Are the Console Wars Over? Welcome to the Handheld Wars.

Looks like the epic console wars might be coming to an end, and a new battlefield is heating up: the Handheld Wars. With heavy hitters like the Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, and the trusty Nintendo Switch, portable gaming is taking the spotlight. These handhelds bring the power of consoles to your hands, offering a variety of gaming experiences for both casual and hardcore gamers. While PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo aren't going anywhere, the rise of handheld gaming is giving us more ways to play than ever before.

[darthv72]

console wars are stupid to begin with... let alone handheld wars.

[GameGeeked]

Console wars, and possibly handheld wars, may seem silly, but they persist because there will always be passionate fan.

[darthv72]

Being passionate about the games is fine. The plastic boxes... not so much.

[InUrFoxHole]

Passionate is one thing. But fans went full retard

[Cacabunga]

Darth

You need some kind of plastic box to play them games.. and people tend to choose the best one. Console wars allows games and consoles to reach new heights.

[S2Killinit]

You really don't get to speak. Come on.

[Ironmike]

S2killinit u just as bad

[InUrFoxHole]

We're all naughty here

[S2Killinit]

@Ironmike
I’m not as relentless as some on here. In fact, I only respond in kind and I got pulled into this site after seeing how some commenters were always rushing in to be the first comment and detail conversations in favor of their box. Now that their console of choice is doing badly, they preach kumbaya. Just saying.

[crazyCoconuts]

Is it implied that "console wars" refers to the fans warring vs. the war the platform holders are constantly in?
Obviously the platform holders have been at war and will be as long as they have to compete for our dollars.

[ravens52]

They're fine, as long as you know this isn't REAL. I can say how much distaste I have for MS but still have a best friend that only games on Xbox. Its not that serious .

[Charlieboy333]

Darth, do you not have preferences for certain things in life ? You know like a certain brand of phone, car, clothing, restaurant, etc.

Or are you one of those boring limp people that like to sit on the fence with everything because the 'conflict' is too much for you to handle?

There is fuckall wrong with having a console war....it keeps things fun and interesting. Well unless you're a supporter of Xbox that is.

Most of the intelligent self respecting Xbox supporters have jumped ship and all that's left now are the mouth breathing knuckle draggers.

[Ironmike]

So u resort to insults to win argument, u already lost bro .

[Charlieboy333]

@ Ironmike Whatever you say sunshine.....yawn

[Knightofelemia]

Console wars were great when it was SNES vs Genesis. Was always a great topic in the school yard. You got the Genesis port the friend got the SNES port. Always fun to compare who was better. I always looked forward after the school week and rent a game for the SNES. Now the console wars are pretty much done and over with PS3 vs XB360 was pretty much the last of the console wars. Anything after that is pretty much one sided with almost everybody going PS4 and PS5. To me the console wars started to drop after the PS3 and XB360 ran their course. Be interesting to see the handheld wars I am in the market for a new handheld system.

[GameGeeked]

The SNES vs Genesis days were definitely memorable. I was lucky to have both consoles :) It's interesting to see how the focus is shifting now. Handheld wars could bring back some of that excitement. Which handheld system are you considering?

[anast]

I was on the Genesis side. We see how well that went.

[RaiderNation]

I had both but I preferred the Genesis for the sports games and I liked Sega's 6 button controller better for fighting games. That D pad was a godsend to pull off Street Fighter moves!

[RaiderNation]

The "golden age" of gaming to me was between 1995 and 2000 when it was a 3 horse race between Sony, Nintendo, and Sega. For me, there WAS no console war because I genuinely loved all 3 platforms, with each bringing something unique to the table. I miss that era.

[anast]

I switched to Sony day 1.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Anast, no one would've ever thought that about you. Totally surprising news/s

[Fist4achin]

Mortal Kombat was superior on the genesis!

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

It also helps that back then, they used very different hardware, today's consoles have very similar internals to each other, especially modern Playstations and Xboxes.

[fsfsxii]

Handheld wars aka which system is gimped more and destroys your hands faster.

[anast]

I would say with the defeat of Xbox and Nintendo being it's own thing in family friendly handheld gaming, the console wars are over. For those of us that enjoy that kind of entertainment and are aware of this aspect, it was fun while it lasted.

There is no handheld war Nintendo owns the handheld landscape.

[-Foxtrot]

" There is no handheld war Nintendo owns the handheld landscape "

If the Xbox handheld is true I won't how it will do against Nintendo, even Sony couldn't keep up and the PSP was fantastic

[RaiderNation]

The Steamdeck has currently sold around 3 million worldwide. A handheld Xbox would be lucky to double that. As others have suggested, there IS no handheld war. Nintendo owns it.

[Ironmike]

The defeat of xbox my god u for real it's a console u talking g like its real war the defeat that's saddest statement I read in here

[anast]

"that's saddest statement I read in here"

Your not very self aware. I get it.

