As expected really, Valve said they don't really expect to see a true next-gen Steam Deck for a few years yet. Speaking to Rock Paper Shotgun, it's clear Valve are very happy with the first year of the Steam Deck.
Talking to Valve's Lawrence Yang and engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais, it seems it has been blowing their minds. Something of a surprise though, even to me, is that Yang mentioned how they've noticed that "of the people who've purchased a Steam Deck, 42% of them end up spending the majority of their Steam gaming time on Steam Deck – preferring it over their other devices".
So not only is it still selling like tasty sugar-coated hot doughnuts, with it being in the top 10 of global sellers (based on revenue from SteamDB) where it's up against games shifting multiple millions, plenty of people are sticking with it and even shifting over to it.
One sticking point is more games coming out that don't perform well, and while the Steam Deck is impressive, it all depends on developers actually optimising for the hardware, as Griffais said "it'll depend on how developers approach it" and that "If high-end current-gen titles are able to scale to Deck and be a great experience, it also enables smoother performance on a wider variety of PCs, and improve the experience for the whole playerbase". Yang also mentioned how they've "seen a number of recently released demanding titles perform well on Steam Deck, due to developers targeting and testing on the device.".
As always, the problem is in numbers. If the Steam Deck continues selling well, developers won't be able to ignore it. I've seen many games perform brilliantly, even surprisingly so, when they've clearly had a lot of optimization done on them. Then I've also seen the opposite myself, with games that you would think would also work well simply don't (often these bigger AAA games that primarily seem to target consoles…).
When it comes to a true Steam Deck 2, we're clearly in for a wait, as Yang said "a true next-gen Deck with a significant bump in horsepower wouldn’t be for a few years".
Valve don't exactly need much to make the Steam Deck 2 a success — or do they?
Need some more games for Steam Deck? Check out the new Humble Heroines Bundle overview.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: BlackBloodRumOof consoles. I'm glad I got away from them!Same here. I also feel that part of that is because consoles got away from their strengths, though - seems funny that the Steam Deck, literally a PC, is the hardware that's making an effort to leverage that!
A viable platform doesn't just run games, it has to stabilize so people can build on it. If the deck is a moving target, nobody is going to want to chase it.
BlackBloodRum Mar 10, 2023
Quoting: GroganWell... if they were to release a "next gen" Steam Deck too soon, it would ruin the credibility of the platform.Technically speaking, PC gaming as a whole is always a moving target. With new hardware that brings (sometimes) big improvements almost yearly, PC game developers are very much accustomed to following a moving target.
A viable platform doesn't just run games, it has to stabilize so people can build on it. If the deck is a moving target, nobody is going to want to chase it.
Quoting: BlackBloodRumTechnically speaking, PC gaming as a whole is always a moving target. With new hardware that brings (sometimes) big improvements almost yearly, PC game developers are very much accustomed to following a moving target.
Realistically speaking, in terms of people's expectations, this is not a PC. Nobody is going to buy this if they have to keep chasing physical upgrades every year. Game devs will put zero effort (less than they do now) into supporting it, if it's a moving target too.
benstor214 Mar 10, 2023
Quoting: GroganWell... if they were to release a "next gen" Steam Deck too soon, it would ruin the credibility of the platform.Right now, with Valve seemingly not rushing things, the Steam Deck, to me, feels like an investment. I expect to get years of entertainment out of this thing.
What I’m saying is this: Valve signaling long term support for the Steam Deck, instills confidence for the product in its users.
Maybe there is a better word than ‘confidence’… 🤔
Last edited by benstor214 on 10 March 2023 at 5:47 pm UTC
BlackBloodRum Mar 10, 2023
Quoting: GroganThe thing is, they don't have to target the hardware. They only need to ensure it works in proton or SteamOS (which, most of the work has already been done for them).Quoting: BlackBloodRumTechnically speaking, PC gaming as a whole is always a moving target. With new hardware that brings (sometimes) big improvements almost yearly, PC game developers are very much accustomed to following a moving target.
Realistically speaking, in terms of people's expectations, this is not a PC. Nobody is going to buy this if they have to keep chasing physical upgrades every year. Game devs will put zero effort (less than they do now) into supporting it, if it's a moving target too.
Even if the hardware changes, it doesn't break or change any of the developers previous or current on-going work.
mr-victory Mar 10, 2023
Quoting: BlackBloodRumOof consoles. I'm glad I got away from them!Out of curiosity, what is the problem of consoles for you?
BlackBloodRum Mar 10, 2023
Quoting: mr-victoryI have a few reasons.Quoting: BlackBloodRumOof consoles. I'm glad I got away from them!Out of curiosity, what is the problem of consoles for you?
Sony royally screwed me over. I owned the original 60GB PS3 back in the day, launch day version.
First, they removed OtherOS support (Linux support) which I had been using. Second, the console died just out of warranty with YLOD (it was a big thing at the time). They wanted me to pay almost the price of a new console to fix it, I didn't so it just sits dead now in the cupboard.
They also got hacked due to not keeping their systems up to date, and lost my personal data and financial data along with many other customers.
I eventually purchased a second PS3, it was a "slim" PS3. This one had removed the ability to play PS1 games from disc, which the older 60GB could do.
That console also eventually had a faulty disc drive and stopped reading games. Again, out of warranty. By this time I had accumulated a lot of PS3 games, so I bought the final model they had released and frankly it was like cheap crap, sliding top for the disc entry and so on. That also failed outside of warranty.
I swore never to buy another Sony console after that lot.
Aside from Sony, you've got console lock-in. If a new console is released, say PS3 to PS4, you can't take your games with you unless you have a working older version of the console, and so if you don't keep the older console or if it fails, your old games are nearly useless. To add insult to injury, they at one point started selling those older games in their digital store. You know, after they stopped new consoles from being able to read the discs.
And finally, vendor lock in, if you choose to use their digital services to buy games, you're permanently tied into their ecosystem. There's no way out of it, you can't just switch stores or play those games without their console.
Overall.. my last years with consoles weren't good to be fair. That's why I basically stopped buying and using consoles by the time the PS4 hit and haven't had any newer consoles since. (Except the deck, count yourselves lucky valve!)
(PS: Yes I'm aware of emulators to play older console games, but I'm talking strictly about the consoles themselves in this instance)
Quoting: BlackBloodRumand so if you don't keep the older console or if it fails, your old games are nearly useless.Relevant recent news-article about the Nintendo Wii U's suicide-NAND.
Quoting: BlackBloodRum(PS: Yes I'm aware of emulators to play older console games, but I'm talking strictly about the consoles themselves in this instance)Emulationville is a big landmark in Linuxtown.
mr-victory Mar 10, 2023
Quoting: BlackBloodRumSony royally screwed me overUhh, we have a PS3 (3xxx model, slim) and 2 Dualshock 3's, neither has failed yet but I heard horror stories from others. The PS3 is around 10 years old but used lightly. I also set up RPCS3 and that single PS1 game bought from PSN so I can keep playing on PC in the future.
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