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NEWS: Valve Announces Steam Deck Portable PC Gaming Console


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ARC-1300



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 5:22 pm Reply with quote
Shay Guy wrote:
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
Why anyone would buy this instead of a Switch OLED/Pro is beyond me because the prices and storage are the same and the screens look very close too. Does Valve really think Steam games are that much more popular than the army of great games already on Switch with more on the way? "You won't have to spend money on these other great games because you have already purchased Steam games and you want so badly to take them mobile"? Delusional...


Around 4,000 games on Switch, maybe 50,000 on Steam. There's a logic to it.


also you can pirate those games from the switch on the steam deck "cough"

I know most people don't condone it.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4564
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 12:40 am Reply with quote
This looks vaguely interesting, but there is no way in hell I'd ever preorder something like this without having any idea of how it actually turns out. Also...it's Valve, and they don't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to following through with their hardware ventures. Anyone remember Steam Machines? ...anyone?
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Crpt774



Joined: 05 May 2019
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 9:33 am Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
This looks vaguely interesting, but there is no way in hell I'd ever preorder something like this without having any idea of how it actually turns out. Also...it's Valve, and they don't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to following through with their hardware ventures. Anyone remember Steam Machines? ...anyone?


They drop sales for hardware that does badly, and Steam Machines were a bad idea anyway. The only reason we have Linux gaming compatibility now is that Steam have been working on Proton for years to make up the difference, at the time there was nothing. Steam link reportedly still gets updates, and the index is still top for VR 2 years later.
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ARC-1300



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:02 am Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
This looks vaguely interesting, but there is no way in hell I'd ever preorder something like this without having any idea of how it actually turns out. Also...it's Valve, and they don't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to following through with their hardware ventures. Anyone remember Steam Machines? ...anyone?


Steam index?????
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Primus



Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2758
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:30 am Reply with quote
AiddonValentine wrote:
Well, that's the problem: EVERY handheld outside Nintendo's has tried to market itself as being for "the hardcore/enthusiast gamer" and the only one that didn't crash and burn was the PSP because it was bolstered by the Monster Hunter franchise. Being for "enthusiasts" really goes against a lot of the handheld philosophy, it's typically not a winning strategy.


PSP sold over 80 million units worldwide. A little over a quarter of those were in Japan, the only market where Monster Hunter was a hardware mover prior to 2018. That leaves ~60 million units where that franchise had little to do with its success. It's irrelevant anyway since the barometer for success with Steam Deck is completely different.

Challenger platforms fail because they aren't able to grow a userbase large enough to make a healthy software ecosystem. That starts a vicious cycle few are able to get out of (no one buys hardware because of its weak software lineup > no one develops games for hardware because of its small install base > no one buys hardware because of its weak software lineup, etc). That's not an issue for a device that's utilizing a pre-existing OS, accessing a software library that's comically vast and will grow regardless of the hardware's install base. No one is going to need to make games specifically for Steam Deck and that's to its benefit. That's why I think it's an alluring option. It could sell 10,000 units in total and it'll still run more games than anyone can play through in a lifetime.

In a situation like this, the only thing success ensures are more powerful models in the future. What Steam Deck needs to sell to be successful is likely far lower than most platforms. The biggest investment here from Valve is the hardware itself and they're using a lot of existing components. Small fry Chinese manufacturers like GPD have made the handheld PC product category work. While they don't have the greatest track record with hardware, it's hard to see why this can't work out for Valve. They're going to benefit from brand recognition, greater purchasing power, the ability to better optimize gaming performance and even subsidize hardware cost.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 3:34 pm Reply with quote
On a leading Nintendo news site catering to all things Nintendo, a poll was conducted, asking which of the two they'd rather get, Switch OLED or Steam Deck. Steam Deck won.

That's quite the tangible representation of the interest if there ever was one.

I've myself sometimes toyed with the idea of getting a Switch, but if this pans out and is as good as claimed, no contest. There's more than a few games I can think of tackling on the go that don't necessarily need a keyboard, that have been on the backlog because I've simply had no time when working on the pc...
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Hal14



Joined: 01 Apr 2018
Posts: 653
Location: Heart of africa
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 3:47 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
On a leading Nintendo news site catering to all things Nintendo, a poll was conducted, asking which of the two they'd rather get, Switch OLED or Steam Deck. Steam Deck won.

That's quite the tangible representation of the interest if there ever was one.



