16.07.2021

"That's pretty damn cool": how the industry reacted to Valve's Steam Deck Announcement

The announcement of the Steam Deck aroused considerable interest among gaming industry experts and ordinary users. At the same time, most of the reactions were positive. The Valve console is compared to the Nintendo Switch, memes are made about it, and they also talk about whether it will be able to find its audience and become a competitive solution in the market.

Most users and experts reacted positively to the Steam Deck hardware. If the console really can run AAA games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in portable form, it will easily find its audience.

Some users enthusiastically started talking about how in the winter they will be able to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on the plane. However, it is not yet known how the Rockstar game will work on the Steam Deck — Valve has not yet shown the performance of the console on the example of this rather demanding hardware project.

Many were impressed by the ability to play games from internal PlayStation and Xbox studios on the Steam Deck — and natively, and not through the cloud. “Forza Horizon, Halo, Sea of Thieves, Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn and other games together on one device. It’s pretty damn cool,” wrote analyst Benji Sales.

He also shared some statistics about the Steam Deck announcement on social networks. At the time of writing the news, the video with the official announcement from Steam on Twitter has gained 5 million views, and over 100 thousand tweets have already been written about the device itself.

Steam Deck was also praised by Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games. He noted the ability to install third-party stores on the console, obviously hinting at the Epic Games Store.

“A great move by Valve! A portable hybrid of PC and console that runs SteamOS based on Arch Linux and is an open platform on which users can install software of their choice for free — including Windows and other stores,” he wrote.

However, game expert and findability expert Simon Carless does not fully agree with this. In his material for Gamasutra, he noted — yes, technically you can install any software on the Steam Deck. However, now EGS does not have Linux support, so there may be problems with the performance and operating time of the console.

According to analyst Daniel Ahmad, portable PCs had three main problems: providing enough power to run games, choosing the right price for a wide audience and finding additional ways to monetize (in addition to selling the device itself).

Ahmad believes that Valve has managed to solve all the listed tasks. Steam Deck is cheaper than similar devices like GPD Win, it has an open system and good hardware. On paper, the console looks good, but it is still unclear whether portable PCs will be able to go beyond their niche.

Most users agreed that the main advantage of Steam Deck is the Steam game library. “This is without a doubt the largest launch library of games among all consoles,“ Ahmad stressed.

Jason Schreier agrees with this, who emphasized the uniqueness of the appearance of an analog Switch with available Steam games. “Skeptics may underestimate the huge audience of people who play most games in portable mode (this is a small child’s dad talking!). For many years, every announcement of an indie game has been accompanied by a comment: “When will it be released on Switch?” he wrote.

Comparisons with the Nintendo Switch have become especially popular. Soon after the announcement, social networks were filled with posts, most of which were clearly not in favor of the Japanese console. Many joked that this is the same Switch Pro that was rumored at the beginning of the year.

At the same time, some experts clarified that Steam Deck and Switch are consoles for fundamentally different audiences, and it is incorrect to contrast them with each other. “Comparing Steam Deck and Switch as directly competing devices with each other is highly misleading, to put it politely,“ said analyst Matt Piscatella.

Speaking of other reactions, users in general joke a lot about the new Valve console and actively make memes. For example, about a satisfied Todd Howard, who found another device to sell Skyrim. Or that Half-Life 3 is finally confirmed, because Steam Deck has three versions.

Someone even compared the size of the Steam Deck with the PS Vita. It turned out that the Valve console is twice as large as Sony’s portable solution.

The appearance and dimensions of the console scared off a lot of users. Some felt that the Steam Deck would be too heavy and inconvenient for a portable device. However, Tom Marks from IGN hastened to dispel skepticism: “When I picked it up, it felt amazingly natural and comfortable. This is not a repeat of Steam Controller, which I had to get used to.”

Despite the skepticism of some of the audience, Valve’s announcement was met with enthusiasm in the industry. However, it is still unclear whether Steam Deck will be able to become a popular console and an affordable entry point into PC gaming, or it will be a niche device for enthusiasts. Not the least role in this will be played by the production of a sufficient number of Steam Decks for sale — especially against the background of supply problems and semiconductors.

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