Valve just proved the Steam Deck is still unchallenged by its rivals

Portable PC gaming handhelds were around before Valve released the Steam Deck, but none made quite the same kind of significant impact on the industry. Launching with compatibility for an impressive range of games initially designed exclusively for Windows, the Linux-based (SteamOS) Steam Deck continues expanding its library of compatible titles and making moves to prove it's still one of the most desirable consoles.

[Jin_Sakai]

“Steam Deck continues expanding its library of compatible titles and making moves to prove it's still one of the most desirable consoles.”

All these performance orientated handhelds are niche products. Nintendo Switch is currently sitting at over 125 million sales.

[__SteakDeck__]

The Steam Deck is not competing with the Switch. Steam Deck is a handheld PC.

[Jin_Sakai]

Regardless they’re both handhelds. So they are competing in some ways.

[Vipre77]

They're both built for gaming and both competing for your hands, eyeballs, and time. Time and money spent on one device is time and money not spent on another. So, I disagree wholeheartedly. The technical specs of the hardware and OS they run are nearly entirely irrelevant. Ain't nobody sitting around and using a Steam Deck as a laptop often enough to consider that a thing even worth thinking about as a differentiating factor. They absolutely are competing with Switch in all ways that are important in this industry.

[blackblades]

Yeah, they competing against the other pc handheld.

[ChasterMies]

People don’t use Steam Deck to make spreadsheets. It doesn’t even come with Windows 11. It’s a gaming machine that competes with every other gaming machine.

[Si-Fly]

They don’t compete in my household, they compliment each other rather well!

[KwietStorm_BLM]

What's the Switch have to do with portable PC gaming, Windows compatibility, Linux or anything related?

[Dfooster]

The steam deck completely wipes the floor with the switch but what the switch does well is churn out a classic nintendo game once every year or so on a console that costs £200 that appeals to kids and parents alike. Not many kids are going to want to deal with which version of proton to use to get a game working on the steam deck, but as an adult with enough PC knowledge to get by and an income that means I can justify spending over £500 for a handheld PC there is no comparison in the raw horsepower of the deck versus the switch.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Switch competes with PS5 and Xbox.

[__SteakDeck__]

@343_Guilty_Spark No, that’s not true either. Switch is a mobile handheld device, while PS5 and Xbox are traditional home consoles.

[Christopher]

Doesn't this prove the opposite? If they're reducing the price and working harder on increasing the software supported, then perhaps that's fueled by... competition in the PC handheld market?

[4Sh0w]

True.

[UltimateOwnage]

They’ve been on this track of Improving compatibility from day 1 though. They’ve also already done a limited time price drop once before. I guess competition is always a factor but I think Valve has and will continue to be on Valve time.

Handheld Windows PC’s existed long before SteamDeck, and Valve showed the market how to make them accessible and easy to use and so far that has rewarded them with strong sales that aren’t showing any sign of slowdown yet.

They’ve been a disruptive force since they launched Steam and I expect them to do the same in the spacial computing space soon, despite Meta making big strides in standalone VR and Apple raising the bar on the technology there. I don’t think competition defines a their motivation.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

They certainly are a disruptive force, honestly surprised that Valve hasn't turned into a more evil company considering they almost have a stranglehold on the PC store front. But the SteamDeck was brilliant for pushing Linux/gaming compatibility, one day, you might be able to forgo Windows all together if you to play games. Also the competition for handheld PCs are starting to heat up as well since the Steam Deck came into existance, now the ROG Ally is a thing..

[Number1TailzFan]

Interesting device but if you have a decent gaming PC it will perform far better (obviously) so unless you take it out with you often it's kinda a waste, unless you play in bed, and that's awkward given its size if you're playing lying on your side at least. The last handheld consoles to be able to do that comfortably were the Vita and 3DS.

[cluclap]

i basically take my steam deck everywhere lol

[UltimateOwnage]

Same here. I don’t bother taking my laptop or Switch when I travel since I got the Deck. It does 90% of what I used to take several other devices for all in one package. I love it.

[neomahi]

The Project Q from PlayStations been taking a lot of heat lately but honestly, business-wise, it's in Sony's best interests. I recently was looking into the possibility of a portable PC, such as the Steam Deck, but once I saw what the ASUS ROG was going for, I mean, it's cheaper than my cell phone was when I got it, but, they dont what cell phones do for consoles, VR, and handhelds. So, while Sony's option isn't portable, a lot of people play their Switch undocked at home, I do. I'm not saying it's the best idea Sony's ever had, the PS Vita was a slam dunk, except for 3G exclusivity with AT&T and the cost of memory cards otherwise was great! So I'm not suggesting Project Q is that great, because Jim Ryans a moron - they seriously need to get rid of, but piecewise against what you've got to pay for Steam Deck and ASUS ROG vs $250 for the PS Vita AND the 3DS before they dropped the price when the Vita was announced as a more powerful handheld for the same price, that's REALLY expensive

[DarkZane]

I bought one a few months ago, but couldn't get the in game keyboard to work for games like Forza Horizon 5, which made the game unplayable (couldn't get past login screen of xbox live). I sent it back and I don't regret it.

[10M3daysorFail]

I regret reading your comment. You haven't watch one video to check if your favorite game was fully playable before buying an expensive device and stole others humans time by returning it instead of accepting your punisment like an adult and play something else on it.

[Crows90]

Holy macaroni in a nut sack!
Yeah...guess some people are not able to use Google yet.

[NotoriousWhiz]

Hold steam button, press X.

Now you can go get your steam deck back.

[RiseNShine]

Seems like you've got the money but not the patience.

[Outlawzz]

Yup steamdeck is unchallenged at the price. Good beginner pc handheld. I wanted windows though so I sold it and bought something a bit more expensive but more capable.

Steamdeck is still the one to beat though but asus did good with the ally. Better performance on windows. Its still early days though and most ppl have had 2 years with steamdeck where ally just released and at a higher price and we don't know how support will be compared to valve that has been killing it with software updates tbh. Chinese manufacturers are going to have a hard time in the U. S. but other parts of the world steamdeck is pretty expensive or nonexistent so they have opportunity there

[JL2930]

Steam Deck is a horrible experience, layers of proton you need to just get something to run, a lot of games wont even work even with GE. It's unusable docked and has piss poor battery life.

You're better off with a laptop.

[__SteakDeck__]

Wrong!

[UltimateOwnage]

I’m guessing you don’t actually own one? I have over 500 games installed on mine with little to no problems on nearly every one of those games. From Scorn to System Shock everything runs great for the most part. Even ancient games like Red Faction run normally.

Controller support and Docked play is well integrated at this point as well, including multi-monitor output. Desktop mode works excellent for most computing tasks and for certain types of games (namely RTS) as well unless you have a specific software need.

Anyways, buy an ROG Ally? Windows is kind of a terrible experience on a handheld IMO. Steam OS’s game mode is really the secret ingredient to making the Deck pick up and play vs having a desktop OS shoehorned into a handheld console shell.

[JL2930]

No, I'm just talking out my ass about something I don't own. Try running Resident Evil 0, Tomb Raider, Batman Arkham series and Just Cause 2. Just to name a few.

Just Cause 2 and two Arkham games wont run at all and RE0/Tomb Raider are graphically broken. That's not including the ones that wont run unless you find the magical version of Proton GE.

If your going to damage control, it probably shouldn't be on a PlayStation biased site.

[frostypants]

"Most desirable"....dude nobody has this thing. It's the definition of niche.

[northpaws]

I feel like I want it, but I know I won't enjoy playing on it, just like how I play my Switch exclusively in docked mode.

Still trying to find a good reason to own one.