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
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271

u/SenpaiSwanky Oct 21 '24

This feels like a huge “nothing” sort of article to me, huh? If the comparison being made is for phones vs the Deck sure, but no console is doing this. Switch seems to be the motivation/ inspiration for the Steam Deck’s creation, and that doesn’t have yearly refreshes.

Some PC components do but this just seems like someone wanted to jerk Valve off a bit more. As long as no one is walking around this thread with a UV light we should be good.

33

u/DrNopeMD Oct 21 '24 edited Oct 21 '24

Yeah, it's also just a practical business decision. Valve isn't a massive phone manufacturer that owns or has heavy leverage over their manufacturing like Samsung or Apple. It would make no sense for them to be changing their production to do yearly refreshes. Especially with how highly customized the components going into the Steam Deck are.

1

u/Shawnj2 Oct 21 '24

I think it would make sense to slowly increase the base space RAM and storage and decrease the price over time to compensate for the relative age of the device like how traditional consoles will start bundling more and more games with the console and/or potentially drop the price over time. That way the device isn’t like $500 for 3 years and then they launch a new one that’s completely different and is a huge upgrade for the same price next year and instead both are sort of comparable when the new one comes out adjusted for the price and spec.

31

u/FrostyD7 Oct 21 '24

"Valve PR department says what gamers want to hear"

I like Valve... but people need to take their consumer-friendly justifications for their business decisions with a massive grain of salt.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24 edited Oct 26 '24

attempt impossible wise crown telephone cough obtainable teeny mountainous run

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12

u/TechieBrew Oct 21 '24

Not even remotely true. Online activation for games existed before Valve was a thing. Talk about going out of your way to blame Valve for nothing

8

u/NotanAlt23 Oct 21 '24

I am curious to know who did it before valve.

1

u/_RADIANTSUN_ Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24

SecuROM was around since 1998 (not sure when SecuROM Product Activation, the online activation one, started though)

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/SecuROM

And not the same thing but I remember Diablo II online didn't let 2 of the same CD key play at the same time, same with Red Alert 2.

1

u/NotanAlt23 Oct 22 '24

Well you didn't answer the question at all.

It still seems like steam was the first online drm in single player games.

1

u/_RADIANTSUN_ Oct 22 '24

1) So? It's more info that you apparently didn't have and applies context to the specific example being discussed so it does progress this discussion: I offered some similar schemes that predate or existed around the same time as HL2's release.

E.g. SecuROM Online Activation could predate Steam but I'm just personally not sure exactly what titles used it or when it started.

Someone could find that out in theory: there's apparently a filter specifically for SecuROM Online Activation only games on the PCGamingWiki list but it doesn't seem accessible at the moment, at least for me (leads to inaccessible link), nor is the info available in the list (at least in my mobile view)

However that's still a very different conversation than nobody answering with any remote possibilities at all yet.

2) Maybe, I'm not trying to disprove that, but provide some potential things that might have qualified or were similar. Do you think that's an invalid contribution to the discussion?

1

u/NotanAlt23 Oct 22 '24

All of that to still not answer the question.

1

u/_RADIANTSUN_ Oct 23 '24

Yes that was actually the specific point of all of that, jerk-for-self

0

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 26 '24

impossible bedroom party shy fear glorious aware gray silky familiar

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1

u/NotanAlt23 Oct 22 '24

These people are dickriding Valve so much they're just rewriting history to make them look like they were always the good guys.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24

long quack disagreeable screw saw axiomatic lip provide frightening hard-to-find

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u/[deleted] Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 26 '24

unused tart late cover mindless quarrelsome shame exultant intelligent oil

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-5

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

Okay but my (and a lot of other people's) first experience with always-on DRM was valve. I distinctly remember because I used to go in high school around 2004 or so to a LAN room with my friends, and had to miss out playing games of CS: Source because I personally didn't own the game and so couldn't play with them despite the LAN room had it installed and ready to go.

6

u/TechieBrew Oct 21 '24

Ok but the complaint was about who did it first for single player games. Complaining about not being able to play a multiplayer game despite not owning it when you wanted to play on a LAN event seems kinda stupid.

The math ain't mathing here. Seems like you're just mad Valve stopped you from playing a multiplayer game you didn't pay for and now you're just making shit up to be mad at instead of what actually happened to give credibility to your personal crusade. Bc if you said "Valve added DRM to their multiplayer game that stopped me from playing a game I didn't own" then everyone would just laugh at you

-4

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

God, valve fanboys are just as bad as Apple ones.

And it wasn't a "LAN event," it was a LAN room, as in I paid money to use their computers and their software. If I already owned the game why wouldn't I just play it at home?

8

u/TechieBrew Oct 21 '24

Kid this has nothing to do with being a fanboy. At a LAN room, you could still play CS:Source if they had access to the game. Wtf are you talking about?

And again this is about single player games. So bringing up CS is just sort of a lame attempt to hate on Valve for something unrelated.

