The Steam Deck - a Switch competitor coming in december 2021

[Mokrath]

For the price point it doesn't really compete with the Switch at all.
For PC gaming I feel like with the small storage and lack of upgrades, it will be an extremely niche item. The fact that the more expensive models only offer a bigger SSD and nothing else doesn't justify the big difference in price points either, imo.
The people who buy it either already have a Switch or never would have owned one in the first place.

[Ivarr]

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

90% of the game files are textures. Often redundant textures at various resolutions. Extra redundant for a tiny 720p screen on which the difference between a mid resolution and a high resolution texture is negligible.

But indeed this is still a gamer's problem because games rarely provide the option to download the higher resolutions separately. Rainbow Six does this but it's a rare occurrence considering how abundant pc memory is. Should mobile pc gaming become more prevalent you can rest assured that Steam will be prodding their developers to start releasing texture packs separately.

[Unholyground]

Highly looking forward to it and I hope it push's Nintendo to actually release a Switch Pro/2 sometime in the near future.

The Switch 2 has been worked on for a while, they're probably almost ready to show us.

[Bigbazz]

This thing will sell a couple of units and flop, it doesn't matter how much power it has under the hood it's not competing with the Switch.

[NIBAXBSX]

- Not a propriety system.
- No exclusives.
- Nearly 700 dollars for the only version that is useful.
- Not great performance compared to a desktop PC.

Can't see it being a success myself.

But, competition is good, Nintendo are lazy lately, so maybe good things will come from it.

I'd probably use it a bit if i had it for free, but would never pay for it with the flaws listed above.

If you want a portable retro machine that can emulate switch titles, better off buying a switch and modding it to be honest.

Otherwise just buy a laptop if you want a portable PC.

[Jtbrig7390]

For the price point it doesn't really compete with the Switch at all.

How does it not?

The Switch OLED model is $350, The Steam Deck is $399. In price alone its in direct competition.

The people who buy it either already have a Switch or never would have owned one in the first place.

I am a example of this not being true. I own a switch and ill own this as well. Since I can play a lot more on the Steam Deck than my switch its going to get way more game time.

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The Switch 2 has been worked on for a while, they're probably almost ready to show us.

Very likely and I wouldn't be surprised if it was slated for this year but covid happen. I fully expect to hear something about a new switch next year.

[Daedius]

One of the benefits of Consoles is having games optimized for them, typically exclusives.

PC games can be a nightmare due to their mix and match nature of components, with all them different drivers and what have you...

I am curious, will the Steam Deck have PC Games optimized for it, or will the device just be treated like any other PC?


I've been waiting a long time for the unveiling of the Nintendo Switch PRO/2, which has yet to happen... so I might get this in the mean time till then.

[NIBAXBSX]

How does it not?

The Switch OLED model is $350, The Steam Deck is $399. In price alone its in direct competition.

I am a example of this not being true. I own a switch and ill own this as well. Since I can play a lot more on the Steam Deck than my switch its going to get way more game time.

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Very likely and I wouldn't be surprised if it was slated for this year but covid happen. I fully expect to hear something about a new switch next year.

The $399 steam deck is garbage.

The $699 model is the only one worth considering or nothing at all to be honest.

And at that price point it certainly doesn't compete with the switch at all.

[Jtbrig7390]

The $699 model is the only one worth considering or nothing at all to be honest.

In your opinion, don't try to pass it off as fact. Not every game is as big as Warzone. It has the exact same amount of storage as a Switch and can have a SD card as well.

1000's of games can be played on the base storage alone before even factoring in a a SD card.

[Rennadrel]

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

I'm pretty sure Doom Eternal alone was 50GB at release, and there's been 3GB patches every couple of months since it came out. Plus The Ancient God's is like another 50 GB.

[jellmoo]

In your opinion, don't try to pass it off as fact. Not every game is as big as Warzone. It has the exact same amount of storage as a Switch and can have a SD card as well.

1000's of games can be played on the base storage alone before even factoring in a a SD card.

The base model works if you are interested in indie games and emulation. For that, it'll work just fine. There are cheaper options available, but the Steam Deck is likely a more versatile one.

If you are interested in playing full blown AAA titles and/or putting windows on the thing, you will need to splurge a bit and go for a pricier option. The base model won't cut it.

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I am curious, will the Steam Deck have PC Games optimized for it, or will the device just be treated like any other PC?

Like everything, I think we'll see optimized content for the Steam Deck is:

1) It's a smash hit. And I mean it sells millions of units.
2) Valve incentives publishers to optimize titles for it.

I don't think it's likely that most major publishers will do so, but smaller ones and ones that are very Steam centric? Certainly possible.

[Rennadrel]

In your opinion, don't try to pass it off as fact. Not every game is as big as Warzone. It has the exact same amount of storage as a Switch and can have a SD card as well.

1000's of games can be played on the base storage alone before even factoring in a a SD card.

