Steam Deck, Switch players warned as heat waves cook Japan, Europe

Take care when taking your handheld gaming consoles outside in record heat.

Ambient temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius — and Europe has suffered highs far worse than that for much of July — can cause Valve’s Steam Deck to throttle performance, the company said on Tuesday. Last week Nintendo of Japan tweeted a similar advisoryAbout using the Switch handheld mode. The Switch works best in temperatures between 5 to 35 degrees Celsius (41-95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Nintendo’s tweet was sent from the company’s Japanese-language customer service Twitter account on July 10, as Japan was suffering through the worst heat wave in the country’s recorded meteorological history. The June heat wave saw temperatures peak at 40.2°C, which was a new record.

Valve explained its heat advisory further, saying that the Steam Deck’s performance throttle was meant “to protect itself (and you) from damage.” The Steam Deck will shut down if the temperature of its internal components hits 105 degrees Celsius.

Valve’s Steam Deck PC gaming console launched in February. OLED Model is the latest version of Nintendo Switch. It was launched October 2021.