Steam Deck looks great, but Valve’s hardware track record doesn’t

Steam Deck comes from a company with a mixed reputation for hardware.

Valve may very well have a hit on its hands — but many fans thought the same thing back in 2014.

[Christopher]

At least they're trying. They could just keep pulling an EGS. I think this is Valve's answer to cloud gaming, though. I don't think they want gamers streaming from the cloud, they want them on their storefront. So, if that's their reason, they'll likely support this more than they have past endeavors.

[VivaChe]

I actually used the Steam controller and it was alright.

[Kryptix1]

Yea, this is a weird article.

It's an impressive piece of technology watching IGN's coverage on it. I want to say that the build quality is similar to Vita with the horsepower of an Xbox Series S and that's very impressive.

The only downside is the battery power. It's not very good and mostly meant to be played to fill in some gaps, but I like the idea of taking your "PC" to a friend's house for some side co-op.

[John_McClane]

Same here, it's a well made controller.

[Outlawzz]

I feel they want to start the new era of portable PC gaming. They said they would offer the customized steam os for free to any companies that want to make their own portable machine.

Somebody had to get the ball rolling is what I took from that statement lol excited for the future with handhelds since I'm a primarily handheld gamer.

[TheColbertinator]

Portable PC gaming is a good direction for the future.

[--Onilink--]

While I applaud them for letting SteamOS be free for anyone else to make similar machines, its honestly not even remotely possible to get anywhere close to the pricing of the Steam Deck, which was the same problem that they had with Steam machines.

No other hardware creator has a digital storefront making billions of $ to allow them to sell hardware at a loss and just recoup the money elsewhere, or work directly with AMD to make the APU as custom as necessary.

So yeah, maybe we might see a couple of alternatives from other companies, but they will be even more expensive

[Duke19]

The hype around this thing is wild to me. It screams “new toy to use for a few months but then go play steam on my pc”

[Ataraxias]

That's the thing right? As a PC gamer, you have your desk set up to compliment your experience - high end monitors, sound system/headphones, gaming chair, keyboard, mouse, etc. Once I give that part up it's missing a lot of the apeal.

[Duke19]

For sure, and to people that will get their money's worth - thats awesome. I look at my steam library, and to ditch mouse/KB and play on a small screen... I would much rather go to a cheaper gaming laptop before this type of mobile setup personally

[ScootaKuH]

No because my alienware PC is quite old and isn't really capable any more, I don't want the expense of getting a new PC for gaming but I also don't want to lose access to my Steam library so the Deck is the perfect solution to that.

[anast]

Exactly.

[MadLad]

I can make a lot of use of this, personally.
My work has me traveling often, so just even those plane rides justify my grabbing one of these.

[Thundercat77]

We will see. The market is unpredictable. You cannot rule out the power of a platform with good exclusive games and even when I don't support Nintendo anymore there is no denying the power of its exclusive games.

[fitofficial]

It really doesn't look great. That touchpad placement is terrible. Your palms are going to hit it every time you use the thumb sticks.

[foker]

I think you can probably disable them,.. I wonder if the thing is prone to breaking like Index,.. we will see

[Brutus83]

Hmm... No mention of the Valve Index???

[deadfrag]

Even if It fails it Will still be One hell of collectors item!

[MadLad]

They put out some amazing VR, and the controller, as far as I am concerned, is fantastic.

[TheEnigma313]

The only time Stream really dropped the ball was allowing too many steam machines to be released. The controller was ambitious, but most people preferred the xbox controller.

[NSANiTY]

I do the same with each new console that comes out. Even if it doesn't have RRoD type problems, buying later normally means any early bugs are ironed out. Possibly new features, some new games and maybe even a discount. I've been burned on new hardware multiple times in the past so now I wait to see what happens in at least the first 6 months before I actually buy new hardware.