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Valve: "Steam Deck is a multi-generational product... New versions of Steam Deck are coming"

.Pennywise

.Pennywise

Banned
Steam Deck is releasing in some Asian markets and Valve prepared a booklet talking about Steam, Steam Deck and Valve itself. This booklet brings us some insight into what's coming from Valve, such as new generations Steam Decks, or an updated Big Picture mode for Steam PC.





e0ab8UK.png


The Future: more Steam Decks, more SteamOS

Steam Deck represents the first in a new category of Steam handheld gaming PCs. In the future, Valve will follow up on this product with improvements and iterations to hardware and software, bringing new versions of Steam Deck to market. Like the original, and like all PCs, these future products will continue to provide access to the same Steam game catalog that gamers already know and love.
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Anyway, this is a multi-generational product line. Valve will support Steam Deck and SteamOS well into the foreseeable future. We will learn from the Steam community about new uses for our hardware that we haven’t thought of yet, and we will build new versions to be even more open and capable than the first version of Steam Deck has been.
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InterMusketeer

InterMusketeer

Member
My first thought was to skip the first one too, and wait for an improved device. It's just that you don't know if the price is gonna take a hike too when that happens. The cheapest Steam Deck is quite affordable. That might not be the case in the future.
 
Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member
Steam-Deck-6-1280x775.jpeg

https://www.videogameschronicle.com...ears-to-confirm-plans-for-future-steam-decks/

Valve has appeared to confirm future iterations of its Steam Deck handheld are being planned.

As spotted by GamingOnLinux, a new Steam Deck Booklet refers to follow-ups to Valve’s handheld, which was released earlier this year. The Steam Deck has proven extremely popular, with the company still fulfilling preorders at the time of writing.

“Steam Deck represents the first in a new category of Steam handheld gaming PCs,” the booklet reads. “In the future, Valve will follow up on this product with improvements and iterations to hardware and software, bringing new versions of Steam Deck to market” The booklet also refers to the Steam Deck as a “multi-generational product line,” and claims that Valve will “support Steam Deck and SteamOS” well into the foreseeable future. If true, Steam Deck could buck the trend of Valve ending support for hardware support early on. The Steam Controller was released in 2015 alongside the Steam Machine. Steam Machines were largely unsupported following 2018 and Steam Controller was discontinued in 2019. Valve has also said that the compatibility layer developed for Steam Deck will be adopted by other platforms such as ChromeOS. The compatibility layer allows for games and applications that aren’t specifically designed for the Steam Deck to function.
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jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I hope this means "every couple of years". Because I'd be more than happy picking up a new Steam Deck every couple of years as the tech gets better / lighter / smaller.

Please don't do annual releases like iPhones. Hopefully Valve knows better not to segment their niche market even further.
 
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64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
if steam deck 2 comes out valve better lower the prices of the first one and keep the newer one at 400 minimum. the reason the steam deck is still popular and relevant over the other PC handhelds is because its so cheap. that isnt gonna work when they're constantly raising the price with each iteration
 
Captain Toad

Captain Toad

Banned
IFireflyl said:
To anyone interested, this is how you kill a product.
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Seriously, I never understood this mentality. Let's try to convince people to NOT support the industry.

I got my SteamDeck and I love it. Am I losing sleep knowing some day there will be a new, more powerful Steam Deck? Hell no. I get to enjoy it today and likely I'll upgrade several years down the line just like I do consoles.

Why not skip the PS5 and Series X? You know there will be a PS6 and a new Xbox some day.
 
jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
64bitmodels said:
if steam deck 2 comes out valve better lower the prices of the first one and keep the newer one at 400 minimum. the reason the steam deck is still popular and relevant over the other PC handhelds is because its so cheap. that isnt gonna work when they're constantly raising the price with each iteration
Click to expand...
I believe in interviews they mentioned that the $649 model was the top seller (which surprised them). At least for their target demographic, it's people that don't mind spending extra to get a more premium product (in this case, only a bigger/faster NVMe and anti-glare screen).

I agree though, the "starting at $399" works well especially when you compare it to something like an OLED switch for $359.

I suspect that the next iteration of the hardware will have a lower-end model, probably slightly better than the existing hardware, and a higher end "pro" model with a more beefed up GPU.
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member
I hope this includes a full console type device down the line with the same design philosophy as the Deck.
A new hardware iteration every two years would be ideal as old units would filter down to other users as hand-me-downs or sold second hand. It would also cause maximum market disruption for traditional consoles hoping for 6+ year cycles.
 
