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Steam Deck: First Anniversary

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Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#161

Post by agloe_dreams »

fnands wrote: post #93
Kukumber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Nintendo/Sony sold ~3x more than Microsoft last month Steam Deck numbers are nothing compared to what these 3 are selling, if i remember correctly, it was 1 million reservations total for a whole year, that sounds like a flop to my book when you compare with the 3 existing players I think next gen we'll see Sony getting back into the handheld market, Nintendo coming up with a second version, and Microsoft coming…

Flop is a strong word. I think they sold 1M in ~6 months, with a lot of supply side constraint. That being said, I they're nowhere near the tens of millions of Switches sold last year. But I don't think Valve was trying to. They've done very little advertising, you can only buy it through the Steam store, and (I own one by the way) it feels a bit like it's still aimed mainly at the enthusiast crowd right now. Then ag…

I'm convinced that value has a few directions they want to go down: 1. They are still very excited by VR, additionally, there is no real breakout int he VR gaming space. Yes the Quest 2 is massively popular but Meta is doing their best to run from games on it. Valve is all about games and HL:Alyx is obviously the best VR game ever made. The next Value hardware will be a standalone VR headset. I would guess it has a seperate console portion that hooks onto a waist belt. 2. I wouldn't be surprised to see them do a laptop. The software is ready. Building an affordable SteamOS gaming laptop of their own design would be a successful product. (e.g. under $500) 3. The Steam Deck will absolutely get a successor of sorts. Likely a more mass-market take. That will tie in with Brick and Mortar launch plans. 4. Bonus points: SteamOS is designed around AMD hardware. AMD makes the hardware in the PS5 and XSX. It is not a stretch to consider Valve just diving deep into a $499 non-portable console/PC hybrid with custom silicon by AMD. Hell, even Tesla did it.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#162

Post by jgerman »

thefz wrote: post #127
elmerfud wrote: post #11

I have to say I'm very happy with it for the price I paid. Could it be better, sure, I wish the screen was better but I'm still very happy with it. I actually bought it on a lark because I'm 49 and I never really hand held gamed. Never got in to it beyond the beep-boop led games of the 70s/80s with boring family road trips. I watched many hand held platforms come and go and never could get in to using them. Always pr…

> For the first few months I didn't do much with it. Kind of shrugged and continued to use my laptop... Same for me, I did never realize before that I wanted to play Grindstone while laying on the couch just being in the company of my SO, semi-watching the same TV show as she is, instead of being in another room.

That was the selling point for me. The Steam Deck lives next to my chair in the den so when I want to play a game I'm up in the family room with everyone else. It's super convenient.

We actually have two, one for me and one for my son (though he has a gaming laptop and tends to use that).

I've docked the deck and played games just fine on it as well, no regrets here, I love the thing.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#163

Post by Kukumber »

cubefox wrote: post #90
Kukumber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Nintendo/Sony sold ~3x more than Microsoft last month Steam Deck numbers are nothing compared to what these 3 are selling, if i remember correctly, it was 1 million reservations total for a whole year, that sounds like a flop to my book when you compare with the 3 existing players I think next gen we'll see Sony getting back into the handheld market, Nintendo coming up with a second version, and Microsoft coming…

Sony building a Switch competitor for the next generation, in addition to a PlayStation 6? That sounds very unlikely to me. With the Switch form factor, it would have to be a lot closer to the PlayStation 6 than the small PSP was to the PlayStation 3. I don't think Sony wants to have two similar consoles on the market; they would compete with themselves. And the memories of the PSVita misfortune will deter them furth…

Sony will have to prepare for the cloud gaming revolution once network infrastructure will match the grid network infrastructure

A handheld will be the catalyzer for cloud gaming market, just like what smartphones did to landline telephones

I can see a PS6 with a handheld as companion, it perfectly make sense, if they don't then that'd be a missed opportunity

It definitely is better than Xbox X/S, Microsoft missed a huge opportunity there, they have to manufacture 2 different SKU (sony will soon have just one with their modular design)

I can't be the only one to sense this signal?

If they don't do a handheld then that could only mean they got pressured to not do it, by whom? shareholders? insiders? 3rd-party?

The PSVita story is unfortunate, but lot of solid reasons why it didn't do as good as they'd have hoped, it sold ~ same as the WiiU and yet Nintendo doubled down and were successful with the Switch, it could have been PSVita2 or PSP2 and Sony would have found similar success, even thought Switch took some time before going mainstream, that's another evidence that the market is demanding it, you can see it with the boom of the handheld retro consoles that all are running android/linux

Successful games like CoD Mobile and Genshin Impact, as well as the countless of games getting ported to the Switch and Smartphones is a better evidence than my comment, smartphone users are demanding premium games, and that played a big role in the Switch success

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#164

Post by agloe_dreams »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #102
Kukumber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Nintendo/Sony sold ~3x more than Microsoft last month Steam Deck numbers are nothing compared to what these 3 are selling, if i remember correctly, it was 1 million reservations total for a whole year, that sounds like a flop to my book when you compare with the 3 existing players I think next gen we'll see Sony getting back into the handheld market, Nintendo coming up with a second version, and Microsoft coming…

Microsoft is definitely pivoting towards making most of their money from their subscription game pass, with the idea that even if their consoles do sub-par they can also gain money from PC users and try and eat into Steam’s market share. Given how many game studios they’ve been buying, I don’t know whether it’s smart to bet against them (even considering their spotty history with studio acquisition). While I have a h…

> Microsoft is definitely pivoting towards making most of their money from their subscription game pass

I'm not convinced this is going to be a winning strategy. It clearly doesn't work for TV/Movies. I'm not kidding. The model of "grow as fast a possible" means low prices and lots of content. Once the bean counters show up, the prices go up and content development becomes a trickle. Look at Netflix. By that point, it is way easier to launch a product with preorders to pay off investment. Microsoft's key play will be that they own the console and can force game pass/etc but seemingly, gamers prefer the other platforms so they may run. If Valve builds a living room next-gen console from Steam OS, they may have the most well-liked platform for devs.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#165

Post by magikaram »

I didn't think I'd use it a load when I pre-ordered mine, but I figured it would be great for use when I went to my girlfriend's home, or to visit my own family, and not lug a laptop or PC.

