Think GPD are a trustworthy company to buy devices from? Well, with the Steam Deck now here, they appear desperate.
Recently, they started taking various Steam Deck videos from YouTube creators, sticking them together with a look at their own devices and not crediting any of the people who put the work into those videos. On top of that, GPD has been attaching a "Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)" license to the videos, again, without permission from the original creators.
It's not a good look, and some of those creators have started fighting back.
When pulling them up on it on Twitter, I expected some sort of reply (even a snarky one to my obvious bait) or just to do the honourable thing to correctly get permission for using videos from other people. At the very least slapping in a link to the channels they're pinching things from in the description / a pinned comment for people to see. Did any of that happen? No. Instead, here's the official response from GPD:
I've never personally used one of their devices, and would have happily taken a look at any point with Linux installed onto one. Even some direct Steam Deck comparisons. Now though? This is not painting a good picture of GPD as a company.
Here's my video explainer:
Direct Link
This is the same company that previously tried to steer people towards them instead of Valve, because the Steam Deck was going to be a "closed system" that would not allow third-party stuff and wouldn't play pirated games because of SteamOS — something that's just laughable really.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
wit_as_a_riddle Apr 6, 2022
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/som87v/gpd_steam_deck_is_worse_than_win_3_it_is_a_closed/
Quoting: elmapulthey are even more desperate than that:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/som87v/gpd_steam_deck_is_worse_than_win_3_it_is_a_closed/
This is all just horrible PR, but from what I heard about their RMA policy, they already disqualified for that alone. I heard repeatedly that they expect users that get faulty devices to buy replacement parts and are then left alone with that. Who cares about their social media bs at that point?
And now they will be swept away by a company that delivers way more for half the price, completely open in a way GPD can't compete. Of course they will be angry and feel backstabbed because it was their niche.
But they can't compete with Valve on 2 things:
1) The device is open. Much more open than any GPD device ever
2) Service. Selling to Europeans from Europe means european service.
If GPD could have serviced my gpd's, ok.
But they can't, so I have 2 dead GPD's (a WIN and a WIN 2) that were barely used and that in total is more than twice the price of the premium deck version.
And most of the time I was waiting for replacement batteries.
If GPD can fix their support line and starts supporting steamos, then I will see them as viable again.
Quoting: elmapulim surprised to see creative commons used in an malicious wayYou might say that usage of creative commons is very.... creative
kaktuspalme Apr 6, 2022
Quoting: ArdjeI can totally understand GPD though. They had a "mediocre" device with virtually no support at all in a niche market. Despite no support and mediocre (still very good though), they did good for a "small" company.I don't know if they were ever big in the gaming space. I considered buying one of their devices as a Mini Laptop / Working device. I think they are stronger in that space. But maybe I'm wrong.
For that type of thing I would still prefer one of their devices because they have a keyboard.
But now with that behaviour, I will not consider them anymore, there are alternatives.
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