this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
330 points (98.0% liked)

Steam Deck

14487 readers
722 users here now

A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.

Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.

As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title

The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.

Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
[Boot Screen] - Custom boot screens/videos.
[Selling] - If you are selling your deck.

These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.

Rules:

Link to our Matrix Space

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 41 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Why hasn't anyone else made one to compete that's cheap? Because, Mr.Author...No one else can make their money back by selling software.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 20 points 10 months ago (3 children)

The Switch certainly predates the Deck, and they definitely make their money back on software, but being forced solely into the Nintendo ecosystem is off-putting. Only Microsoft is a likely candidate to make a handheld that uses their Game Pass, and I would bet they aren't really needing to push subscriptions at the moment.

[–] Waldemar_Firehammer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The Switch isn't that expensive to make, the chip, memory, and storage are all budget af.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 10 months ago

I just looked it up, and it looks like Nintendo likely makes $40-$80 per Switch (estimated based on part costs). A decent profit, considering software (a big money maker) is just gravy at that point.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why are you trying to compare a computer to a walled garden Nintendo switch? Hell, you're making my argument for me.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I can't believe I have to rehash this again. A Switch is a computer. My point wasn't that it's somehow better, but Nintendo already did exactly what you said: made a handheld portable computer with built-in screen that can play games locally and is sold at a loss only to recoup those losses with software sales.

The Deck can do more than the Switch, but that doesn't make the Switch less of a computer.

[–] adrian783@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Nintendo hardwares are sold for profit

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com -5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

You say it's off putting as if the Switch doesn't have dozens on dozens on dozens of quality 1st and 2nd party titles. Also, no one is being forced into the Nintendo ecosystem. It's a Nintendo product, and you buy a Nintendo console to play Nintendo games. It's not anti-gamer. That being said, apples and oranges to compare the switch to the deck.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 9 points 10 months ago

Right, but the original statement was whether other companies have made a competing and profitable "Deck," and the Switch is already such a device. Portable, plays games locally, has a thriving software ecosystem...

Whether those games within that ecosystem are "quality" or not is irrelevant. Both platforms have examples of good and bad games. My point was that if you buy a Switch, you are forced into their ecosystem. On the Deck, you do not have such a limitation (with a bit of effort, you can access anything a regular Linux machine can). Nobody is coerced in, sure, but that wasn't the point I was making.

So where you see apples and oranges, I see a small, dry apple vs. a big, juicy apple. A better analogy might be Apple vs Windows.

[–] SquirtleHermit@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

You have a weird definition of platform "ecosystem". How is buying a computing device (gaming or otherwise) that locks you down to only running software purchased from the manufacturer's store not forcing you into their ecosystem?

I guess if you mean no one is forcing you to buy a switch sure. But if you own a switch, you have to procure software through Nintendo. That's being locked into an ecosystem by definition.

[–] kryllic@programming.dev 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Bingo,I think people forget Valve went out of their way to make their profit margin razor thin, or at a slight loss because they know the benefit of having a device that basically assures a new paying user will be added in their Steam ecosystem. It's based on Nintendo's walled garden philosophy after all, just refined really well on PC.

[–] SeriousBug@infosec.pub 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's not a walled garden though, Valve made no attempts to lock anything down. You can install something like Heroic Game Launcher on the Steam Deck and play Epic Game Store or GOG games too.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago

While this is true and works out that way, it's either put in a bit of work to get a game to run (I have epic games borderlands 2 handsome Jack collection and it crashes a lot on me) or use the store that has all the games and controller settings set up specifically to the deck. Having the option is great, but using steam is still easiest and makes any deck owners default purchase store choice for a game as steam. To the point where if I had to pay $25 for a game on steam vs $20 on epic or any other, I'd just go ahead and get the steam version if I intended to play it on my deck.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

No, but they did make it very easy to buy Steam games and installing HGL or any other launcher is going to be both inconvenient and require a level of investigation that most people don't care to bother with when they can just hit "buy" on the store.

[–] DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why do you say that? Heroic games launcher already exist on Flathub and is super easy to use

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mean it's a whole thing of even knowing how to install it, much less configuring Proton, adding it to Steam Launcher, etc.

[–] DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's really not that hard and there are plenty of guides available. If you are unable to visit the "store" (discovery), download a program and finally run it, then maybe you should just keep using Steam and not complicate things.

I feel like if you are smart enough to know that Heroic Launcher exists then you could figure out how to do a google search on how to install it. It's not like Windows "just works" every time

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You're missing the point entirely and I'm not sure if it's just intentional.

[–] DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

No I just think you're exaggerating the problem and had a bad take on it. In my opinion Steam is harder to install on Windows than Heroic Launcher is to install on SteamOS.

Messing with Proton isn't required and I am sure most games will figure out how to add a shortcut to Steam.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No I think you're just woefully ignorant of why people buy consoles in the first place, and why the Steam Deck even exists.

[–] DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You literally said

installing HGL or any other launcher is going to be both inconvenient and require a level of investigation that most people don't care to bother with when they can just hit "buy" on the store.

This reads to me that think Valve are going to make installing shit harder. I'm arguing that at the moment it's easy to do and Linux is an open platform. Nothing like a walled garden

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This reads to me that think Valve are going to make installing shit harder.

No that's not what I meant

[–] DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

Alright, I guess we'll just agree to disagree. I think Valve has done a fantastic job with the Steam Deck and I love it's openess. The Steam Deck made me aware of how good Linux has become and is the reason I ditched Windows on my desktop computer

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago

No I think you're just woefully ignorant of why people buy consoles in the first place, and why the Steam Deck even exists.

[–] DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml 7 points 10 months ago

Valve also made a really thought out and well designed product, which I think is pretty rare these days. The instant hibernation feature is just one example of why the Steam Deck is so much better than the competition

[–] deo@beehaw.org 5 points 10 months ago

It's funny. I thought I would just play through my SO's gargantuan library for a long while, but I'm pretty sure I've spent more on new games than I did on the Steam Deck itself at this point. So, yeah. They made the right call.