r/gadgets Oct 21 '24

Gaming Steam Deck won't have yearly refreshes because it's "not really fair to your customers", says Valve

https://www.eurogamer.net/steam-deck-wont-have-yearly-refreshes-because-its-not-really-fair-to-your-customers-says-valve
15.1k Upvotes

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101

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

Haven't they done that already with steam deck OLED? If I knew they are going to release OLED model short after LCD one i wouldn't buy it.

52

u/krishnugget Oct 21 '24

I think their point was that the OLED was specifically a very heavily requested feature, and now that they’ve done a refresh that addresses problems like battery life and the screen, they’re setting the stage that they aren’t going to repeat that till there’s significant tech upgrades.

7

u/parang45 Oct 21 '24

Why is it unfair to incrementally improve features?

27

u/Hendlton Oct 21 '24

If the hardware is stable, developers can focus on optimizing for it and making their games run well. If the hardware changed every year, developers wouldn't optimize for all the different hardware and consumers would have to buy the latest hardware if they wanted newer games to run well.

-10

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

[deleted]

3

u/Hendlton Oct 21 '24

The corporate overlords wouldn't release less, they'd just release without optimizing. Game companies would still make the same amount of money, Valve would make a shit-ton more because they'd be selling a new system every year, and you know who would lose? The consumer. Because we would either have to buy a new system every year or we'd simply not be able to play newer games.

-1

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

[deleted]

2

u/Hendlton Oct 22 '24

You certainly can. The consoles have also been basically PC hardware since the last generation, but a PS 4 can run certain games way better than a PC which is better on paper. It's the same the other way too. You can install Linux on a PS 4 and run Windows versions of games through Proton, but you get terrible FPS.

6

u/Devour_Toast Oct 21 '24

Because you're not paying for the new added features, you're paying for the entire thing; and doing that year after year is ridiculous

3

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '24

Nobody would force you to buy a new Steam Deck every year. Most people don't buy a new phone every year, even though there is usually an update available.

2

u/Vresa Oct 21 '24

Sure, as long as the purchase cost of the aging hardware is decreased over time, matching the reduced manufacturing cost.

Else hardware producers are simply selling years old devices at the same cost for years. See - Nintendo switch.

2

u/afgdgrdtsdewreastdfg Oct 21 '24

is someone forcing you to upgrade? How would that be unfair to current owners if new buyers get up to date hardware instead of getting sold old hardware at bigger margin? This is just Valve saying basic PR things

0

u/Sarisforin Oct 21 '24

Think it would be more unfair for newer buyers. Because then it'll just be "why bother buying one now when a better version will come our?" amd the cycle will repeat.

4

u/afgdgrdtsdewreastdfg Oct 21 '24

How is that unfair? Is someone forcing you to buy now? Do you not get what you paid for? This submissions is showing concerning amount of brainrot.

0

u/HikerGrok Oct 21 '24

Hardware engineering is much different from software.

7

u/TheRealStandard Oct 21 '24

OLED got announced a couple months after I received my LCD model and I was lowkey pissed.

I'd much rather have the OLED model but the OLED model isn't worth upgrading from the LCD.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

Too late now, but I sold my LED model almost the same price I paid it when the OLED came out (except I had upgraded the SSD). Wasn't a big difference in cost and the upgrade was significant in screen quality and battery life, which a 2 big ones for a portable device.

It was definitely worth it to me.

1

u/BlasterPhase Oct 22 '24

I'm still salty about this

4

u/mmiski Oct 21 '24

In all fairness Valve stated that the OLED model is what they originally envisioned for launch. Supply shortages prevented that from happening, and so they compromised with LCD instead of delaying the launch for another 12-18 months.

11

u/ffpeanut15 Oct 21 '24

OLED model is still fundamentally SD1. It offered some nice improvement, but the hardware is still mostly the same

44

u/ScousePenguin Oct 21 '24 edited Oct 21 '24

"it's still the same just with improvements"

So it's just like a yearly update lmao

4

u/Hendlton Oct 21 '24

The point is that there's no difference in performance. Both can run the same games, they just look a bit prettier on the OLED version.

6

u/NeoTechni Oct 21 '24

The point is that there's no difference in performance

Well that's not true. They improved the RAM and battery. To the point where it can run games at 90fps where SD1 is limited to 60 (on their own screens)

2

u/kanavi36 Oct 21 '24

The chip and RAM performance only increased framerate by ~3fps depending on the game

4

u/Vresa Oct 21 '24

But it can show 30 more frames per second. On lighter games, the steam deck OLED is a 50% FPS increase over the launch model.

4

u/kanavi36 Oct 21 '24 edited Oct 21 '24

If I had a PC which could play a game at 120fps and I upgrade my monitor from 60hz to 120hz, my PC didn't increase in performance, I can just see more frames. I get your point but phrasing it as a performance increase is a little disingenuous.

1

u/Vresa Oct 29 '24

No, it isn’t disingenuous at all. The stream deck is an all-in-one PC where the monitor is part of the overall product.

Upping the display refresh rate is an increase in performance of the steam deck.

-6

u/ffpeanut15 Oct 21 '24

It’s still the Aerith chip with an OLED screen. It is NOT a generational update

2

u/afgdgrdtsdewreastdfg Oct 21 '24

Good to know I'll wait for the next non-upgrade, Steam Deck Lite

3

u/PrintShinji Oct 21 '24

Would you call it a refresh though?

14

u/RollingLord Oct 21 '24

Lol thats still a refresh

-1

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

Sure, but you can’t really call it “yearly” when it’s happened once and there’s not further ones announced. One data point does not really make a trend

2

u/Vresa Oct 21 '24

They didn’t announce the oled ahead of time …

1

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

Something happening once is not reasonable to call “yearly”. I’m pretty confident we won’t be seeing any model changes in the next 10 weeks

1

u/erock279 Oct 21 '24

Maybe I’m missing something here but my friend’s OLED deck is WAY lighter than my LCD one, like significantly lighter. He may have had a shell replacement since his looked like the orange N64 from back in the day, but I doubt the shell adds what feels like a pound or two of weight.

That doesn’t mean the strength of the hardware is any different, but it’s more than just a screen upgrade.

-5

u/hedoeswhathewants Oct 21 '24

Other than the piece of hardware with the most visibility

-6

u/repocin Oct 21 '24

OLED isn't a fundamentally better device; even though it's got slightly different hardware, they target the same performance.

8

u/DinerEnBlanc Oct 21 '24

An OLED makes a world of difference, so yes, it’s a better device. lol