Steam Deck looks awful

[Jizz_Beard_thePirate]

Mummelmann said:

Captain_Yuri said:

The battery life in the video is surprisingly good once you cap it to 30 fps.

Ah, yes, 30 fps, another favorite from the PC gaming segment! So; small yet bulky, small screen, controls with seemingly very few options for customization, much flatter sound than any decent desktop or gaming laptop, and now even 30 fps to get OVER 3 HOURS of battery time! I can't see any reason why this won't fly off the shelves, especially right now with hardware components being readily available for new and existing products alike.

I would dare any PC gamer to spend the 400-650$ to upgrade their rigs instead, it's not even an option as I see it.

Well I think we all know it's a niche product and I haven't said anything otherwise. Just look at how Valve is selling it vs how Nintendo sells the switch and you can see the difference in their target audience. Nintendo is selling the Switch at every local store they can find. You can buy a Switch at Bestbuy, Walmart, mom and pop shops, etc. The only place you can get a Steam Deck is on the Steam Store. Valve is not selling it anywhere else.

The purpose of the Steam deck isn't to replace your PC. The purpose of the Steam deck is for being able to play PC games on the go for an affordable price. It also lowers the barrier to entry for PC gaming, especially in the current market. Sure you have to lock it to 30fps to achieve 3 hours on a moderately demanding game but how else are you gonna play God of War or Elden Ring on a handheld? On the Switch? Nope. How else are you gonna play Persona 5 on a handheld? On the switch? Nope. How else can you play Xenoblade Chronicles X on a handheld? On the switch? Nope. (Although maybe they will announce that on the direct tomorrow). But the list goes on. You can get a laptop but that's not only much more expensive, but you need a desk or somewhere to put it on. You can upgrade your PC but the Deck isn't aiming to replace your PC in the first place. Not to mention... How long can your PC play games when it's unplugged?

Yea it's not the prettiest thing out there but Valve focused on function over form so they can provide compatibility for 10,000+ games day 1. And the best thing is, if you already have a good library of games on Steam, you don't have to re-buy a single one nor do you have to pay for any online subscription nonsense. It's not gonna appeal to the mass market but Valve already knows that.

The key difference is that a console like the Switch needs to sell a ton of units in order for Nintendo to make money. If say the Switch 2 flops like the wiiU did, Nintendo loses a large chunk of their revenue because developers/publishers won't port games and Nintendo doesn't get their 30% cut. But even if the Steam Deck sells less than a million units, it won't affect Valve's revenue stream because majority of the new games will continue to be ported onto Steam. So Valve may not need to sell Switch numbers to consider the Steam Deck to be a success and I doubt they are thinking switch numbers in the first place.

Last edited by Jizz_Beard_thePirate - on 08 February 2022