[The Wood]

The xbox as a console is a shadow of what it was during the 360 era. IF the term war offends you then I guess that you lean towards the green brand.. Just a guess mind you.. Regardless, the brand has been mismanaged for way too long and that's a key factor as to why the gappage as increased yoy between it and its closest rival.

[HankHill]

Go outside and get a life.

[DarXyde]

In a handheld war, Nintendo cannot be beaten.

PSP was a surprisingly robust effort, and it came the closest... While doing half as well as the DS.

[badz149]

closest? By any metric imaginable, it was not even close. it's easy to assume the that the PSP might as well be considered a success but it sold over 80mil vs over 150mil by the DS. It was not until the failure of Wii U, Xbone and Vita did people finally realize how well the PSP actually did. before all those, it was generally called a failure by many, considering how badly the DS crushed it in sales.

[NotoriousWhiz]

If the PSP's 80 million isn't a success, then what is the 3DS' 75 million?

[cammers1995]

Steam deck is my system of choice. Everything just works. Especially with plug ins so easy to install from the menu.

[crazyCoconuts]

Steam deck is my nerdvana. Technical marvel getting all those games to run under Linux, constant updates from valve, built in support for under locking, the list goes on. Absolutely love it

[Cockney]

The sream deck sucks ass, next gen xbox handheld will make the deck look like a tamagotchi, more power better screen way better graphics, im looking forward to scraping the deck off my shoe, its going to be a handheldocide!!
How am I doing?
Who's team am I on?
Can I be the leader?

[crazyCoconuts]

I love the handheld market but let's face it- it's kinda a niche market. As pumped as I am about these, all my "normal" friends and even my kids want nothing to do with it.

[NotoriousWhiz]

Most of my gamer friends play on Switches and PCs. Some on Steam deck as well. A fair few also have PS5s. Only one has an Xbox.

Don't know what you mean by "normal" friends. Do you mean non-gamers or casuals that only play CoD?

[crazyCoconuts]

I mean mainstream gamers. Sounds like you have cool friends.

[Charlieboy333]

Yes, after more than 40 years consoles are are about to be replaced by handhelds....and mobile too! And PC! ( gee where have I heard this before!? ).

In fact, we were assured numerous times that consoles were a dying breed for the last two decades now. Yet here we are.

So because one ( very rich ) company has utterly failed to make their console desirable or provide anything of real value to their supporters ( after DECADES in the business ) now we are painting ALL the consoles with same brush. Even though Sony and Nintendo are enjoying great success as always. This just so dumb I can't even find the words.

'These handhelds bring the power of consoles to your hands'.... I would LOVE to see those handhelds you mentioned run anything approaching PS5 levels of resolution, framerate and detail.

Even if such a device was foolishly made, just how much do you think it would cost for a handheld with the tech to run PS5 games natively and provide sufficient battery life? Did you even put any thought in before making this claim?

[hot4play]

I'm really enjoying my PlayStation Portal! Had a blast playing FF7 Rebirth on it. Can't wait to see the Switch 2 and the next PSP ;)

[PRIMORDUS]

What's funny is no matter how powerful the handhelds are Nintendo is always on top. I'm sure the Switch 2 will be under powered compared to what we will be available at the time of launch, but that will not matter at all.

[Ironmike]

Anast reference to a war between two plastic boxes is sad in my eyes maybe not in urs there's a lot more serious conflicts in the world than two consoles trying to come come out on top ,so I find iam very self aware how petty these arguments are

[hiawa23]

My thoughts, 100%

[The Wood]

When you're on the losing end, peace is always the cry..... go ask Greenberg for a reference point.

[hiawa23]

You are never on the losing end being a multi-platform gamer and play everything.

[Ironmike]

I own both I enjoy both that's enough gor me

[Flewid638]

"Device Wars" are always dumb

[hiawa23]

Console wars are toxic nonsense to begin for the man children to begin with. Play everything. That is best for all gamers.

[mcstorm]

For me I won't look at a console again after getting an Rog ally with the 3080. This device plays all the games I have thrown at it at 30/60fps in handheld and 4k 60fps when connected to the 3080. Yes it was more than a console but it's definitely worth it as has so. Many advantages over consoles. I still think consoles have their place the same as pcs too but great to have theses options.

[Chocoburger]

There are no 'handheld wars' since only Nintendo offers exclusive games on their handheld (I'm not counting Switch emulation).

Without exclusive games, they all play the same games, and thus really just a variation on the same platform. Nothing worth warring over, or even thinking about.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Nintendo controls this space, and they won't easily give it up, as for the handheld PCs, Steam Deck pretty rules the roost, closely followed by something like the Rog Ally. I feel like Nintendo and Steam pretty much have this sector covered, adding Playstation or Xbox to the fray probably won't gain those two any worthwhile market share, especially with the way they operate now.