Valve doesn’t need to compete with Nintendo Switch 2 right now, suggests poll

Do you think Valve should release Steam Deck 2 now that Switch 2 has been revealed?

  • Yes, Valve needs to compete with Nintendo Switch 2

  • No, Valve should wait for better hardware

Results are only viewable after voting.
Lunatic_Gamer

Lunatic_Gamer

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Valve-doesnt-need-to-compete-with-Nintendo-Switch-2-right-now.jpg


According to a recent poll, most fans don't think Valve needs to compete with Nintendo right now and rush out a Steam Deck 2.

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At the time of writing, 80% of responses tell us that Valve should simply wait for better hardware before it releases the Steam Deck 2. That leaves just 20% of voters asking Valve to compete with the Switch 2.

In any case, it wouldn't be like Valve to rush a project, whether it be new hardware, supporting software, or a game. Valve time is still very much a thing in our minds.

www.pcguide.com

Valve doesn't need to compete with Nintendo Switch 2 right now, suggests poll

There have been plenty of comparisons online between the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch 2, but does Valve really need to compete?
www.pcguide.com www.pcguide.com
 
Valve has no reason to feel pressure from Nintendo. Much like all things, they'll take their time since they're on Valve time. The Steam Deck is an awesome piece of hardware. I'm really excited to see what they do with the next iteration.
 
Valve doesn't need to push the amount of units with Steam Deck as Nintendo does with Switch. Valve was already doing great without it. Steam Deck just brings more people into an already thriving ecosystem. While there might be some crossover, they aren't competing with Nintendo really.

There's also the fact that every other portable PC that isn't Steam Deck also contributes to bringing more gamers into Valve's Steam ecosystem as well, which is the primary goal.

They don't need to rush a Steam Deck 2 because everyone else is doing the work for them now. They were just there to give a little push and get the wheels turning.
 
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Valve doesn't compete with anybody yet in handheld. Haven't they sold like 4m steam decks? It's an insignificant number. If they weren't competing with Switch 1 which sold and will continue to sell upwards of 150+ m units, why would they need to start competing now?

Does PS Portal need to compete with Switch 2?

These are different markets, Valve would love to break into the same market as Nintendo, but so would Sony and Microsoft. Good luck.
 
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lol

Its not competing and likely never will. Pc handhelds are their own thing and I don't see it become mainstream anytime soon. They require for one to tinker even more than a PC desktop.

Switch 2 sales will pop the combined PC handheld market in what, 1 month max? Months if you want to be conservative.
 
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MiguelItUp said:
Valve has no reason to feel pressure from Nintendo. Much like all things, they'll take their time since they're on Valve time. The Steam Deck is an awesome piece of hardware. I'm really excited to see what they do with the next iteration.
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This poll doesn't understand what a Steam Deck is - it's a device but also an ecosystem. For the latter Valve doesn't need to lead here, they have other manufacturer gearing to release handhelds with native SteamOS installation e.g. Legion Go S.
 
I don't see much point in them rushing to release a new device to compete with the Switch 2.
The 2 products are in completely different sales leagues, have a completely different approach and focus to their design (apart from both being hand held) and are of different importance to their respective companies. Switch 2 is the core product around which a majority of the Nintendo business is built around, Steam deck is basically a side project.
 
MiguelItUp said:
Valve has no reason to feel pressure from Nintendo. Much like all things, they'll take their time since they're on Valve time. The Steam Deck is an awesome piece of hardware. I'm really excited to see what they do with the next iteration.
Click to expand...

Yes, let Valve cook. One thing that sets both Valve and Nintendo apart from other gaming companies is that they don't feel beholden to the expectations, trends, and timetables of the rest of the industry.

Plus, there are plenty of PC handhelds out there if all someone wants is a spec upgrade.
 
Agreed, no pressure to compete hardware wise. And as said, any other handheld pc just contributes to the ecosystem.

I would like to see SteamOS continue to develop, eventually introducing a dev environment with open source or indie friendly tools. Like having blender, GIMP and source engine integrated into the OS. Offering an alternative to UE , unity, godot, et.
 
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blacktout said:
One thing that sets both Valve and Nintendo apart from other gaming companies is that they don't feel beholden to the expectations, trends, and timetables of the rest of the industry.
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That's because - surprise surprise - both are private. Long-term planning and all that.
 
I just view them as entirely different audiences.

Personally, I'm a PC gamer first and foremost. My digital library is overwhelmingly on PC. I can play most my games on the Steam Deck. The library is more expansive. Switch 2 has better hardware for the handheld space, sure, but I'd rather wait on better hardware then a gen 2 Steam Deck a few years down the road. Much prefer that over re-purchasing the same games I already own just to play them at better performance on Switch 2. If I'm looking for visuals exclusively, I'll stick to my PC. Nintendo has no exclusive offerings that interest me and hasn't for almost a decade.
 
blacktout said:
Yes, let Valve cook. One thing that sets both Valve and Nintendo apart from other gaming companies is that they don't feel beholden to the expectations, trends, and timetables of the rest of the industry.

Plus, there are plenty of PC handhelds out there if all someone wants is a spec upgrade.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Some of the best companies out there do their own thing and at their own pace. Sometimes they innovate, sometimes they take other ideas and improve on them, etc. Valve has always been one of those companies. I agree Nintendo as well, even if many disagree, haha. (I personally love Valve more than Nintendo these days, but I'll always have love for Nintendo cause I loved them when I was a kid, so, y'know, lol.)
 
