I love my Steam Deck, as any regular reader will know. It's my favourite gaming device but it could always be better right? And with competition hot (hi Nintendo), I hope Valve have more plans.
Now, I'm not dumb enough to think that the Steam Deck is in actual competition with the Nintendo Switch. That's just not a reality. The Switch has sold over 140 million units and continues to sell millions, it's in stores everywhere, people buy it for their children, for themselves and yeah — you get the idea. But still, for us PC fans the Steam Deck (and specifically us Linux lot) and other PC handhelds are simply awesome.
We all knew a Nintendo Switch 2 would happen, there just hadn't been any real proper confirmation, until now. Writing on social media, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa posted on May 7th:
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation.
So sometime before the end of March 2025, the Nintendo Switch 2 will be revealed.
That leads me to think about the future. The Switch 2 will no doubt sell by the truck-loads once again. So let's just set that aside because it's a different market overall. Still, we have other handheld PC gaming vendors appearing often like the ROG Ally, Legion GO, MSI Claw, various devices from OneXPlayer, GPD, Ayaneo and more on the way so there's really a lot of these devices now.
To me, handheld gaming like this is the future. You may think I am heavily biased, and in many ways I am (obviously, I run this website) but I'm a tech-fan. I have a PlayStation, a Switch, an Xbox and more. But it feels increasingly weird to have a dedicated solid box permanently attached to a single TV. I actually don't like that at all now. Being able to take a much smaller device with you to play anywhere, and additionally have the ability to hook it up to a TV whenever you want just feels so much better. Nintendo definitely had the right idea, as did Valve.
We've seen in the past that Valve have said pretty clearly they had plans to keep going, and with the Steam Deck still continuing to sell constantly, it would be crazy if Valve didn't produce a Steam Deck 2. Even though you could argue the Steam Deck OLED is such a ridiculous improvement it might as well be a Steam Deck 2, I want more. A lot more.
The current shell design is just fine, I don't think Valve really need to do many changes there at all. The OLED design gave us enough improvements inside to various parts so thinking on what they should add in for the big number 2: a newer generation AMD APU to bring performance up, with a slightly higher resolution screen and I honestly think I would be ridiculously happy. It doesn't take much. Performance being the biggest one and with more new AMD chips on the way, give it another year for the generation after that (or their refresh) and we could be looking at a really fun performance boost.
So, let's say a Steam Deck 2 announcement in late 2026. Make it so, Valve.
What do you think? And what do you now want from a Steam Deck 2?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualIf they could release it in Australia first...
Oops, yes, that's something that I forgot to put on my list: worldwide availability.
rustybroomhandle May 8
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: eldakingIt is far too early to release a Deck 2
Why? Desktop generation of CPUs and GPUs refresh around once per 2 years. Same happens with mobile phones. Why can't gaming handhelds refresh that way too?
Quoting: eldakinghe benefits of a standardized hardware target are negated by too frequent changes
That somehow doesn't bother desktop gaming.
Waste can be an issue, but you aren't forced to buy new hardware every time there is a generation update.
It's a very tricky thing to balance. They don't want to release a SD2 too soon since it will make current buyers feel burned, and they don't want to wait too long since interest will fall as it ages.
slaapliedje May 8
Quoting: ShmerlDepends on who Valve want to target for the Steam Deck. Is it PC gamers that already going to have a Desktop, and the Deck just turns their gaming experience into a portable one? Or are they trying to target the console gaming market, where people would only play their gaming library on the Deck, whether Docked or not? If the latter group, it should realistically have a similar cadence of release as the console market does.Quoting: eldakingIt is far too early to release a Deck 2
Why? Desktop generation of CPUs and GPUs refresh around once per 2 years. Same happens with mobile phones. Why can't gaming handhelds refresh that way too?
Quoting: eldakinghe benefits of a standardized hardware target are negated by too frequent changes
That somehow doesn't bother desktop gaming.
Waste can be an issue, but you aren't forced to buy new hardware every time there is a generation update.
