The Steam Deck - a Switch competitor coming in december 2021

[jellmoo]

If Valve wanted to take that red, it could have made a... deck, I mean dock... for iphones and androids with battery extension, a fan and joysticks. This product does not compete with the sea of red. People are carrying phones in their pockets, they will not carry whatever this is. This is laptop cannibalisation. Not taking from mobile.

While I'm sure that Valve would love to eat away at some mobile revenue, I don't think that's the goal here, at least not primarily. Mobile gaming (i,e, phone based) is largely a matter of convenience. Got some time to kill and you already have a phone anyway. Adding a $400 entry point is unlikely to be something that casual mobile gamers are going to do for the most part.

I think Valve has Epic and other PC storefronts in their sights with this. They want people to make their purchases on Steam, banking on the fact that most PC gamers already have a large Steam library, and they can install on multiple devices. While somebody could certainly pop Windows on this and add the Epic store after the fact, it's incredibly unlikely with the base model, which will almost certainly be the most popular option. I think they're trying to give people another reason to spend their money on Steam rather than elsewhere, by creating a new product type that lets them use their library in a new way.

[guisadop]

Looks great. Too bad it'll cost an arm and a leg here.
*cries in third world*

[Fencers]

I have no intention of taking my Steam Deck on the train or to the park.

I do have the intention of taking my Steam Deck from my basement den to my bedroom on the 2nd floor. enclosed porch to the living room. Et cetera.

Based on how everyone I know with a Nintendo Switch uses it- this is likely to be common. I am certain that is how the Steam Deck is most likely to be used too. The notion of riding the subway or lounging on the beach yet somehow needing to fit in a little bit of Greedfall or Ghost Runner is simply to communicate it is an untethered device.

[Usernameforforums]

If there is any competition to be had, it would be people who buy gaming laptops just for gaming only. If you need to do anything else other than gaming on-the-go, you'll go for a laptop still. I still think there's going to be all the standard limitations of mobile devices in terms of overheating/throttling that work against this device, as well as the actual performance likely being much lower than due to sacrifices that have to be made for battery life and thermals.

Furthermore, while Steam is heavily touting this as buying a PC, there's no one I know out of my customers in the past few years (I build PC's for people on the side) who would want to buy a Steam Deck over spending the extra money for a desktop. If people are wanting to buy a PC for gaming, one thing that comes up quite often is "Will I be able to upgrade my hardware in the future?" While I'm not sure if you can physically change out the NVME's in the Steam Deck, every other hardware aspect of the Steam Deck cannot be upgraded and will be as good as it gets. While some aspects of a desktop PC would require some extra purchases to upgrade (for example, if a new CPU comes out that uses a new socket that your mobo doesn't have), a desktop offers way more flexibility in terms of upgrade paths. Storage is way more flexible when it comes to desktops compared to the Steam Deck as well... especially if you think of how large games can be nowadays. I suppose the short answer is that the main selling point of the Steam Deck is portability, and that's usually a really low priority for people looking for a gaming PC.

Currently seeing news from people testing the Steam Deck that the default Linux-based OS for the Steam Deck is running into issues right now, especially with anti-cheat verifications despite the press releases saying it works fine, to where pretty much all the popular games crash or will not. While you can change your OS, your average user is not going to do that. I imagine they'll will address it, but how well it performs in the end is anyone's guess. However, there's another issue with this once that gets fixed: the number of games that require an internet connection or 3rd party launchers/verification. I'm under the assumption you can connect the Steam Deck to your phone if you make it a hotspot, but in my region the cell service is very spotty... so I can't see any game with these requirements working well or at all. Hardware discussions aside, the way many popular games are designed will likely restrict nominal gameplay to being in your own house or area with reliable WiFi.

I think that's the ultimate issue with the concept of this sytem: it's targeting an audience it already has with a device that would have limited use within said audience. Their audience already has PC's in their home, the location where this device would work optimally. Not saying it can't be handy on-the-go, but there's no draw beyond portability... while portable systems like the Switch/Vita/etc. have portability and exclusive titles that cannot be found elsewhere.

While I think they may be trying to target the mobile gaming audience as a long-term goal, I think it runs into issues again with the internet connectivity aspect and its dependence upon an external device to connect to the internet. The Steam Deck is not a phone, and that's where the mobile gaming audience really is anyways.

Depending on how the performance is on the steam deck, $400 beats a $1200-1800 low-mid end gaming laptop.

There is an audience for mobile gaming other than phone, the switch proves this.

[Jester Joe]

@Jester Joe

While they argue about shit nobody cares about, please change the title to gabeboy or gabeboy advance

I have no power here, I'm sorry.

Alas.

[Video Games]

I have no power here, I'm sorry.

Alas.

I could have sworn you were a mod on this forum. Useless

[Varitok]

"Switch competitor"

lol.

Beyond niche product vs a massively in demand item. The copium is strong in this one.

I find this post HIGHLY Ironic.

