Valve confirm plan to get Steam Deck's SteamOS on the ROG Ally and more handhelds

It felt like with SteamOS v1 and v2 that manufacturers made hardware that was expensive and then had a lot of hardware problems (similar to Xbox 360 red ring of death -- looking @ you Alienware.)

Seeing SteamOS make it to Asus ROG Ally would make the device actually interesting for me (currently I am 0% interested without Linux/SteamOS).

I would prefer a device with removable wings (using those 4 metal dots that are actually for USB keebs connecting to tablets) -- similar to the Lenovo's design -- however due to their history (superfish 2015), their hq, and manipulating criticisms on the Internet I refuse all devices from them.

I am curious what parts of the market are untapped -- a higher spec'd handheld? The problem I see is that the lower cost to entry device really does a lot at building trust. Having bought the Deck, now I know what baseline in quality I can expect in future Valve Decks -- and so I am not as apprehensive about spending larger amounts of money on such a device.

Ally isn't like that -- It's Gen 1 or (Maybe Gen 2 by now with the X?) -- all I know about it is that it shipped with a garbage Windows interface, meh drivers, and a obnoxiously small interface not designed to sell the device at all. I won't even hold the drivers thing against ASUS, I had seen Windows screw up the unscrewupable. Windows isn't fun. This is a very welcome story -- I look forward to having greater interest in their SteamOS stuff. That shit just works and the content available is already beyond vast.

Quoting: KlaasWhat I don't like is that they apparently prevent deeper discounts on other stores.

While it's proving difficult to research and I don't have time to really dig into it at the moment, from various statements I've read from developers the situation is more that developers shouldn't sell Steam keys for their games at significantly lower prices elsewhere on a permanent basis…which all makes sense, because Valve takes no commission on Steam keys, so everyone would just sell keys for their games elsewhere at 30% off, pocket 100% of the proceeds (making the same amount they would selling on Steam), and Valve would be stuck honoring those keys and supporting the distribution and hosting of said games without getting any money.

Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: KlaasWhat I don't like is that they apparently prevent deeper discounts on other stores.

While it's proving difficult to research and I don't have time to really dig into it at the moment, from various statements I've read from developers the situation is more that developers shouldn't sell Steam keys for their games at significantly lower prices elsewhere on a permanent basis…which all makes sense, because Valve takes no commission on Steam keys, so everyone would just sell keys for their games elsewhere at 30% off, pocket 100% of the proceeds (making the same amount they would selling on Steam), and Valve would be stuck honoring those keys and supporting the distribution and hosting of said games without getting any money.

There's absolutely not a formal requirement for games sold elsewhere except that devs can't take the piss with Steam Keys. The "don't take the piss" provision of the Steam Keys agreement is widely known and games are cheaper than on Steam literally all the time.

If it comes to Valve's attention that Steam customers are getting a bad deal Valve will sometimes contact the publishers to find out why that is, and if there's anything that can be done about it. The extent to which one might say there's an informal requirement is discussed at length in the court filings of the Wolfire case - Attachment 1, Attachment 2.

Linux people brace yourselves. When the day comes, we will be installing SteamOS on every device within close vicinity

Quoting: KlaasIt works out that way anyways… All the games on GOG with missing Linux versions and missing updates. I don't think store exclusivity is a good thing and while they don't pay developers/publishers (unlike Epic) it often ends up that way.

True, but again, I don't think that's because of anti-competitive behavior by Valve. Steam is a mature platform with a lot of features, and building a true competitor takes more time and money than most companies are willing to risk.

GoG's idealism is great, but unfortunately I think it scares away a lot of game publishers that still believe DRM is required to remain profitable. But again, that is GoG's decision, not Valve.

Quoting: KlaasWhat I don't like is that they apparently prevent deeper discounts on other stores.

I wasn't aware of this, but that's a good point. Humble Bundle seems to do this often, so I wonder if they have some sort of exception?

Quoting: KlaasThe sentence about innovation… I don't see any innovation in the market at all.

This is kind of my point and why no platform has been able to dethrone Steam on PC. Valve has made Steam the most appealing option for decades, and every attempt to make a competitor seems to either have trouble attracting content or gives up development before they come even close to Steam in feature parity.

Valve barely needs to do anything to stay on top at this point. The only time we saw rapid Steam development was when Epic Games started getting developers to sign exclusivity deals with them. I personally think it's refreshing that they responded by actually making Steam better instead of all of these other scummy tactics we're so used to like fighting an exclusivity battle like on consoles or just pulling a Microsoft and trying to buy them.