this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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Steam Deck

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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

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Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
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The new Valve Steam Deck OLED didn't just change the screen: Almost every part of the device has had some sort of revision, from the screws to the power topology of the motherboard. Some of these changes happened silently in the Voyager platform refresh for the Steam Deck, but the majority of large changes are brand new. Memory underwent relocation and now uses better modules, the cooling solution has had its fan flipped and thickened, and the controller component PCBs have had some consolidation and durability improvements. In this tear-down of the new Steam Deck OLED, we'll compare the new Steam Deck vs. the original, old Steam Deck "LCD" model.

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[–] captainlezbian 52 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Valve seems to be firmly within the category of enthusiast run company. The heads of EA, Microsoft, etc clearly don’t game. Valve is clearly run by people who do and want their hobby to have a better environment. It’s the only expectation I have for their consistent pro consumer behavior. That or the fact that it’s been wildly profitable so why stop.

[–] PlasticExistence 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It makes me sad to think what will happen in the distant future when those people are no longer in charge. But for now, we get to enjoy their reign.

[–] captainlezbian 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A large portion of the stock is held by employees so that may stay consistent for a good long while. Valve isn’t hurting, they’re able to continue to put out side projects like this and none of their competitors have really stood strong in the face of what they’re doing

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The crux is that as long as Steam has no real competitor, Valve will have fuck-you-ima-tinker-with-side-projects money. The Steam Store is an infinite money printer.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

Their biggest competitor though they could get 30% market share by giving away free games and signing exclusivity deals, instead of, you know, making a good gamestore. I don't think we need to worry to much.

Well, maybe if GabeN retires, but im still hopeful.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pro consumer behaviour like refusing to sell the Deck in Australia because of our Consumer protection laws?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that really why they don’t sell in Australia? I don’t believe your consumer protections laws are tougher than Europe. I can’t find any stated reason for not selling in AU. I suspect it’s just down to market size. They only recently started selling in Japan and they have 5x as many people.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Valve were fined $3M a few years back for lying to consumers about their rights to refunds per Australian law so it is an ongoing joke that Gabe now hates Australia and refuses to sell the Deck here as punishment.

That said it isn’t an entirely business-led decision to not sell here. Australians spend more on PC gaming than Japan.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I highly doubt Newell is harbouring some kind of grudge. Several countries have ruled against Valve in more onerous ways.

I’m not sure where you got the notion that Japan is a larger market than Australia but the Japanese spend around US$26B/year on video games. Australia is around $US$2.6B. Australia isn’t even in the top 10% worldwide. Now factor in expensive shipping, distribution, and warranty support in Australia, and it seems fairly obviously why they haven’t expanded there yet.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I said it was a joke.

I also specified PC games, which is the only market Valve cares about, and in which Australia spends more money than Japan. Add in localisation and other impediments to getting into the Japanese market and no, it’s not obvious at all.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pro consumer behaviour like refusing to sell the Deck in Australia because of our Consumer protection laws?

That didn’t really seem like a joke to me but thanks for clarifying. I guess conveying tone is difficult across text.

I’m not sure if you’ve seen them yet but Steam Decks aren’t PCs. They’re handhelds. They compete with handhelds like the Nintendo Switch. I understand there is category overlap with the Deck but to call it a PC is clearly silly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Anyone spending money on a game to play on a deck is spending money in the “PC” games market.