D

Drew1440

Member
jshackles said:
I hope this means "every couple of years". Because I'd be more than happy picking up a new Steam Deck every couple of years as the tech gets better / lighter / smaller.

Please don't do annual releases like iPhones. Hopefully Valve knows better not to segment their niche market even further.
Click to expand...
I think a new hardware release every 3 years makes sense, especially if they are in sync with AMD's die shrinks \ Zen revisions.
 
S

SScorpio

Member
jshackles said:
I believe in interviews they mentioned that the $649 model was the top seller (which surprised them). At least for their target demographic, it's people that don't mind spending extra to get a more premium product (in this case, only a bigger/faster NVMe and anti-glare screen).

I agree though, the "starting at $399" works well especially when you compare it to something like an OLED switch for $359.

I suspect that the next iteration of the hardware will have a lower-end model, probably slightly better than the existing hardware, and a higher end "pro" model with a more beefed up GPU.
Click to expand...
The issue with two performance tiers is two different supplies of chips being used to make two different mainboards. It's very easy to run into a scenario where one unit is much more popular and quickly sells through while the other quickly meets demand.

Getting time at the chip fabs is scheduled months in advance so you can't quickly pivot based on demand. Having the main difference be storage that is easily installed during assembly was a brilliant move. Completed storage units are much more easily sourced.

Valve's offering is very different from other handheld PC makes like Ayn or GPD. Other companies are selling a product at different price points to try to maximize their profit on them. Valve is trying to sell as many as possible at break-even pricing to get more people to buy games on the digital store.

Drew1440 said:
I think a new hardware release every 3 years makes sense, especially if they are in sync with AMD's die shrinks \ Zen revisions.
Click to expand...
Zen releases are all over the place Zen was 2017, Zen+ 2018, Zen 2 2019, Zen 3 2020 (16 months after 2), with Zen 4 looking like the end of Sept 2022 so 22 months since 3. With Zen 5 possibly being about a year out give or take. AMD GPUs on the other hand seem mostly around every two years barring global supply issues.

I feel every 3-4 years would be optimal. That would allow skipping every other CPU/GPU generation giving at least a 30-40% performance uplift between versions. But who knows Valve had to build their manufacturing knowledge and massively build up their shipping capabilities for this. Maybe they will do every other year.
 
FingerBang

FingerBang

Member
I'll happily buy it when it comes out...

...but I'm also buying the current model, because why the fuck would I wait for V2 and not play with V1 right now? It's not coming out next month, probably not even next year.
 
Daytonabot

Daytonabot

Banned
It seems like an eventuality that the tech winds up in an Index successor as well for people who are principled enough to not give Meta a dime.
 
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jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
tusharngf said:
i doubt they will ever release this product outside US.
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store.steampowered.com

Steam Deck - Reserve Steam Deck now in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong via Komodo - Steam News

We are happy to announce today that Steam Deck is expanding to more regions. With the help of Komodo, Steam Deck will ship later this year in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. We have worked with the team at Komodo for years, and are excited to have their help as our authorized reseller...
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com
 
Marvel14

Marvel14

Banned
.Pennywise said:
Steam Deck is releasing in some Asian markets and Valve prepared a booklet talking about Steam, Steam Deck and Valve itself. This booklet brings us some insight into what's coming from Valve, such as new generations Steam Decks, or an updated Big Picture mode for Steam PC.





e0ab8UK.png
Click to expand...

Not sure if this is problematic for sales. If you knew a better version of your pc-like console was coming in 1-2 years, wouldn't you wait for it?
 
jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Wooxsvan said:
i might get one if Destiny 2 runs well on it. anyone have experience with it?
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Probably the worst game to pick from the whole of the Steam catalog. Their anti-cheat isn't compatible with Proton, so if you want to play Destiny 2 on the Steam Deck, you've got to jump through a bunch of hoops that involve installing Windows on it.
 
BadBurger

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Wooxsvan said:
i might get one if Destiny 2 runs well on it. anyone have experience with it?
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The game isn't officially compatible with Linux / Proton, but people have gotten it running. Unfortunately BattleEye will flag you as a cheater and your account may get banned.

You can install Windows though and play it that way. Last I checked there's now Windows drivers for all of the hardware. It probably runs like garbage though. Windows = more overhead and none of the perks of Steam OS 3 and Proton (like shader precaching optimization, customizable refresh rand frame rate, GPU clocking and voltage limiting without third party tools, etc).
 
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