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I think people missing a one, yet huge, point here:

Valve doesn't need to plan or release another gizmo for their corporate sustainability. I even claim that (this is purely what I believe based on their showing and comment of their ideas) they really like to tinker new technologies internally and as a byproduct, they release gizmos to the market. They don't care if it sells good or not (not in a critical way anyway). That is why I laugh every time when I see comment like "We need a Steam Deck 2!!!!!1111".

On the other hand, console producers need to refresh their gizmos with some intervals. They NEED that for their corporate sustainability. It is critical for them.

So this "Steam Deck vs Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft" comparisons are really baseless. Valve really doesn't care anyone of that. At least they strongly show disinterest for that and I can understand their mentality.
 
Topher said:
No doubt. This contrived little handheld war is cute, but what Nintendo does has no bearing on what Valve does, or vice versa.
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Have to drive clicks and engagement somehow. As if there's really a comparison between playing whatever nintendo decides you're able to play with backwards compatibility and paid emulation VS the freedom to play practically anything from the last 20 years without having to re-buy things you already own.


Based on current tech, I'd want to see the next handheld built on RDNA4 or a more recent Nvidia with specific hardware for frame generation and upscaling.
 
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Compete in what way? The Steam Deck is estimated to have sold 6 million units - something I'm sure Valve is really happy about but these markets are separate enough to where neither company would care.
 
Only company that could have threatened Valve was Microsoft and they blundered that BIG TIME. Now Valve have an entire growing PC market for them.
 
That's the biggest " no shit " take that's been said in here in a while.

You guys are so set on one plastic box beating another. Steam has only slightly competition with a Nintendo console.

It's something Xbox didn't understand. Consoles only lose to pc if their exclusives are on pc.

Nintendo sells on Nintendo games but also third party as a perk. That's why the switch 2 is going to be a massive hit. They will have more mainstream third party games.
 
Neither Valve nor Nintendo have much in the way of competition - definitely not from each other. I doubt either care about what the other is doing.
 
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Magic Carpet said:
There are too many 3rd party games on S2 for this to be true.
I don't understand it myself but there are 10's of millon Switch only gamers out there.
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Then it becomes a choice between buying cheap games from a massive library on steam (sales/cdkeys/etc) or buy overpriced games from a more limited library on Nintendo store.
 
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I don't think what others are doing factor very much into Valve's plan for the Steam Deck. Gabe said they'd release a new one when there was generational leap in performance and battery.
 
Well they don't but I'd like it if they did. The Deck is certainly showing its age and there are some games I'd love to be able to play on it.
 
Not even sure Valve is that interested in hardware. They seemed to mostly do it to protect their (store) from a threat. And might have been in it to prove the market for pc manufacturers as much as anything.

The console makers want hardware to last awhile to earn royalties from the software. Hardware isn't the chief moneymaker.
Valve probably sees it the same way ....their 'royalties' are from Steam.
 
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The Steam Deck has only been out for 3 years, so they can probably wait a bit. Wait until they get a mobile chip with FSR4, a 900p or higher OLED with 120fps + HDR, and can improve performance without losing battery life.

Buggy Loop said:
Its not competing and likely never will. Pc handhelds are their own thing and I don't see it become mainstream anytime soon. They require for one to tinker even more than a PC desktop.
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I get that they're not competing, but in what weird world are these PC handhelds requiring more tinkering than a PC desktop?

They're fixed SKU, the Steam Deck interface simplifies the store and library UI, you have a one button suspend state like a console (OLED adds fingerprint sign-on), quite a few PC games have Deck-specific presets so you don't have to select graphic options, Decky Loader lets you set Spotify playback buttons you can bring up on the side-bar overlay, Emudeck automates multiple aspects of emulation and can auto-install roms as non-Steam games with steam input profiles built-in for you, and we got multiple apps that were started because of Steam Deck to automate moving games from non-steam storefronts (Epic, GoG, etc) to Steam.

The Steam Deck is the dumb-easiest PC I've ever used, with the only dent being Proton incompatibility, which over time has become objectively less of an issue, and ProtonDB's verification being far more robust to indicate if something is actually broken or tedious to fix.
 
I don't own a SD, but I love the fact that Valve isn't a tech company that needs to release a new model every year. If I ever buy a PC handheld then it'll be from them as I find it relaxing to not need to be on the lookout for the next new model to avoid buyer's regret.
 
Deck not only is not being sold in tons of countries as it is not being sold in retail. Yet "duh duh Valve needs/doesn't need to compete with Switch duh duh...".
 
It doesnt need to "right now" coz ninny's mashine isnt out yet, in 2 months steamdeck gonna have to, we will for sure gonna get next gen steamdeck in a year or two, on 3nm manufacturing node and beefed up specs.
I would say for many ppl who find steamdeck attractive, switch2 will be attractive too, so ofc valve will wanna get them back with next gen steamdeck ^^
 
Unless they can release something that is at least twice as powerful as the current Steam Deck without increasing power draw, I don't really see the point.
 
We probably won't see a Steam Deck 2 until 2027+ given the relative stagnation with AMD's mobile APUs. For example, the Z2E does not sound like a big upgrade from the Z1E used in the Ally / Legion Go. Maybe 25% at most in favorable circumstances. I would imagine all AMD APU product tiers would need to see 50%+ performance improvements from the 2022/2023 chips for Valve to even consider. Maybe even closer to double the performance.
 
So Steam deck is basically the Xbox of the handheld space

A complete sales failure and irrelevant in userbase size but we've got the US gaming media pretending that isn't the reality
 
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