Boy I was wrong, I've used it in bed, on planes, couch, and over lunch. Heck, I even convinced my girlfriend to buy one so she could play games with me, and we not worry about Linux/windows compatibility between our computers, let alone this being her first gaming 'computer' to begin with.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#166

Post by rockostrich »

ushtaritk421 wrote: post #91
a13o wrote: post #36

The next generation of gaming platforms is really going to be heated. We basically have two philosophies in the field now. The Switch and the Steam Deck sacrifice high end hardware for portability and versatility. The PS5 and XSX are about as portable as a LAN party, but can theoretically push 4k@120hz for the cost of a graphics card. Is there room for everyone next gen? Each of Valve, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo h…

Steam deck is an extension of the already existing PC gaming market. I suspect that almost all Steam Deck owners already have a PC they game on. Steam Deck just makes it so those PC gamers will care if a game runs well on Linux. The point isn’t to take over the console market but to defend the PC gaming market from console exclusivity and Steam itself from e.g. Microsoft Store

I'm considering getting rid of my PC in favor of just gaming on my Steam Deck no matter where I am. If they somehow figure out how to create a dock with an external GPU then I'd 100% buy it and sell my PC since I need to play some games on low to medium setting when I want to play at 1080 to 1440.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#167

Post by Guillaume86 »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #87
a13o wrote: post #36

The next generation of gaming platforms is really going to be heated. We basically have two philosophies in the field now. The Switch and the Steam Deck sacrifice high end hardware for portability and versatility. The PS5 and XSX are about as portable as a LAN party, but can theoretically push 4k@120hz for the cost of a graphics card. Is there room for everyone next gen? Each of Valve, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo h…

It’s important to recognize that while the Steam deck is awesome, it’s sold 1 million compared to the 100 million of the Switch. Nintendo has massive name recognition and exclusives of course, but also price. The cheapest Steam Deck is 400 dollars, whereas the Switch is 300. For people who don’t already have big steam libraries and don’t care about open hardware, the Switch is where they’re going to go for a mobile c…

The price argument is completely reversed if you factor in that you need to buy games to play. Nintendo games prices are horrendous even for very patient gamers while Steam has big discounts on the regular. The same game on Switch vs Deck will routinely be 4-5x more expensive.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#168

Post by philistine »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #102
Kukumber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Nintendo/Sony sold ~3x more than Microsoft last month Steam Deck numbers are nothing compared to what these 3 are selling, if i remember correctly, it was 1 million reservations total for a whole year, that sounds like a flop to my book when you compare with the 3 existing players I think next gen we'll see Sony getting back into the handheld market, Nintendo coming up with a second version, and Microsoft coming…

Microsoft is definitely pivoting towards making most of their money from their subscription game pass, with the idea that even if their consoles do sub-par they can also gain money from PC users and try and eat into Steam’s market share. Given how many game studios they’ve been buying, I don’t know whether it’s smart to bet against them (even considering their spotty history with studio acquisition). While I have a h…

Look at the Xbox Series S. Microsoft has already fragmented the target hardware for consoles. Sony or Microsoft could conceivably make something akin to a portable Series S in four to five years. The delta between the TV console and the portable one would be greater however.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#169

Post by Kukumber »

kibwen wrote: post #116
Kukumber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Nintendo/Sony sold ~3x more than Microsoft last month Steam Deck numbers are nothing compared to what these 3 are selling, if i remember correctly, it was 1 million reservations total for a whole year, that sounds like a flop to my book when you compare with the 3 existing players I think next gen we'll see Sony getting back into the handheld market, Nintendo coming up with a second version, and Microsoft coming…

> that sounds like a flop to my book It would be a flop for a traditional console, but the Steam Deck isn't a console, it's a PC. The reason that consoles need massive sales is because consoles have a limited repertoire of games (at best, they might be backwards-compatible with the previous-generation console), so they need large sales to demonstrate an install base and convince developers to make games for the platf…

> It would be a flop for a traditional console, but the Steam Deck isn't a console, it's a PC

I don't think people use it as a PC, but more like as a portable media center, the Switch and the PSP do that as well (even the PSP had a web browser!)

So it's wrong to picture the Deck as the exception, even thought it can and is a supported use case

They sell it and market its gaming capabilities

https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck

You see games, not office apps, emails or social media apps, you don't have front facing camera so you can't use it for your meetings

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#170

Post by ghusto »

I'm catching up on the last 20 years of gaming I've missed for not having a Windows machine :) Bonus points for most of the old games being super cheap now.

I'm really happy with mine. Games just work, no tweaking or weird configurations necessary, gamepads and other controller schemes work well, and; it's running Linux in the back! Once you configure something like Syncthing in desktop mode, it carries on working in the regular console mode.

I really can't say enough good things about it, but one thing I'm wary of is the DRM stuff Steam uses. Never had a problem with it, but my Switch doesn't need to phone home to believe I own the games I've bought, and it worries me that even the "offline mode" needs to check-in every three weeks :/

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