There definitely is a difference in thought processes between the people who game on computers, and those who use gaming consoles. I've always been more of a computer gamer, even though I do own a few consoles, I don't use them very often (sadly the Deck included). Most of the time the games themselves don't really need or use the latest GPU features anyhow. A portable computer, like the Steam Deck, shouldn't really be expected to run the latest Unreal Engine 5 games that are coming out soon, or some of the AAA gaming that is out there. Then again, with a large majority of the AAA games becoming stupidly greedy (Hi, Ubisoft), it's probably a great thing overall that we can just give them the finger as they won't run very well on a portable system anyhow.
As for Nintendo releasing a new console? Who knows if they'll even do a Switch 2, they usually like to change up the gaming industry with something weird/unique. That's the only reason I even bought a Switch. If the Steam Deck had been available then, I really would have rather bought one of those. After Nintendo's recent shenanigans, I'd be surprised if anyone around here supports them in any way. Though I know there are some hard core Nintendo fans, I'm old enough to remember Atari being king, and think I'd rather have a portable VCS 800. :P
rustybroomhandle May 8
Quoting: WYWIt's a very tricky thing to balance. They don't want to release a SD2 too soon since it will make current buyers feel burned, and they don't want to wait too long since interest will fall as it ages.Having a stable target platform is important, and Valve have said as much.
A CPU generation is one year. A GPU generation is two years. A typical PC upgrade cycle is 3-4 years. A console generation is 5-7 years. Slotting a Deck generation in at 4-5 years makes sense to me, to balance the fixed target against staying relevant as a part of the wider PC ecosystem, but I don't work for Valve or AMD. For ease of reference, the Deck was announced in mid-2021 and released early-2022, with the OLED released late-2023. I'm expecting 2026 to be the time that the Deck 2 is released (or perhaps only announced) as 5 years from the announcement and 4 years from the release of the Deck 1. (Edit: although 2027 works, too, as 4 years from the release of the OLED and 5 years from the release of the LCD)
Last edited by CatKiller on 8 May 2024 at 3:48 pm UTC
Mohandevir May 8
That would make it the perfect console replacement, imo.
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: eldakingIt is far too early to release a Deck 2
Why? Desktop generation of CPUs and GPUs refresh around once per 2 years. Same happens with mobile phones. Why can't gaming handhelds refresh that way too?
Quoting: eldakinghe benefits of a standardized hardware target are negated by too frequent changes
That somehow doesn't bother desktop gaming.
Waste can be an issue, but you aren't forced to buy new hardware every time there is a generation update.
Why? Because the release frequency of those things is too high, and their support ends too soon, and that is something that should be actively avoided and not targeted. We should be glad when things last longer instead of asking for obsolescence.
And yeah I am not forced to buy new hardware, in fact I am not capable if I wanted. But are companies going to support all their back catalog? Are they going to sell replacement parts and patch bugs for all the previous generations? My phones certainly stop receiving updates much sooner than I'd want to replace them (if I could afford the high-end phones, they would get updates for a bit longer - still not enough - but it is expensive to be poor). About gaming in particular, are companies going to keep making games targeting earlier generations, or are minimum specs going to increase?
I am not worried about being "forced" to buy a new device. I am worried about my desktop not running games because everyone decided that instead of making games with more reasonable requirements they should up the specs of devices every two years. And I am worried about catastrophic floods and historic droughts in my country because people care more about a small boost to FPS than about climate catastrophe. I won't buy new devices every two years, but I share an atmosphere with the people that do.
Quoting: slaapliedjeIf the latter group, it should realistically have a similar cadence of release as the console market does.
There definitely is a difference in thought processes between the people who game on computers, and those who use gaming consoles.
I've always seen that console refresh cadence as indication of lack of competition. Imagine desktop GPU and CPU makers would have a monopoly. I highly doubt they'll invest so much money in refreshing hardware as they do now. Same applies to mobile market. They'll try to market their slow progress as "it's good enough" to make that the user's expectation.
So if console market would have been more competitive, we also would have seen refresh cycles being much shorter. At least that's what I think is the real reason.
I.e. that whole "console expectation" is a marketing construct, not something inherently defined.
Last edited by Shmerl on 8 May 2024 at 4:49 pm UTC
As for the Steam Deck 2, it'd be cool if they could add support for eGPUs since that would make it nice to play games with better performance/resolution when docked. Also, as many others have said, a better battery to last longer while on the go. Other than that, the Steam Deck has been an awesome device for me and I would gladly buy a Steam Deck 2 whenever it gets released.
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