's most popular consoles.

The latter seems like the better option seeing that some Nintendo Switch 2 games will cost $80 or $90, depending on whether you like digital downloads or physical releases. Speaking of digital things, Switch 2 microSD cards are also more expensive because they’re fast, like SSDs. No, the old memory cards you already own won’t work.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is one of the first mainstream devices to embrace super-fast microSD Express cards, but the move might bring some growing pains to start. The team behind the Switch 2 originally considered using an SNES-inspired naming convention for the new console, but worried it might confuse customers.

Nintendo's pricey new Switch 2 has been updated to create a product that feels both familiar and improved. WIRED spent some time with it.

Nvidia says that its chip enables DLSS support on the Nintendo Switch 2, allowing the console to upscale games and provide better performance, much like how DLSS powers Nvidia’s desktop and laptop GPUs. Nvidia doesn’t mention which version of DLSS will be supported on the Switch 2, nor whether there will be any frame generation capabilities.