If you want your Switch or Steam Deck to melt, take it outside in a heatwave

If you’ve ever looked at your Switch OLED model or Steam Deck and thought to yourself, “I wish I could make this gaming handheld device melt,” now is your chance.

Nintendo and Valve warned users not to take their respective portable consoles outside amid the ongoing heatwaves currently ravaging regions around the world, including Canada, the U.K., Japan and more.

Nintendo’s official Japanese Twitter account tweeted out a diagram to help prevent overheating that tells players they should only use the Switch in an environment between 5 and 35-degree Celsius and that they should avoid blocking the handheld’s rear intake and exhaust vents (via Nintendo Life).

気温が高い場所でNintendo Switchを使用すると、本体の温度が高くなる場合があります。5～35℃の場所で使用してください。

また、吸気口や排気口がふさがれていると、本体の温度が高くなる場合があります。吸気口や排気口まわりの風通しを良くしてください。 https://t.co/bgS883YDWX pic.twitter.com/0c86fcgxnV

— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) July 11, 2022

Valve also recently tweeted a warning to Steam Deck users, stating that the console should be used in temperatures between 0 and 35 Celsius and that running the handheld in conditions warmer than this range above this will hinder the handheld’s performance. In fact, if the Steam Deck gets too hot, it will shut down altogether.

Given it sometimes feels like I could cook an egg on the Steam Deck’s back while playing resource-intensive games like Elden Ring, this isn’t surprising.

A bit more detail about this – Steam Deck’s APU runs well at temperatures up to 100°C. At 100°C, it will start to throttle performance, and at 105°C it will shut down. Again, this is to protect itself (and you) from damage.

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) July 19, 2022

So what should your key takeaway be here? Don’t take your Switch or Steam Deck outside in the middle of a heatwave unless you want to watch it melt.