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I'm definitely interested, but am slightly concerned about the joystick and button placement; they seem really high up than a standard controller.

I'll keep my eye on this, but I will want to try it out or at least hold one first to see if it feels comfortable.

The IGN notes that while It seems really awkward, it feels great but the buttons right now are not the best when it comes to the feel of it. Though, those can improve since it's still half a year off.

[mitre27]

Yea for shitty unoptimized AAA games.

Meanwhile with kraken compression and state of the art nvme tech PS5 games are like half the size they are on steam. Maybe stop thinking it's ok for games to be the size they are when it's not, they simply don't care cause PC players just take it laying down.

I think it's more because PC players have vast amount of memory compared to console players.

[Ashleyxoxo]

Ugly branding, is no way a "Switch competitor."

[baskev]

Is on the switch. Hulu and Funimation as well. Not earth-shattering by any means, but still something.

Thought they removed it? then nice. But still missing. Its those things that can compete with each other.

Take the ps3. Best blueray player ( before 3d) you could buy.

[Jtbrig7390]

Cancelled my order of the 64GB and was going to try to get the 256GB or 512GB and now it won't let me pre-order any even tho pre-orders is still up.

Solid service Valve...

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I think it's more because PC players have vast amount of memory compared to console players.

Memory and Storage isn't the same thing and console players have had access to huge amounts of storage for some time. Has nothing to do with first party games from Sony being high quality and only 30GB and yet we get games like Warzone that look no where near as good and is nearly 200GB.

[Jtbrig7390]

This is true, nintendo caters to morons who buy the same bang bing wahoo game at extortionate prices

Please do tell us what games you play...

[Rennadrel]

It's such a bad design. It lacks portability both in battery life and size. I'd rather just take a laptop because you'll get more storage and similar performance, just sans the control sticks. The motion sensors are a gimmick, as are the touch pad things. It'd be fine for an emulator, but other devices have better battery life

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This is true, nintendo caters to morons who buy the same bang bing wahoo game at extortionate prices

Lemme guess, you play Call of Duty and Halo?

Yawn

[zealo]

This is true, nintendo caters to morons who buy the same bang bing wahoo game at extortionate prices

This sort of simplistic view says more about you than it does Nintendo.

[Fencers]

Cancelled my order of the 64GB and was going to try to get the 256GB or 512GB and now it won't let me pre-order any even tho pre-orders is still up.

You always seem to have issues with customer service or changing your mind on purchases. I distinctly remember the saga of your customer service experience on Cyberpunk. That wasn't the first game you contacted customer support due to an issue you have or a change of mind and then complain about it.

The last time I contacted customer support was for an authenticator key issue like years ago Resolved in like 2 mins by EA. Haven't had a serious game affecting bug or glitch since Far Cry Blood Dragon.

I am legitimately fascinated by people who have so many issues in life.

[Jtbrig7390]

You always seem to have issues with customer service or changing your mind on purchases. I distinctly remember the saga of your customer service experience on Cyberpunk. That wasn't the first game you contacted customer support due to an issue you have or a change of mind and then complain about it.

The last time I contacted customer support was for an authenticator key issue like years ago Resolved in like 2 mins by EA. Haven't had a serious game affecting bug or glitch since Far Cry Blood Dragon.

I am legitimately fascinated by people who have so many issues in life.

So a update to that I think they have a built in system to keep people from spamming it cause after 24hrs I was able to pre-order the 256GB just fine.

Most of the time I do normally have decent customer support. But ya there has been a few cases here and there.

[D Luniz]

it just seems to me to be a laptop without the ability to at least upgrade the HD or mem
and unlike the other consoles, the games are going to be made for better hardware a lot sooner than it would in cases like with other consoles

[mitre27]

Cancelled my order of the 64GB and was going to try to get the 256GB or 512GB and now it won't let me pre-order any even tho pre-orders is still up.

Solid service Valve...

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Memory and Storage isn't the same thing and console players have had access to huge amounts of storage for some time. Has nothing to do with first party games from Sony being high quality and only 30GB and yet we get games like Warzone that look no where near as good and is nearly 200GB.

Oh yeah there's no excuse for warzones size, but most big games are still more than the little 60gb this "pc" offers.

[Fencers]

Valve said it is appropriate to think of the Steam Deck as a mini PC with a controller attached.

[Jtbrig7390]

Oh yeah there's no excuse for warzones size, but most big games are still more than the little 60gb this "pc" offers.

If you look at only Triple A games yes.

Most AA and Indies are much smaller. Also there is many AAA games that don't even hit 50GB. If I recall around Resident Evil 2 Remake is only about 30GB and even the more recent village is 27.9GB

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Valve said it is appropriate to think of the Steam Deck as a mini PC with a controller attached.

Honestly I agree with that.

A main selling point for me is it will let me play MANY games handheld that Switch just won't. I've been really wanting to play DS2/DS3 in handheld and I can't cause it isn't on Switch.

Plus FFXIV on handheld would be awesome.