Readers’ Opinion: The Steam Deck arouses your curiosity, but caution is in order

Scheduled for in just a few weeks, the Steam Deck remains a UFO that arouses both your curiosity and your skepticism.

A few days ago, and as we approached the launch of Valve’s hybrid console, the famous Steam Deck, we asked you about your desire to buy (or not) this new product. Announced with great fanfare last summer, it has since aroused many curiosities, and even the delay due to component failures has not put an end to it. But questions remain between now and the launch, scheduled for February 25.

For what kind of players?

As we know, the success of the Nintendo Switch is largely based on its concept. hybrid “. Both a home console and a portable console, it can be carried anywhere, without any real loss of visual quality or on the gameplay. It is on this segment now well anchored in the minds of the players that Valve places itself with its Steam Deck.

By presenting itself first as a portable console, the device promises many things. It is thus possible to access almost all of its Steam games, but also to install, in theory, other platforms, such as the Xbox Game Pass .

Promises aside, it is nevertheless this fact that ultimately raises a legitimate question: who is this console for?
As indicated Garden Dwarf in our comments, it remains to be seen whether you really want to have a console of this type at your fingertips, even though you have a solidly equipped PC or a state-of-the-art smartphone:

I have a gaming PC at home and a phone capable of running games. The only place I play video games is at home. Otherwise, either I’m at the office (and I’m not playing), or I’m with friends or family (and there too, no video games).

Doubts shared Zekkawa. If he thinks that Nintendo has nothing more to prove in the handheld console segment, it’s less obvious when it comes to the PC experience:

“Trying to replicate the PC experience on a laptop, I don’t believe in it (…). It will be useful for people who are really hyper nomadic, but it doesn’t really come at the right time in this pandemic period.”

Bibofokencalecon is, for its part, more pragmatic (rightly?) on the Steam Deck. It summarizes the case of a lot of players: is a portable console still useful in 2022?

I haven’t played in mobile mode and on small screens since the GBA, and I’m not an early adopter.

What follow-up for the Steam Deck?

By choosing a portable console that is not scalable in terms of components, Valve will also have to convince players that they are right to spend more than 400 euros to afford it, with in particular an increased follow-up.

Bibofokencaleconrightly, considers that it is necessary wait for the product to find a real place and be perfected “, while pointing out that if the community takes over the product and allows modding, ” this might make me change my mind “.

A Switch” ultimate »?

While Nintendo remains silent about a possible Switch Pro/4K, and its console has not evolved from a technical point of view since its initial release in 2017, many of our readers see the Steam Deck as a Switch. ” ultimate “. This is particularly the case for those who have pre-ordered the device.

Last namefor example, is evidenced by the catalog available to Valve’s console:

Seems like the ultimate Switch to me, given Steam’s impressive toy libraryhe declares before relativizing by explaining that it will be a question of using it only with girlfriend or friends.

Same observation for eykxasfor who ” having certain games in your pocket and being able to take them everywhere is priceless “. If he describes himself as not being ” not really the target of the Switch, he sees the Steam Deck as a way to (re)play games that aren’t available on Nintendo’s console, like far cry, Mass Effect“ and so many others “. Idhem59 waits for his part to see the grip, but notes that ” the idea of ​​having all my PC library on a mobile and powerful machine, it’s very attractive “.

It’s not a console, it’s a PC

Another element emerges from the various testimonials: for some Clubic readers, the Steam Deck cannot be considered a portable console or even just a console.

For LeGlop“ it is indeed a PC with the form of a console (…), it is primarily aimed at PC gamers who have a Steam library that they want to be able to take everywhere “. Backsecfor its part, insists on the message “ambiguous from Valve, emphasizing the absence of an accessible and completely installed OS. There is indeed no desktop, icon, or computer tools, although the studio has clarified that it will be a priori possible to install other operating systems. In addition, SteamOS 3.0, although not accessible when the device starts, will be available there.

In the end, given the hardware configuration of the PS5
and some Xbox Series X
if we installed a complete OS, would these consoles become PCs?

The debate remains open in the comments, do not hesitate to give us your opinion! We will of course offer you a complete test as soon as we have received our copy at Clubic!