Enjoy those terrible load times if you use a microSDXC card. The fastest read time you'll get is around 250MB/s which is pretty slow, and that's assuming you get a V90 Class 10 card like the Kingston Canvas React Plus which caps at 256 GB. NVMe storage has a throughput of almost 8 Gb/s. That's a massive load time difference.

[Jtbrig7390]

Enjoy those terrible load times if you use a microSDXC card. The fastest read time you'll get is around 250MB/s which is pretty slow, and that's assuming you get a V90 Class 10 card like the Kingston Canvas React Plus which caps at 256 GB. NVMe storage has a throughput of almost 8 Gb/s. That's a massive load time difference.

Yes and the average user or someone getting it for their kid will not care. They will get a SD card throw it in it, maybe install windows/fortnite and be done.

Also if you are tech savy its very likely using the same MOBO as the higher models so u likely can crack it open and install a M.2

[Ivarr]

Like everything, I think we'll see optimized content for the Steam Deck is:

1) It's a smash hit. And I mean it sells millions of units.
2) Valve incentives publishers to optimize titles for it.

I don't think it's likely that most major publishers will do so, but smaller ones and ones that are very Steam centric? Certainly possible.

Don't forget Valve incentivises other publishers to create competing products by showing that it can be done. I believe this to be their main goal. Making mobile gaming pc's the norm and allowing Steam to solidify itself in the mobile market.

I hope they succeed. How awesome would it be if we suddenly ended up drowning in similar products at all kinds of price ranges.

[Rennadrel]

Yes and the average user or someone getting it for their kid will not care. They will get a SD card throw it in it, maybe install windows/fortnite and be done.

Also if you are tech savy its very likely using the same MOBO as the higher models so u likely can crack it open and install a M.2

If I've learned anything researching buying a new laptop, it's that a lot of units have soldered on components now. I would expect the hard drive to be soldered on to the motherboard. Also, if you buy the 64 GB model, it runs on a long dead format, eMMC, rather than M.2, which means you can't upgrade it to an NVMe drive. I was fortunate that the laptop I ordered in June doesn't have soldered on RAM, but it also only has 1 M.2 slot and a microSD slot. But since it comes with 1TB of storage, I shouldn't need to upgrade it for a long time.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

In retrospect, perhaps the SteamDeck will sell better than I had initially thought, not because of its mobility gimmick, but because it's effectively an entry level gaming PC. If you're a PC noob and want to get into PC gaming, you either have to flush thousands of dollars down the toilet on a crappy prefab rig, or you have spend dozens and dozens of hours doing research on what you should buy, browsing on where to get the best discounts for the parts, learning how to assemble all of the stuff (and perhaps buying tools to assemble the rig), then spending hours getting your drivers and security systems and Steam setup, etc. That's rather intimidating for first timers. Or you can just lay down $650 for a SteamDeck - which is a pretty good gaming PC and can be hooked up to a monitor with a mouse and keyboard - and you're good to go.

[Ivarr]

Yes indeed. I've been shopping around and it's surprisingly difficult to find a laptop with better specs for $399. Most laptops within this range don't have any GPU capacity at all.

I suppose it's achilles heel, as with most mobile devices, is going to be its ventilation.

Either way I think the discussion whether or not this is a Switch competitor is missing a key point, which is that it would benefit the consumer if this were framed as a Steam vs Nintendo rivalry. An arms race on which company provides the most satisfying mobile device would be such a wonderful and important development in the gaming industry.

[Fencers]

The hassle of playing games on a laptop instantly turns off anyone not wanting to mess around with a bunch of other things. Elegance means a lot.

The portability of the thing is functionally irrelevant to the ease of connection for most users I reckon.

[Big Thanks]

The hassle of playing games on a laptop instantly turns off anyone not wanting to mess around with a bunch of other things. Elegance means a lot.

The portability of the thing is functionally irrelevant to the ease of connection for most users I reckon.

Im the other way around i always choose portability

I want to play in bed
I want to play outside on my garden
Playing at the desk entire day is a big turn off for me

[Mokrath]

How does it not?

The Switch OLED model is $350, The Steam Deck is $399. In price alone its in direct competition.

I am a example of this not being true. I own a switch and ill own this as well. Since I can play a lot more on the Steam Deck than my switch its going to get way more game time.

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You are actually an example of what I was saying.
You either already have a switch and will buy this also, or you were never going to buy a switch and will buy this as a portable PC.
Nobody is waffling between the two devices. They are not even remotely similar. PC games are always more complicated than popping in a cartridge/disc/card and playing.
Switch is for casual gaming and Nintendo exclusives.
Steam deck is for PC gaming on the go(?)
The 399 model is pointless with laughable storage and the higher priced ones with moderate storage are way past the Switch price points.
Switch has 3 prices points - $199, $299 or $349.
Steam Deck - $399, $529! and $649!
They are just not even in the realm of being the same thing.
The only reason people are drawing this comparison is the form factor. Functionally they are nothing alike. The steam deck will get left behind as PC games require more and more to run even decent settings. The Switch is just the Switch until they do a Switch Pro or Plus or whatever with better hardware.