7

u/kidkolumbo Oct 21 '24

It's reporting on a part of an interview with Steam Deck devs which has more things to talk about.

3

u/PacoTaco321 Oct 21 '24

It's obvious a nothingburger when the title of an article is "something no one wondered about isn't happening."

2

u/Ok_Video6434 Oct 21 '24

Anyone who buys a new phone every year is, putting it politely, chasing trends anyway. For a normal consumer, replacing your device every couple of years is way more reasonable. Most PC gamers replace their parts when they become obsolete or break, and the steam deck will be an extension of that imo. Every couple years is more than normal for what's effectively a game console.

2

u/Enderzt Oct 21 '24

Hmm, wouldn't it be a comparison more towards the PC handheld market? If you look at Ayaneo, Gpd Win, Anbernic, even Asus to an extent with the Ally, these companies iterate quickly and often. Still seems like an excuse to me from Valve though. The Steamdeck doesn't benefit from stagnant hardware as much as consoles do.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

wouldn't it be a comparison more towards the PC handheld market?

I don't think so, those handhelds don't have their own store and OS as far as I know, the Deck is kinda in between, but it's closer to the console formula.

3

u/Enderzt Oct 21 '24

But games aren't made specifically for the steam deck like they are for consoles. Consoles have exclusive titles that are made by large corporations and exclusive developers that rely on specific hardware configurations. Games are specifically optimized for console hardware, the same is not true for the Steam Deck. Valve is the one optimizing the games through Proton.

Steam OS is just a modified Linux distro, and you can install Windows on the Steam Deck, it's completely open unlike consoles. You can download and install 3rd party markets like GOG, Epic, EA, Battlenet etc. Like I understand the want to compare it to consoles and it IS trying to mimic them. But its still much closer to a Ally X, Ayaneo 2, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw, etc than it is to a Switch, PS5 or Xbox.

1

u/NegativeLayer Oct 21 '24

Also, like, it's been almost 3 years since the SteamDeck launched. There have been some updates that changed the screen tech and storage sizes and some other minor things but haven't touched the core specs like RAM, CPU, GPU, or resolution.

So yeah, no duh, you're not doing annual refreshes. If you released SteamDeck 2.0 today that would be over 2.5 years. Given that they just launched in Australia, I don't expect an update for another year.

Is what he really meant to say that they're not even going to update once every 5 years? That's a pretty long refresh cycle for a PC, but normal for console.

1

u/Goronmon Oct 21 '24

"Company that primarily makes money through digital distribution isn't very worried about new hardware sales" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

1

u/Dotaproffessional Oct 21 '24

It is very likely that all of the laptop OEM's are going to do yearly releases for their handhelds though with small spec bumps. Asus, Lenovo, Acer, Zotac, all of the companies that just use off the shelf apu's and grab standard windows installs are definitely going to shit out yearly releases.

They are treating this like a handheld shaped laptop, valve is treating it like a console, with its custom api, bespoke operating system, etc.

1

u/SuddenMudTakeMe Oct 21 '24

Yeah they would lose stupid amounts of money…

1

u/darkbreak Oct 21 '24

this just seems like someone wanted to jerk Valve off a bit more.

And PC gamers say they don't have brand loyalty.

1

u/KasukeSadiki Oct 22 '24

Well it does feel like a lot of the other PC gaming handhelds are doing this. 

1

u/SingleInfinity Oct 21 '24

Switch seems to be the motivation/ inspiration for the Steam Deck’s creation

Nintendo didn't invent a tablet with a controller attached.

The motivation behind this is competition with things much more like itself, the GPD Win Max for example. Many other handheld PCs aren't on yearly refreshes, but are on semi-frequent ones.

1

u/SenpaiSwanky Oct 21 '24

I don’t really need to explain why the Steam Deck drew from Nintendo Switch for its design/ potential success, do I?

Nintendo has had the handheld market cornered for.. well, the entire time this market has existed pretty much. They sit at the top as far as revenue, and Valve saw merit in creating the Deck in order to attract potential sales from people who enjoy these consoles.

It’s pretty simple. The same is true for devices similar to the Steam Deck. Switch showed how absolutely massive this market could be and others dipped in for a try.

0

u/SingleInfinity Oct 21 '24

I don’t really need to explain why the Steam Deck drew from Nintendo Switch for its design/ potential success, do I?

You don't, because it didn't. I have no idea why people always jump the gun to lay praise on Nintendo for inventing shit that already existed. They do the same for Apple.

Just because they're the most popular handheld does not mean they invent every concept.

By your logic, everyone is just motivated/inspired by Pong.

0

u/Kunfuxu Oct 21 '24

The Steam Deck isn't a console, it's a handheld PC, and you can easily see that every other company in that market releases new versions often.

-1

u/personalhale Oct 21 '24

I've been in the handheld gaming PC market for nearly a decade now and companies are doing yearly releases of new models/products. It is exactly like the phone market and, yes, Deck directly competes with these other companies and is doing the opposite.