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The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

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Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#71

Post by glimshe »

joshstrange wrote: post #69

It's a shame because the Steam Deck is the best gaming device I've used in many years. My Xbox One and Xbox Series X are both lackluster compared to my Deck IMHO. And that's without me ever "docking" it, just using it handheld. I won't buy another Xbox, the Series X was a massive disappointment and AAA games all suck. I found I was just playing decade+ old games on my Series X and while load times might have improved…

I'm not a mobile gamer so I find the XBOX S pretty good for the indie game scenario. I own both the X and S in different rooms, and I realized there's hardly any game I play today that requires the X's extra horsepower.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#72

Post by jauntywundrkind »

haburka wrote: post #9

I think people really underestimate the brand loyalty that valve has. They have consistently shown for 25+ years to strive for quality and I know I’m unlikely to get a headache if I purchase from them. Their hardware is really top notch, I have used a steam deck LCD for years and it was not until very recently that I had a single issue with a button that was easily fixable. Probably the purchases went down due to som…

I'll be interested to see what happens as more and more gamers start getting into extreme old age. The lack of right of first sale, that your many thousands of dollar catalog of beloved games & your saves kicks the bucket with you is going to be a not great look for Steam some day.

I'm also a little nervous that maybe Valve works on getting the anti-cheat solution improved for Steam hardware, but the rest of Linux gets left behind. Steam has such a halo now, and this would but a subtle but serious tarnish that would never wash off. No massive up front damage but it would be the cusp, a point that would be hard to recover from.

Like the first point, there's also the general risk that someday Gabe isn't around to keep the ship pointed on the right direction. That they turn into a Nintendo, a company who never misses a chance to squander good will, to do the most MBA thing they can, that is as un-ppen as possible by design. See for example Nintendo's recent response to customers asking for some of the tariff refund money Nintendo is claiming.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#73

Post by movedx01 »

schmookeeg wrote: post #70
movedx01 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What ethics do you see being superior in the company known for exposing underages to gambling? The anyone elses must be really bad guys. Yes I like my deck and I respect their contributions to gaming on linux, but Valve is no saint.

Really? when you hear "steam" you think "the pioneers in exposing underage kids to gambling" ? I can't even picture gaben with a wispy moustache to twist evilly. I think that would look ridiculous on him. :) Your "bad guys" are my "people are apparently and inexplicably mad that steam doesn't do their parenting for them" guys.

Yes, they basically pioneered lootboxes, they shaped and scaled microtransaction economy around randomized outcome purchases under disguise of gaming and then slapped a marketplace on top of it(to take even further cut %% nonetheless).

> I can't even picture gaben with a wispy moustache to twist evilly.

Add a 500m gigayacht to the picture, maybe it will make it easier. Or a fleet.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#74

Post by stonogo »

dumberquestions wrote: post #8
stonogo wrote: post #6

I wish I had a product whose 'near-total collapse' meant I was 'only' selling two thousand of them a week

Things are relative.

Thanks for letting me know. Otherwise I would have assumed that 1.5 million of dollars of income per week was some kind of success!

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#75

Post by Gormo »

mcphage wrote: post #61
amarant wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we really complaining that good people make money now? Is poverty a requirement for being a good person? Sounds like thinly veiled self-righteous jealousy to me...

> Is poverty a requirement for being a good person? Do you suppose those are the only two options? Poverty or billionaire?

In fact, there is no relationship whatsoever between these considerations.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#76

Post by Gormo »

esseph wrote: post #60
the_doctah wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Gabe seems like a pretty good guy but he bought a $70m mansion and builds yachts as a side business… As if that was a counterexample to him being a good guy? Who cares what he buys. It's his money and its legal. The "billionaire bad" brainwashing needs to stop.

> The "billionaire bad" brainwashing needs to stop. No, not until the problem goes away. "But it will always exist." Noted.

Until what problem goes away? What are you talking about?

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#77

Post by esseph »

Gormo wrote: post #76
esseph wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "billionaire bad" brainwashing needs to stop. No, not until the problem goes away. "But it will always exist." Noted.

Until what problem goes away? What are you talking about?

The wealth gap; it is extremely unhealthy for a functioning society. It's kind of odd anyone has to spell it out unless your comment is (possibly) a rhetorical fishing expedition. I'm clearly not the only one that thinks this.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#78

Post by Gormo »

esseph wrote: post #77
Gormo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until what problem goes away? What are you talking about?

The wealth gap; it is extremely unhealthy for a functioning society. It's kind of odd anyone has to spell it out unless your comment is (possibly) a rhetorical fishing expedition. I'm clearly not the only one that thinks this.

Well, it's not so much a "rhetorical fishing expedition" as much as I just initially gave you the benefit of the doubt, and didn't assume you were aiming to divert the thread into a platform for inane propaganda. Sadly, the doubt did not resolve in your favor.

Needless to say, people who have little or nothing to do with each other having different levels of wealth as a consequence of activities entirely unrelated to one another is not a "problem" that needs to be solved. People having their rights violated or opportunities artificially limited is a problem, but attempting to attribute that sort of problem to someone else, somewhere else, not being artificially transgressed against is disingenuous and fallacious.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#79

Post by esseph »

Gormo wrote: post #78
esseph wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The wealth gap; it is extremely unhealthy for a functioning society. It's kind of odd anyone has to spell it out unless your comment is (possibly) a rhetorical fishing expedition. I'm clearly not the only one that thinks this.

Well, it's not so much a "rhetorical fishing expedition" as much as I just initially gave you the benefit of the doubt, and didn't assume you were aiming to divert the thread into a platform for inane propaganda. Sadly, the doubt did not resolve in your favor. Needless to say, people who have little or nothing to do with each other having different levels of wealth as a consequence of activities entirely unrelated to…

> it's not so much a "rhetorical fishing expedition"

After your post I reviewed the first page of your comment history and I was pretty sure I knew where you would stand on this issue.

> as much as I just initially gave you the benefit of the doubt

And I was proven correct in my assumption.

> Sadly, the doubt did not resolve in your favor.

Once you get off your soapbox, reality may find you surrounded by pitchforks.

> people who have little or nothing to do with each other having different levels of wealth as a consequence of activities entirely unrelated to one another

This is where our conversation ends, because we have a different interpretation of value creation and reality, and neither one of us will change the other's mind.

> People having their rights violated or opportunities artificially limited is a problem

The billionaire class have different rights and opportunities. They have different tools in the financial and political system. They have more sway in the political system, and they can greatly impact how things play out. Is it a representative government? Yes. But currently capital allocation and mechanisms see to it that the representation and opportunities are limited, which is the entire problem caused by having such wealth disparity. It is thorn in the side of democracy, and antithetical to freedom.

Re: The Great Steam Deck Crash of 2026: How the New Pricing Decreased Demand by 80%

#80

Post by ChoGGi »

HelloUsername wrote: post #32
datakan wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally find Valve's software quality subpar but their ethics to be vastly superior to anyone else's. For that reason they are the only place I'll even look for games anymore. They aren't perfect but they at least don't hate me like Epic does.

Didn't it take for Valve to lose a court case in order to offer refunds? https://web.archive.org/web/20180427063845/https://store.ste... Also, Valve could decide at any moment what happens with your game library. Unlike GOG, where you can download and save the .exe or .dmg file, Steam can just pull the plug and make you lose all your games and money.

Wasn't that court ruling only for Australia? Valve choose to make it worldwide, that should give them some credit?

Though I always assumed they didn't want to bother making a refund system till they had to, then they figured might as well unlock the floodgates (not that I know anyone at Valve).

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