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Steam Deck: First Anniversary

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Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#91

Post by ushtaritk421 »

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

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#92

Post by NineStarPoint »

Hamuko wrote: post #86
ccouzens wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Steam ecosystem has devices in both categories. It's the only ecosystem in the list where you can buy a game and have your progress synced between a performance device and a portable device.

Sony used to have hardware and software for this, as you could cross-buy a title for a PlayStation 4 and a PlayStation Vita, and then sync the save data through the cloud. Unfortunately Sony abandoned the handheld gaming market just before the Switch and Steam Deck blew it up.

Handheld gaming has always been extremely lucrative (unlike their TV consoles which have a spotty record, the worst selling mobile console Nintendo sold was the 3DS at 70+ million.) Sony just couldn’t capture that market, so gave up.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#93

Post by fnands »

Kukumber wrote: post #70
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…

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 again, it was the top selling item in the Steam store for most weeks since launch.

My take is that Valve is using the early adopter crowd to help iron out the kinks (of which there were many at launch) and will then push harder later. Whether later means later in this console's lifetime, or in a few years with a new iteration I'm not sure.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#94

Post by poisonborz »

bergheim wrote: post #23
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…

you.. carry a monitor? how is a steam deck, a keyboard and a monitor better than just having a laptop? also how does the monitor survive this, do you put in in the original box? and if so, how big is your luggage? :)

See ThinkVision M15 or Arzopa Portable Monitor as an example for a portable monitor. Comes with a case that doubles as a stand, it's +1kg in your backpack but is great when you are at a desk.

I also don't understand how he would work on his lap/when no desk is available though.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#95

Post by BoorishBears »

cubefox wrote: post #75

> My wild guess is that there’s between 1 and 2 million units already shipped out there. While there was a lot of initial hype around the Steam Deck, it almost sounded as if it emerged as a serious Switch competitor. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Its sales are around an order of magnitude below the Switch, which sold 13.12 million units in its first year (and 122.5 million total). So despite its modest success, t…

I hate saying anything negative about the Steam Deck at this point because no matter how well articulated a point, you get drowned out by fanatics who refuse to believe anyone would not love every single aspect of it...

But honestly Valve didn't seem to break out of their main patterns for the Steam Deck: It still very much feels like very smart people worked on all the fun parts of solving a very hard problem and did great, but then kind of skimped the boring parts until the last minute.

So the end result is something that the tinkerer in me loves... but the product person in me doesn't see as ever having even had a sliver of a hope of becoming an actual platform.

I was hoping Steam was going to position the Deck as a full blown platform play. Yes some devs have thrown it breadcrumbs with graphics settings and control schemes, and sure Valve is committing working with developers. But what I was hoping for was something extremely polished that would entice other publishers.

Right now Steam Deck feels very much destined to be a quirky computer, not really its own platform. Handheld PCs in general are kind of having a renaissance moment, but no one has made something so compelling that publishers are banging on the doors to get in, and Valve was the only company I could have seen do it.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#96

Post by elmerfud »

codetrotter wrote: post #55
elmerfud wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a 15" 4k one, but yes exactly that, light portal, super thin, detachable full sized keyboard on it and slip cover carrying case. Great as a second screen or to use the deck in desktop mode... Plus on airplane I can just use the deck as is to game and pass the time

What model is your portable monitor? Do you have any pictures of what it looks like all set up on a table with the Steam Deck, the monitor and your keyboard? And also a picture of what it looks like all folded together? And also a picture of what it looks like when packed into a bag? Sorry for the tall ask. But I’ve been thinking about maybe buying a Steam Deck for a while. So these kinds of pictures would be most he…

The one I bought was this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07LGRK3J5?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...

And a generic case

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08MXGHP6K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...

It looks like it's not available now but there's several Chinese brands that look like they sell the same thing. I was worried about it at first but I figure with Amazon prime coverage and credit card protection, if it lasted through those coverages of 90 days it will last for a few years if properly cared for.

I don't have any pictures of it setup. I didn't get the official dock for the deck.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BKHBM1N9?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...

When setup the dock tucks neatly behind the monitor so it looks like just a monitor keyboard thing.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#97

Post by tristor »

I love my Steam Deck. It’s one of the few purchases I’ve made in the last year that is all positives. I still take my Switch with me sometimes, but the Deck is now a constant travel companion. It really is the ultimate portable gaming system.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#98

Post by kibwen »

Using the Steam Hardware Survey to estimate the number of shipped units is clever. For reference, here's the link to the current hardware survey results, narrowed to only Linux: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Softw... (click the "Linux Version" line to expand detailed results). We can see that "SteamOS Holo" is at 22.08% of Linux Steam users, up from 7.6% last July (https://boilingsteam.com/steam-deck-full-overview/).

If anyone knows of a historic archive of data for the Steam Hardware Survey, it would be interesting to see whether or not the Steam Deck has made a dent in the overall Windows percentage since last year (Windows is still sitting pretty at 96.02%, but that just means there's a lot of room to grow, eh? :P ).

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#99

Post by [deleted] »

elmerfud wrote: post #96
codetrotter wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What model is your portable monitor? Do you have any pictures of what it looks like all set up on a table with the Steam Deck, the monitor and your keyboard? And also a picture of what it looks like all folded together? And also a picture of what it looks like when packed into a bag? Sorry for the tall ask. But I’ve been thinking about maybe buying a Steam Deck for a while. So these kinds of pictures would be most he…

The one I bought was this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07LGRK3J5?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_... And a generic case https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08MXGHP6K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_... It looks like it's not available now but there's several Chinese brands that look like they sell the same thing. I was worried about it at first but I figure with Amazon prime coverage and credit card protection, if it lasted through those covera…

[deleted]

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#100

Post by servointermezzo »

cubefox wrote: post #75

> My wild guess is that there’s between 1 and 2 million units already shipped out there. While there was a lot of initial hype around the Steam Deck, it almost sounded as if it emerged as a serious Switch competitor. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Its sales are around an order of magnitude below the Switch, which sold 13.12 million units in its first year (and 122.5 million total). So despite its modest success, t…

I think it might have more to do with the ability for valve to produce the deck being bottlenecked, rather than a lack of demand since it was backordered for months despite a limited initial release. And even today it's only available in 3 regions.
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