I find it absolutely hilarious that every single company has a “Steam Deck killer” yet not a single one of them have any idea what made the Steam Deck popular, all they understand is PC handheld with controller (Lenovo is starting to catch on tho).
The steam deck the absolute most ergonomic handheld I’ve ever tried. It’s so fucking comfortable to game on. I love how they put the joystick the same level as the buttons where my thumb moves very naturally between the two. It has amazing touchpads. Great battery and performance. It’s just an amazing device.
Once I got a Steam Deck, going back to a Switch (for ToTK) feels super awkward for my right thumb. Like I have to hold it funny to adjust the camera and then shift to hit the buttons. Never noticed it before I got my Deck.
100%. I have a onexplayer and it’s very hard to play on it with the joystick directly under the buttons. I’m having to move my hand up and down constantly.
I mean in a lot of ways they literally can’t compete on these things. Price/quality are difficult cause valve can sell their product at a loss (cause theyll make it back on steam sales), software is weird cause who is investing a whole OS to just sell hardware (valve can cause it’s directly tied to their marketplace).
Id give you TouchPad, but I don’t know what the patents are on those, cause I’ve only seen that design on valve products.
It’s not even about being publicly traded. I suspect they’re taking the console approach where you count on the attach rate (people buying steam games) to make you money.
Not people publicly traded or having to answer to investors is important because you don’t have to maintain forever increasing profits. You can take more risks and focus on your users needs. Most brands put out lame products because they are trying to keep a certain margin of profit.
In short, Steam Deck was made so that the people at Valve would want to use the Deck. Meanwhile most of the competition is operating on “bigger numbers mean better product”.
I find it absolutely hilarious that every single company has a “Steam Deck killer” yet not a single one of them have any idea what made the Steam Deck popular, all they understand is PC handheld with controller (Lenovo is starting to catch on tho).
What are they missing thst the steam deck has? Price?
The steam deck the absolute most ergonomic handheld I’ve ever tried. It’s so fucking comfortable to game on. I love how they put the joystick the same level as the buttons where my thumb moves very naturally between the two. It has amazing touchpads. Great battery and performance. It’s just an amazing device.
Once I got a Steam Deck, going back to a Switch (for ToTK) feels super awkward for my right thumb. Like I have to hold it funny to adjust the camera and then shift to hit the buttons. Never noticed it before I got my Deck.
100%. I have a onexplayer and it’s very hard to play on it with the joystick directly under the buttons. I’m having to move my hand up and down constantly.
Price, software, hardware quality, touchpads, gyro, and a decent sized community
I mean in a lot of ways they literally can’t compete on these things. Price/quality are difficult cause valve can sell their product at a loss (cause theyll make it back on steam sales), software is weird cause who is investing a whole OS to just sell hardware (valve can cause it’s directly tied to their marketplace).
Id give you TouchPad, but I don’t know what the patents are on those, cause I’ve only seen that design on valve products.
I don’t believe Valve is selling them at a loss, but they definitely have less pressure to profit because they are not a publicly traded company.
It’s not even about being publicly traded. I suspect they’re taking the console approach where you count on the attach rate (people buying steam games) to make you money.
Not people publicly traded or having to answer to investors is important because you don’t have to maintain forever increasing profits. You can take more risks and focus on your users needs. Most brands put out lame products because they are trying to keep a certain margin of profit.
In short, Steam Deck was made so that the people at Valve would want to use the Deck. Meanwhile most of the competition is operating on “bigger numbers mean better product”.