Some thoughts on why Valve will break the industry with Steam Deck
So today I woke up with a lot of desire to go out to the square just to walk for a while, I was all morning in an area near where I live where several people from my urbanization get together to run, exercise or just hang out, not much time had passed until I get a notification from a co-worker with the news that Valve was FINALLY going to try their luck with the Hardware and was going to release their own console similar to a PC, I was so excited that I ran home to check the news and see the specs, after the announcement of Nintendo and their OLED I needed something to fill the void inside me and I think I found the next product I will be obsessed for the next months, for some time now the idea has been introduced that with some planning and some big developer (Valve is not specially giant but it works) can make a console with the features of a PC and compete against the big three in this sector, and well, in the next years we will see a new competitor in the catalogs!
Steam Deck is a risky idea, on the one hand, it is Valve's vision of what should be a Nintendo Switch, powerful, open to all types of software (Deck will be able to implement Windows and thus Xbox Game Pass) but with a special fixation on Steam's catalog of games, the guys at Valve have long wanted to apply their operating system, SteamOS to some competitive product and it seems that this jump to consoles can be beneficial, Gabe Newell even sees clearly this bet announcing that if "millions" of consoles are sold, this project may go for long and has no intention of ceding ground to Xbox and Sony, so the stage is set for the next few years to see a new competitor sharing the market with them.
Valve's vision with Steam Deck is that of a hybrid console that walks the streets and also works as a PC capable of running high-end games without much effort, it does not forget its players because it will also have the ability to integrate mouse and keyboard if we want to play in a traditional way but the most surprising thing is undoubtedly its graphic power, having a partnership with AMD, Valve has been able to provide its new console with features that easily put it among the most powerful consoles on the market, they have also developed their own processor chips specially designed for this console so Deck is no joke, rather, it was a subject that Valve had pending for some time.
Perhaps what stands out the most for me is, when you buy the console, if you have games in your Steam catalog you no longer need to buy anything else, you can install the game and play it wherever you want, it is a versatility that no other console has and I think it will be the hallmark of Deck, Valve's catalog of games is overwhelming and every day grows more and more with all the indies and Early Access that open, so if other consoles had that problem of not having games at launch, Valve is 3 steps ahead of the competition giving you everything you previously bought in one shot.
Although Valve has already ventured into the hardware market before with Steam Machines or even bringing out its own virtual reality helmet, I feel that Deck is a giant step for the studio, putting in the hands of everyone the power of a powerful PC and also taking out of the sleeve the ability to play from day one all the games we have in our Steam catalog, something that many consoles would think about offering in a market marked with the slogan "spend more, always" Steam Deck and Valve (as always) are a lifesaver that once again revolutionize the market and add pressure to the big ones,
Steam Deck will be available in December, but from now on it can be reserved at the Valve store, costing almost the same as a new PS5 or an Xbox Series, this may be the leap we were waiting for to go for a hybrid console, I had my problems with the Nintendo Switch and its portable, but from Valve I only expect excellence and take it for granted that at Christmas I'm going to get a Steam Deck.
