Gaming handheld prices are out of control, except for the Steam Deck
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Mudman here with the most salient point and better written then my “fuck off if you don’t want those devices you don’t have to buy them” but also the used market for those devices is way weirder, I grabbed a Z1 extreme Ally for $250, I’m also for sure ordering a Ayn Thor at 10 tonight, but I enjoy playing with weird hardware more than I do the games tbh
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I don’t really know what demographic you’re chasing if you’re going after people wanting top of the line specs on a handheld.
I find this train of thought weird, because these are all niche devices.
It's strange to hear that there's no demographic for boutique handhelds at the same time any mention that the Switch sold an order of magnitude more than the Deck gets a dozen responses that the Deck is "experimental" or "a first try" or "not competing directly".
And hey, all that's true. The Deck will never move 150 million consoles or sell 5 million in a week. There's value in limited run hardware that does things that aren't mainstream propositions alongside the "let's get every kid to get one of these from their grandma" devices.
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Mudman here with the most salient point and better written then my “fuck off if you don’t want those devices you don’t have to buy them” but also the used market for those devices is way weirder, I grabbed a Z1 extreme Ally for $250, I’m also for sure ordering a Ayn Thor at 10 tonight, but I enjoy playing with weird hardware more than I do the games tbh
wrote last edited by [email protected]I choose to read that as a genuine compliment.
And yeah, man, these weird devices are being sold to weird people who like them for what they are. Which also means when the next weird thing comes out those weirdos are likely to get upsold and resell older stuff. All of these things are going to be fantastic eBay haul Youtube videos from retro hardware people in the 2070s, assuming we avoid going full Mad Max Idiocracy that long.
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wrote last edited by [email protected]
It was, I read that like a beautifully worded rebuttal. And yeah once you’re really in that subculture you kind of learn to buy and sell and it mostly washes out as a free hobby. I buy a handful of lower end shit on Aliexpress during a sale, get to try stuff out, put Cfw on it and sell for a small profit, I then use those profits to buy other shit
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Once again Valve proves they actually understand what people want; a relatively cheap and effective system that lets people play the games they want to play
They have advantage of being able to sell at almost cost because they make so much on game sales. Like the other console vendors.
Actually kind of unfair business practice.
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They have advantage of being able to sell at almost cost because they make so much on game sales. Like the other console vendors.
Actually kind of unfair business practice.
I mean that’s just how consoles are, except Valve does let you just use it as a normal pc so you can use other stores if you want to. Still an advantage to them
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The joke is you n all of them - I’m an adult and I enjoy coming home and playing PC games on my PC with its large gaming PC monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
I’m glad you all love your handhelds, but I’m good without one.
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Total agreement.
It sucks when a device category dies and disappears. Most people might not care, but those who do really do, and it sucks when you can't upgrade to what you want anymore.
I'm not a handheld guy, but for me, it's phones with keyboards.
So if there's somebody making boutique devices for niche audiences, more power to them!
Handheld gaming PCs are really not necessary devices, so if you can't afford a high-end one, get a cheap one. And if you can't afford that, stick a gamepad on your phone and boot up a switch emulator or winlator.
Leave people their niche hobbies!
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The joke is you n all of them - I’m an adult and I enjoy coming home and playing PC games on my PC with its large gaming PC monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
I’m glad you all love your handhelds, but I’m good without one.
I have a gaming pc monitor, keyboard, and trackball (no reason to debase myself and use a mouse) all on my Steam deck. And if I want to take my Steam deck with me to work, I can do that too.
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Once again Valve proves they actually understand what people want; a relatively cheap and effective system that lets people play the games they want to play
Two things massively help Valve:
Steam is a goddamned money printing machine, they are the most profitable software company per capita, per employee... possibly bar none.
Also... they're not publically traded.
They do not have investors constantly forcing maximization of short term profits at the cost of literally everything else.
... So they can afford to ... not price gauge everyone.
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Don't forget battery life. Most of those systems get some pretty awful battery life, or are comically large.
the two things that made the game boy a success: "good enough" system with a great battery life all for a great price
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Don't forget battery life. Most of those systems get some pretty awful battery life, or are comically large.
wrote last edited by [email protected]its partly windows, and partly 8 core AMD CCDs that handhelds dont need.
Lenovo was given a holy ball (Z2 go cpu, basically 4c/8t zen 3 cpu and 12 rdna 2 cu cores (as apposed to the zen 2 and 8 cu rdna2 the steam deck has) and if they priced it at 600 tops and go down from there. it would be extremely competitive.
lenovo is basically like nah, 750$ it is. and i think its the reverse (starts at 600 and goes up)
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The joke is you n all of them - I’m an adult and I enjoy coming home and playing PC games on my PC with its large gaming PC monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
I’m glad you all love your handhelds, but I’m good without one.
