"Hope it comes to Switch." We've all seen or said or thought this countless times while finding interesting and experimental PC games that would feel great on a handheld. And developers have obliged us, transforming the Switch into a flourishing home for smaller, less hardware-intensive games. The one drawback has typically been the wait, as these games often would hit PC first and come to Switch months or even years later. That's still the case today, which is why owning a Steam Deck has made recent Nintendo Direct presentations feel a lot less exciting for me than they used to be.

Since the earliest days of Nintendo Direct, I've loved the presentation style. Video game announcements and trailers wrapped up in a quick, snappy, visually appealing package. It's no wonder that they've become the standard for the industry as more publishers move away from live events. But the star of the show has always been the games themselves. And when most of those games are also appearing on a handheld PC that looks and feels a lot like a Switch, and they're often coming to PC earlier and/or cheaper, it's hard to get too excited.

Take today's Nintendo Direct Mini, for example. Some of the games shown, like Nier Automata or Portal: Companion Collection, are already available on Steam, making the Switch version the late-comer. (Right now the Portal bundle on Steam is $3 while the newly launched Portal: Companion Collection on Switch is $20. This is partly due to the Steam Summer Sale, but that's another point in Steam's favor--these deep discounts are much more common on Valve's store.) Meanwhile, surprise drops like Little Noah: Scion of Paradise surprise-dropped on Steam right alongside the Switch. Even the big finish, the announcement that Persona 5 Royal is finally coming to the Switch, was slightly undercut by the announcement weeks ago that it's coming to PC and Xbox Game Pass.