They know none of the competition are anywhere close to as good since they don't use Linux.
They also don't have the thumb touchpads that Valve has put so much effort into. That's a huge form-factor advantage.
I wouldn’t even consider another handheld if it doesn’t have those touchpads. So much of my library would become unplayable without them.
Steam Input integration with the touchpads is so underrated, mode shifting between a keypad and game commands is something that literally nothing else can replicate. Not to mention the dual haptic feedback, and accurate pressure sensing. Really opens up a world of possibilities
Wish Valve considers a Steam Controller 2 with the game guts as the controller in the Deck. Despite the Deck taking heavy inspiration from the OG controller, the difference in experience is night and day
I own the Lenovo Legion Go, which runs Windows 11 and has one thumb touchpad. It also has removable controllers, one of which turns into an ergonomic mouse.
I needed a new computer for photo editing and my cousin wanted me to start playing Star Citizen with him so this ended up being the perfect solution for me.
I'm super psyched seeing more competition in the market, though. I'd love to see how comprehensive yet portable PCs can become.
There is no competition. All of these devices will be used to buy and play games on Steam, which was always the goal.
One could argue an ancillary goal was to promote Linux/SteamOS but in that regard they have failed since they haven't released an official image for general use and no other handheld devices have adopted it.
The goal was to not lock down their hardware to someone else's operating system, it wasn't just to sell games on steam. Valve has always been very open about not wanting to be beholden to other corporations for their success and innovation. They realized they could have their own software and hardware platforms that work in tandem more efficiently than slapping windows on the deck due to owning both pieces of that puzzle. Not to mention they were paying modders under the table to help them build dxvk and integrate it into proton.
No other handhelds have adopted it most likely because the drivers aren't updated for the latest chipsets, which means all efficiency goes out the window (no pun intended). Sure you could probably run the updated Ryzen graphics on SteamOS but it probably wouldn't benefit the hardware as much as Windows would, considering most power efficiency on Windows is handled more by the OS and not the chipset drivers.
At this point what valve needs to do for more OEM adoption is provide better compatibility for SteamOS's integrated power management tools and expand the compatibility for SteamOS outside the steam deck hardware. Until that happens these handhelds will just opt for Windows instead because it's less overhead on the OEM partners.
also, competitor or not, they are still (mostly) portable Steam machines, propagating Valve's storefront.
Sure, they probably can use others, but... still?
I'm pretty sure Valve would rather not have to build hardware at all, they just want to sell games. The Deck was Valve declaring "Fine, I'll do it myself" after they couldn't convince OEMs to roll the dice. Of course they'll give competition kudos, competition proves the technology and market conditions for handheld PCs is present and in demand.
they just want to sell games
It'd be nice if they went back to making games
Counter strike 2 just came out though! (/s)
i dont think its that its just to spur more competition imo. Handheld gaming PCs have been a thing since like 2015, but it was almost exclusively chinese conoanies only producing it over a kickstarter and some grew big enough to have a amazon presence (GPDWin). the lack of competition led to high handheld price costs that are reletively speaking, terrible (over 1000$ for what is essentially a handheld netbook).
the steam decks price was to garner interest and grow a market, which it will likely want other conpanies to take the reigns to. Valves decisions has ALWAYS been about growing a new market (steam machines(linux console pcs), steam link(porting pc gaming to the TV), VR(self explainatory), Steam deck(on the go linux gaming))
It's googles android plan, offer a small amount of hardware, give people the software for free, sell them the services
Here's the link to the official blog post: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/4031353003322171824
And to save you a clock, the entirety of the portion referencing their competitors.
The More the Merrier
We’re not the only ones who introduced amazing hardware last year. Several other companies have seized the same opportunity to serve users with high-powered on-the-go gaming PCs, with products like the Asus ROG Ally, the OneXPlayer OneXFly, and the Ayaneo Air. All these choices provide users with a bunch of options and price points for portable PC gaming, and reward the investments game devs are making to support better gamepad input and smaller screen sizes. We hope to see even more of these handheld PCs in 2024.
Feels like the OP article could have been much shorter.
But then how would they get those sweet, sweet ad views?
If only the competitors used linux... that would be worth praising.
Valve takes obvious PR win by saying something nice to competition.
Competition is good, and I belive helps innovation. I hope that we get closer to the ideal experience and don't get locked down into one choice. I would give someone other than Valve a look if they also committed to Linux as a platform (which really isn't that weird, historically). One of my complaints about the Deck is the D-Pad is kind of bad for fighting games. The left direction is obviously cut off some to make space, and strict left inputs tend to be down left instead. It's a bit of a nit pick, but I would like to see improvement there.
How about they release steam is for competitors
Edit: steamos
Considering all the competitors are windows based, they already have access to steam. And the open source holo iso(steam OS) is available if they want to use it.