Well, this sure is an useless comment
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I think the big difference is that they seem to be optimizing for customer satisfaction where others are not.
My favorite example I use often is how the Steam Deck comes with a case. It’s free and there’s not even an option to not get it. They know you need one, they include it. The Switch doesn’t come with a case. They know you need one but they don’t care. You’ll buy one if you want it bad enough and that’s more revenue.
It’s just a different type of optimization.
I have a switch that never left the house, definitely not needed.
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Two things massively help Valve:
Steam is a goddamned money printing machine, they are the most profitable software company per capita, per employee... possibly bar none.
Also... they're not publically traded.
They do not have investors constantly forcing maximization of short term profits at the cost of literally everything else.
... So they can afford to ... not price gauge everyone.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Probably the biggest advantage they have is that they can sell devices at cost or even at a loss and still profit from increased Steam game sales, like how other console makers operate.
3rd parties can't compete with that. Not even close. If there's no profit from the device itself, there's no motivation to make it. And apart from the hardware cost, they also need to pay for the R&D and corporate maintenance. They can't compete with the Steam Deck. If they made an exact Steam Deck clone, they'd have to make it, idk ~$40 more to make a profit, but no one would buy it because the Steam Deck is the same for less. They have to give it slightly higher specs to give it a niche. That might take hardware cost up to $500 and then charge $150 more to make up for the distributor fees and then $100 to make it actually profitable. But at that point, they've already lost most budget and casual gamers, they might as well aim at whales and enthusiasts and make profits $300. If a $950 device sells half as well as a $750 device, it's still more profitable.
Edit: more realistic numbers
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I have a switch that never left the house, definitely not needed.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I have a switch
I’m sorry for your lo$$.
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Newer handhelds might have more power, but I still think the Deck is the best value for what it offers.
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Newer handhelds might have more power, but I still think the Deck is the best value for what it offers.
I care less about power and more about silence. I would pay double for a Steam Deck that doesn't sound like a hair dryer when I try to play Baldur’s Gate 3 on low.
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Probably the biggest advantage they have is that they can sell devices at cost or even at a loss and still profit from increased Steam game sales, like how other console makers operate.
3rd parties can't compete with that. Not even close. If there's no profit from the device itself, there's no motivation to make it. And apart from the hardware cost, they also need to pay for the R&D and corporate maintenance. They can't compete with the Steam Deck. If they made an exact Steam Deck clone, they'd have to make it, idk ~$40 more to make a profit, but no one would buy it because the Steam Deck is the same for less. They have to give it slightly higher specs to give it a niche. That might take hardware cost up to $500 and then charge $150 more to make up for the distributor fees and then $100 to make it actually profitable. But at that point, they've already lost most budget and casual gamers, they might as well aim at whales and enthusiasts and make profits $300. If a $950 device sells half as well as a $750 device, it's still more profitable.
Edit: more realistic numbers
Yep, this is a good explanation of more of the nitty gritty of it in more granular detail!
When you can afford to eat some of the cost... or... you don't have shareholders telling you not to do that... well, then you get good ole 'how capitalism is supposed to work! (tm)'.
Problem of course being that uh, you can just chase the luxury market for greater profit margins, stop making shit for the poors... this can work well in the short/medium term, but in the long run... if everyone does that...
... then you destroy your customer base, and the entire economy, and probably yourself.
And that's not even getting into how companies have their own version of 'keeping up with the joneses'... its called going into massive debt to fund an expansion because your competitor just did that... and then going into more debt to finance a stock buyback... but hey nbd, companies can fail and go bankrupt, no problem, everyone other than those helming the ship get fucked, they get golden parachutes.
Sure would be neat if we maybe had some other kind of system idk
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They have advantage of being able to sell at almost cost because they make so much on game sales. Like the other console vendors.
Actually kind of unfair business practice.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Ironically, leveraging this kind of tactic is what allowed Google, Amazon and Apple and Microsoft to become as huge as they did, as fast as they did.
Got a whole bunch of lines of business that can functionally subsidize other ventures, so they can make a push for market share.
But of course this doesn't take too long to turn your whole economy into oligopoly, and thus your society into oligarchy... at best.
I... I think Gabe really just isn't as fundamentally awful of a person as most other tech company heads.
Yeah, he's got a yacht, but he could be so, so much fucking worse...
