The Steam Deck wasn’t born ready, but it’s ready now

Sean Hollister writes: "The Steam Deck is my favorite gadget of 2022. I have no hesitation in recommending it anymore. The kind of person who would buy one should buy one. My only question: are you that kind of person?"

[crazyCoconuts]

Easily the best tech hardware in 2022 for me. Really hope it doesn't lose....steam...

[MadLad]

I think it's here to stay, as long as they're smart about it.
There's now somewhat higher spec products like it on the market, but they're typically asking twice the price of even the high end version of the Steam Deck.
Steam Deck is in a nice situation where, even though you can, most who buy it aren't going to install Windows on it, so it's a Steam machine. They get that benefit you see with consoles where they can keep pricing down because they subsidize a good amount of it through your purchasing the games on their store only.

I'm happy to grab a generation 2. I'm just hoping there's an OLED option.

[crazyCoconuts]

And with a little elbow grease you can still run games from other launchers like Epic, EA, Rockstar, Ubi, etc.
That with a full Linux desktop mode that brings tears of joy to my eyes 😊

[darthv72]

I love mine. I hope MS adds a proper app for gamepass access instead of having to use the edge browser to stream play. i much rather install the games that would run natively on it.

I also like how certain xbo era games run better on the deck than even a series x. ryse and quantum break are great at 60fps unlike on series x where they are still capped at 30.

[crazyCoconuts]

I would give them props for doing so, especially since Steam Deck is a gnat on Window's a**. Can't imagine the OS team is happy with how well proton seems to be working

[masterfox]

so start putting them and selling them in big retailers, so until that happens is still not ready imo.

[skidmarc]

I have to agree with you. I have a SteamDeck and love it. If they want this thing to really hit the mass market, put it on store shelves. Maybe they are still upset with the steam machine computers not working out with retailers? Or maybe they're content with just selling via themselves? Either way, it's a great product for the price.

[RiseNShine]

They still take a few days to ship them, thus demand is still high and stock low, so I don't think they can manufacture enough volume to sell them on Amazon and the like.

[VincentVanBro]

It isn't ready because of where it is and isn't being sold? That, uh, logically doesn't add up. A product can be perfectly, functionally ready and still not be sold on Amazon or other big retailers... like for instance PS VR 2 isn't available through big retailers, but that doesn't make me doubt that it is "ready".

[crazyCoconuts]

Yeah a real advertising campaign with TV commercials, sponsorships, partnering with retailers...I wonder if mainstream gamers would bite.

[NotoriousWhiz]

The steam deck is nice, but it's not very casual friendly. The Switch is definitely the better device for a casual gamer, and if you're a pc gamer, you already know about the steam deck without advertising.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

To be fair, some Australian retailers are offering them thorough their online stores, can't just walk into a store and buy one off the shelf though.

[NINJA5689]

May have to do with supply and demand. I mean look at the ps5 and how long you were unable to just go buy one. Steam recently made it so anyone can purchase from the steam martket place at any time, whereas before it was the preorder/waitlist. its coming up on its first year of production, so im sure they have been evaluating how many are being sold and can now start playing with the thought of putting them in stores.

[RiseNShine]

I've already finished 6 games with it, Spiderman Shattered Dimensions and The SImpsons Game with RPCS3, Mario Galaxy and Yoshi Crafted World with yuzu, and Ghostbusters Remastered and Lost in Random on Steam, this thing is amazing.

[Sonic1881]

Are you using an emulator on it?

[RaveTears]

RPCS3 (PS3) and Yuzu (Switch) are emulators.

[VincentVanBro]

Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Last Story, previously somewhat difficult games to emulate, run almost flawlessly on Steam Deck with very few modifications. Same with games from PS2, PSP, PS1, SNES, NES, Dreamcast, Gamecube, N64, etc. its an incredible emulation device.

[UltimateOwnage]

I love my SteamDeck so much. Easily my favorite handheld, and I don’t say that lightly as someone with nearly every Sony and Nintendo handheld ever made.

[repsahj]

steamdeck is great, but 1m units sold in a year is a bit slow in my opinion. Maybe steamdeck 2 will change that.

[GameBoyColor]

If steam even does that, they got a good track record of 1 and done products.