By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
curl-6 on 16 January 2025
Edit Thread
Chazore said:
curl-6 said:

The Steam Deck is a nice addition to the gaming sector for sure, it's always good to have more options, it just seems odd to me to call a relatively niche device the "biggest winner". It's a win, yes, but the biggest? It's a relatively minor player really.

If you mean the biggest win for you personally, then okay, can't disagree with that.

In the short-run?, yes it is minor, but in the long-run?, no. The Deck itself is just one short stepping stone from what we've seen. It's not just one device the same way it is for Nintendo. It is more like a device to show what others can do using it's OS.

Let's be real, the track pads are Valve's little gimmick for their device, but the main focus is it's OS. With the OS on that device you are getting access to Steam's feature-set and your library, allowing the OS itself to act like an extension of sorts.

The Deck is a small win, but it's OS is going to be the bigger winner, especially as time goes on and the more they advance/push it to a market that is looking for a way out of Windows.

I know you're still likely to look down on this notion, but things haven't always been as they seem with gaming. Look at PC for example, PC was "dying" for decades and now look at where it is at in terms of it's popularity and sales. practically every streamer you see on Twitch is using a gaming PC of sorts and people want to emulate that.

Now just imagine Streamers starting to use Steam OS and showing off what it is capable of. You don't think that would make waves with the public over time?. It's not just streamers either, youtubers and outlets will and have been writing about the Deck and Steam OS itself, and this will only grow over time. This isn't going to be a 1:1 Steam machines blow-up failure state (Steam machines were handled entirely via 3rd party and only featured Windows OS, and Valve not having a hands on approach is primarily what killed them besides their partners), because this time around, Valve is going hands on with their approach, not only with the Deck and future iterations, but the OS itself. 

I know you likely still think this is small and a nothing burger, but I honestly cannot fathom why you would think that, especially given how the PC platform is, how we're seeing more portable competition today than what we saw with the Vita vs the DS (literally two systems, and mobile still crushed them both in the end). Yes the Deck is that small win, but again, the OS is the main factor, and that by itself isn't small, isn't going to just fizzle out with how much weight is being put behind it.

Steam Deck itself and the Steam OS are different things though, just like how Windows and PC or Apple and phones aren't the same thing.