It's too hot to play Steam Deck or Switch outside, makers warn

Enlarge / Even shade may not be enough to keep your Nintendo Switch in extreme temperatures. Nintendo UK / YouTube

One of the main benefits of handheld consoles is the ability to play them outside the home, a use we've seen highlighted in multiple marketing campaigns over the years. But as countries around the world have suffered record-breaking heat waves in recent weeks, two major handheld console makers are warning gamers that their products won't perform well in ambient temperatures above 35°C (95°F). < /p>

Japan's Nintendo issued the warnings last week, tweeting that "if you use the Nintendo Switch in a hot place, the temperature of the main unit may become high," according to a machine translation. "If the temperature of the main unit becomes too high, it can automatically sleep to protect the main unit." The company also urged gamers to make sure the vents on the console and docking station aren't clogged with dust or debris, and to install this docking station "in a location that doesn't does not retain heat".

Valve joined in a public heat warning yesterday, tweeting a reminder that the Steam Deck "may start throttling performance to protect itself" at high ambient temperatures. The Steam Deck's internal APU begins to degrade performance when the chip itself reaches a temperature of 100°C (212°F) and shuts down if it exceeds 105°C (221°F), Valve said. After that, the system can throttle battery charge rates, download speeds, and even SSD speeds to keep the GPU running as smoothly as possible.

It's getting hot in here...

These heat warnings aren't completely new to either company. Nintendo and Valve have long published support documentation citing 35°C as the upper limit of their consoles' "safe operating range" (fun fact: Valve also doesn't recommend using the Steam Deck at altitudes above 3,500 meters above sea level). Still, it's worth noting that both companies have felt the need to publicly reinforce these recommendations now, as temperatures top 40°C in the UK for the first time and heat-driven wildfires force evacuations in France. , Spain and Portugal.

For the Switch, we noted at the start of our initial review that the tablet can get noticeably hot during prolonged gaming sessions on high-end games. That said, most Switch games are designed with a consistent hardware profile in mind, which means they shouldn't overload the CPU under normal thermal conditions.

[embedded content] Some hackers are already experimenting with extreme cooling solutions for the Steam Deck.

For the Steam Deck, on the...