[musicale]

I have read comments from game developers that copy protection, and anti-piracy tech, does seem to have a significant and positive effect on a game's sales for the first few days after release, which seems to be a hugely important window in a market with a short attention span and a constant flood of new games.

I agree that the big deal that Nintendo must be worried about is Switch emulation and piracy/leaks of new games before or close to release.

On the other hand (refuting my GP speculation perhaps), are Switch (and Switch game) sales really going to tank because pirates can run Zelda on Steam Decks? Regular Zelda fans who can afford one probably own a Switch already, are planning on buying a Switch 2 (or an OLED Switch after a price drop), and preordered the game.

[grodriguez100]

> Regular Zelda fans who can afford one probably own a Switch already, are planning on buying a Switch 2 (or an OLED Switch after a price drop), and preordered the game.

This might be true, but only represents part of the sales — there are many potential buyers who are not “regular Zelda fans” and who may end up not buying the game if they can find a pirated copy.

[benoau]

I think more importantly: anyone who looks at the Switch as another computer they can buy will see it is worse than the Steam Deck by basically any metric including the Switch's own games running much better with higher resolutions and framerates plus all the QoL enhancements emulators add.

There's very little reason to buy-into a proprietary handheld that will restrict your usage and repairability and compel you to pay the highest possible prices for games, if you can enjoy those games without that hardware.

I don't know how many consumers are savvy enough to make that comparison but Nintendo are in an extraordinary vulnerable position already - and the Switch 2 will have to contend with two future generations of the Steam Deck as well!