Valve confirms the Steam Deck won't have annual releases — Steam Deck 2 on hold until a generational leap in compute performance takes place
Valve confirms the Steam Deck won't have annual releases — Steam Deck 2 on hold until a generational leap in compute performance takes place
The Steam Deck 2 might be significantly faster than its predecessor.
The Steam Deck 2 might be significantly faster than its predecessor.
I wonder how many times we'll get this "news" headline again.
They've been saying that from the beginning, there's no news here.
And besides, everyone that's familiar with Valve hardware knows they release upgrades... basically never.
Deckard when?
The Steam Deck is still pretty capable for 2024, likely even through 2025. I think this is the right move. There are very few games that struggle with performance currently on it.
Who in the world thought they would? They already said SD 2 wouldn't happen until it would be a significant upgrade. The OLED version was certainly an upgrade, but to expect them to do small iterations every year is absurd. It's not a cell phone, y'all. Just get one and enjoy it like a console instead of expecting bs "upgrades" every year like Samsung or Apple.
It's not a cell phone, y'all.
That also doesn't really need annual updates. I'm guessing the only reason phone manufacturers do that is out of fear that otherwise users will go and buy something else from those who do annual updates.
I just wish phones were like this.
They don't exactly have the financial incentives to release a device every year, so...
Not sure why you're downvoted, but I think you're close to at least partial reason. Having one device last a few years makes it easier to replace under warranty, if what you're truly trying to do is provide superior customer service over competition (they probably have lost of spare parts, as it makes sense to order bulk and of extras, unless you're super greedy company who has no faith in its product).
And as I assume you're suggesting, they're going to make their money on the games that people buy to play on that device, so why waste effort on making miniscule improvements that may end up hurting your brand and labelling you a money grabber.
Don't get me wrong, Valve know how to make lots of money, but I bet they're smart enough to try and do it in a "sustainable" way from their perspective.Excessive releases drive me away from a developer/manufacturer. It just underscores their priorities toward innovation and quality.
For Valve if they just wanted to make money all they would have to do is to not make steam actively worse and just provide some tiny bugfixes and maybe try to fix some larger issues when they pop up. Everything else at this point is just a pet project for them
Yeah, this is also the whole point of a console from hardware and developer viewpoint - stability and standardisation. Everyone has the same device so you know of it works on the Steam Deck, it works on all of them. You also have a standard product to manufacture and the costs go down with scale.
Storage space and screen upgrades aren't so important as GPU, and CPU plus RAM. Once those change you have fragmentation int be market and basically 2 consoles.
It makes 100% for valve to not release a new device until there is a generational leap. Otherwise all they do is fragment and damage the existing steam deck ecosystem.
The exception here for gamers, is that it's an open platform in the sense it's Proton running on Linux. So you could do the same on more powerful competitor hardware if you wanted, but you'd not have support or a guarantee it'd work.
I have a mini PC plugged into my TV running linux - it's essentially just a souped up permanently docked deck. There are also plenty of hand held devices that can be flashed with Linux and bound to be more in the future.
The full quote is
We’re not going to do a bump every year. There’s no reason to do that. And, honestly, from our perspective, that’s kind of not really fair to your customers to come out with something so soon that’s only incrementally better. So we really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck. But it is something that we’re excited about and we’re working on.
The key to understanding this quote is realizing that they aren't talking about "years" from the OLED release, but the original hardware release, as the performance is identical. The original hardware is 3 years old already (the deck was delayed by software issues, but the hardware was already piling up in warehouses 3 years ago). Thus this statement is simply stating what we already know (and saw with our own eyes) - it is not a guarantee that we won't see a Deck 2 announcement tomorrow.
Oh hey like a normal company.
Sad that "par" is so much better than average.
Who genuinely thought they would release annually. Valve won't even release games until they find a good reason to, never mind making a new console
I've been wanting to get one but still haven't but I've played on my friend's. I honestly think it'll hold up for a few more years. Obviously not with the AAA cutting edge stuff. But even 5 years from now I'm sure the biggest game will be something it can still run. Most of the highest rated games are indie titles nowadays.
I'd really want the deck 2 to blew the original out of the water. Give it that feel of upgrading from a PS1 to the PS2. Because we really don't have that now. Jumping from the PS4 to the PS5 didn't feel much different other than faster load times. It was disappointing to say the least.