Are you being sarcastic and disingenuous? First, it's Nintendolife. Second, the same link you provided shows that the same percentage of people isn't interested in getting it. Your post is almost a textbook example of a clickbait headline.
I'm not hating on the Deck. I think it's a great device, even if I'm not going to get it. And if you want to talk about 'tangible' evidence then bring up pre-orders on steam. But people shouldn't cherry-pick numbers to prove some point.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:07 pm Reply with quote
HAL14 wrote:
Are you being sarcastic and disingenuous? First, it's Nintendolife. Second, the same link you provided shows that the same percentage of people isn't interested in getting it. Your post is almost a textbook example of a clickbait headline.
I'm not hating on the Deck. I think it's a great device, even if I'm not going to get it. And if you want to talk about 'tangible' evidence then bring up pre-orders on steam. But people shouldn't cherry-pick numbers to prove some point.

It's an editorial news site catering to news and reviews of Nintendo products, part of Gamer Network.
The poll was in favor of the Deck (as of writing 36% vs 22% would rather get it).
In the same vein as you might expect anime fans to frequent ANN, you would probably expect the share of visitors to a news site catering to Nintendo products lean heavily in favor of Nintendo fans, yet votes were in favor of the Deck. I would call that tangible evidence of interest.

No, my post was meant to be neither sarcastic nor disingenuous. Sorry if you took it that way.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 19 Jan 2012
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 5:28 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
HAL14 wrote:
Are you being sarcastic and disingenuous? First, it's Nintendolife. Second, the same link you provided shows that the same percentage of people isn't interested in getting it. Your post is almost a textbook example of a clickbait headline.
I'm not hating on the Deck. I think it's a great device, even if I'm not going to get it. And if you want to talk about 'tangible' evidence then bring up pre-orders on steam. But people shouldn't cherry-pick numbers to prove some point.

It's an editorial news site catering to news and reviews of Nintendo products, part of Gamer Network.
The poll was in favor of the Deck (as of writing 36% vs 22% would rather get it).
In the same vein as you might expect anime fans to frequent ANN, you would probably expect the share of visitors to a news site catering to Nintendo products lean heavily in favor of Nintendo fans, yet votes were in favor of the Deck. I would call that tangible evidence of interest.

No, my post was meant to be neither sarcastic nor disingenuous. Sorry if you took it that way.

As pointed out that poll is only on people who go to Nintendo Life, which means a lot of people that already own a switch. So when you have a poll that says people aren't getting a new switch, or a steam deck, that has zero to do with how people feel about the Switch itself or it being a competition. The poll is even followed with, "Given that Nintendo is operating in a very different market to Valve, it's debatable as to whether or not the Switch and Steam Deck will be in direct competition." They're aware themselves that it's a clickbait poll, but it's fun for some users. Furthermore, claiming that it's a large site actually hurts your stance when you look at the number of people that participated in the poll. It's an insufficient sample size for their own site population, much less any larger trends or feelings.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 6:07 pm Reply with quote
ATastySub wrote:
Furthermore, claiming that it's a large site actually hurts your stance when you look at the number of people that participated in the poll. It's an insufficient sample size for their own site population, much less any larger trends or feelings.

Number of people participating in polls will always remain a fraction of total site users, but the results are still indicative. To compare just look at the usual numbers of voters on ANN's own polls on various issues.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 19 Jan 2012
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 6:24 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
ATastySub wrote:
Furthermore, claiming that it's a large site actually hurts your stance when you look at the number of people that participated in the poll. It's an insufficient sample size for their own site population, much less any larger trends or feelings.

Number of people participating in polls will always remain a fraction of total site users, but the results are still indicative. To compare just look at the usual numbers of voters on ANN's own polls on various issues.

And if someone took one of ANN's polls elsewhere to try to prove a point about the anime industry at large they'd also be told that's not how polling works and they're misreading data. They're a fun engagement thing, not a true indicator. The only really statistically relevant polls on ANN are the ones for stuff like streaming reviews/etc, ya know, content directly catered to those using the polls.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 7:54 pm Reply with quote
HAL14 wrote:
Blanchimont wrote:
On a leading Nintendo news site catering to all things Nintendo, a poll was conducted, asking which of the two they'd rather get, Switch OLED or Steam Deck. Steam Deck won.

That's quite the tangible representation of the interest if there ever was one.



Are you being sarcastic and disingenuous? First, it's Nintendolife. Second, the same link you provided shows that the same percentage of people isn't interested in getting it. Your post is almost a textbook example of a clickbait headline.
I'm not hating on the Deck. I think it's a great device, even if I'm not going to get it. And if you want to talk about 'tangible' evidence then bring up pre-orders on steam. But people shouldn't cherry-pick numbers to prove some point.


I was gonna say, that's extremely cherry-picked bit of data. The Switch at this point is closing in on 100 million units so a lot of people on Nintendo websites already have one. It's actually gotten to the point where households have multiple Switches. I've seen some excitement for the Deck, but mostly around gaming Youtube and Reddit; not exactly the best way to analyze data.
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